Sooners open with an upset

By John Shinn
The Norman Transcript

May 22, 2008 12:35 am

— OKLAHOMA CITY — Some teams believe the postseason is time for reinvention. Oklahoma was hoping that would happen. After a disappointing regular season, there wasn’t anything else to go with for the Big 12 tournament.
Whether the Sooners were reborn or incredibly well-disguised Wednesday is up for debate, but they looked like a different team in a 4-1 pool-play victory over top-seeded Texas A&M.
Beating the Aggies (42-15) was surprising in one way and not so much in another. The conference’s regular-season champions swept the Sooners during the regular season with only the first game of the series being close. But Texas A&M also came to Bricktown Ballpark on a six-game losing streak.
The stunning part was how OU (33-23-1) won.
Pitching had been the Sooners’ Achilles heel this season. Starters lasting past the sixth inning have been rare. Holding opponents to less than five runs has been more rare.
Andrew Doyle did both against the Aggies.
The sophomore right-hander tossed a complete-game five-hitter and struck out 12. He set career highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts.
Without a doubt, it was the best Doyle or any Sooner pitcher has thrown this season.
“It was the first time I’ve been able to command all three of my pitches and throw them for strikes,” Doyle said after becoming only the second OU pitcher to throw a complete game this season.
It was a remarkable turnaround for Doyle. He threw just 32⁄3 innings and gave up seven hits last Saturday against Oklahoma State. He went just four innings in his regular-season start against the Aggies April 12. Both ended in lopsided losses.
Obviously, something changed.
“When he was at Olsen Field he was a two-pitch guy,” Texas A&M coach Rob Childress said. “He had a fastball and a slider and everything was hard. Today, he really found a change-up and executed all three of them to perfection.”
Doyle (8-4) only made two mistakes all afternoon. He hung a slider to Kevin Gonzalez in the third inning that turned into a solo home run and gave up a two-out double to Brian Ruggiano in the fifth.
Neither mistake came with a runner on base. Doyle only issued two walks and the Aggies only stranded four baserunners.
“We came in with an extremely positive attitude today,” Doyle said. “We just stayed with it and tried to match my offense’s intensity on the mound.”
The Sooners only collected seven hits off Scott Migl, who took the loss to drop to 3-3, and reliever Kyle Thebeau. But they were timely, and Texas A&M exhibited the classic sign of a slumping team. None of OU’s runs were earned.
Jamie Johnson reached on an error by Blake Stouffer to start the game and scored on Mike Gosse’s ground out.
Two more Aggie errors gave the Sooners their final three runs in the sixth. Casey Johnson reached on Stouffer’s second error of the game and scored on Aaron Baker’s RBI double. A throwing error by Ruggiano in right field brought Jarod Freeman, who went 2-for-4, and Baker home in the inning as well.
“We’re dealing with failure at this point in the season when most teams went through it early in the season or the middle,” Childress said. “We’re having it right now.”
But the Aggies’ struggles don’t really matter to OU. Texas A&M will get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens in Oklahoma City, and most likely be a regional host.
The Sooners know they have to win the tournament to keep playing.
Wednesday’s win was a step in that direction.
“We knew if we could just fight and get here that we have a quality club,” Golloway said. “This was a big win. We have some confidence because we have played two games really well. But tomorrow is a new day.”
The Sooners face Missouri, which topped Texas 3-2 in 10 innings Wednesday morning, at 7:30 tonight.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com

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