Sooners open with a stunner
8th-seeded OU beats No. 1 A&M
8th-seeded OU beats No. 1 A&M

By Jake Trotter

Published: May 22, 2008

Ever since Michael Rocha two-hit Tennessee three months ago, Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway had been waiting for a performance like this.

Finally, his wait is over.

Behind the dominating pitching of Andrew Doyle, the No. 8-seeded Sooners knocked off top-seeded Texas A&M 4-1 before 5,190 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.

"The story of the game was Andrew Doyle. He was terrific,” Golloway said. "He was a guy who could really smell the finish line. It was a gutty performance.”

The sophomore right-hander moved to 8-4 after striking out a career-high 12 hitters and scattering five hits in OU's best pitching performance of the season.

"You have to go out and attack hitters,” said Doyle, whose three-pitch blend of fastball, slider and, most notably, change-up, fooled Aggie batters all day.

The Sooners improved to 33-23-1 overall; the Aggies dropped their seventh in a row to fall to 42-15.

"Doyle pitched an incredible game,” said Texas A&M coach Rob Childress. "He did a great job of keeping us off-balance.”

Texas A&M starter Scott Migl managed to match Doyle pitch-for-pitch for the first five innings, leaving the score tied 1-1 heading into the sixth.

That's when the Aggie defense collapsed, committing two errors that resulted in three unearned runs.

Casey Johnson started the splurge, reaching first base on an error by Aggie second baseman Blake Stouffer.

Following a Jarod Freeman single, Aaron Baker smashed an RBI-double over the head of backpedaling left fielder Brooks Raley.

A throwing error by Texas A&M right fielder Brian Ruggiano later scored both Freeman and Baker to put OU up 4-1.

"I just lifted the ball into the air. Luckily the ball kept traveling and traveling,” said Baker, who finished with two hits.

"I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that might get over his head.' Lucky for us it did.”

Suddenly, the Sooners have consecutive wins over top-10 teams thanks to back-to-back gems on the pitching mound — the first coming Sunday from Ryan Duke and Chase Anderson, who paired to shut down Oklahoma State in a 10-4 victory.

A third quality start against ninth-ranked Missouri tonight and OU could be in terrific shape of winning its pool and advancing to the conference championship game.

"Our pitchers have that kind of stuff,” Golloway said. "It's just been a matter of gaining experience. They have a chance to be really special.”

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