No. 2 Oklahoma Slips by No. 11 Aggies, 1-0

Friday, March 18

Norman, Okla.

6:30 PM

Texas A&M

13-5, 0-1

Oklahoma

17-3, 1-0

Texas A&M

Oklahoma

Mar 18, 2011 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

March 18, 2011

Final Stats

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma pitcher Michael Rocha notched a career-high 13 strikeouts in 8.2 innings of work and outdueled Aggie starter John Stilson Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park as No.2 Oklahoma blanked the No. 11 Texas A&M baseball team 1-0.

The contest, which was the Big 12 opener for both teams, saw the Aggies fall to 13-5 and 0-1 in league play while Oklahoma improved to 17-3 (1-0 Big 12).

Stilson did his part to contribute to Friday's pitching duel as the junior from Texarkana tossed seven innings, yielding just one run while allowing seven hits, a walk and collecting nine strikeouts.

After putting together a gem on the mound and matching Rocha pitch-for-pitch through the first six innings, a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh came back to haunt Stilson. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, OU left fielder Max White reach on the free pass and came home to score the game's lone run later in the inning on a RBI single by Garrett Buechele.

Texas A&M's Tyler Naquin notched a pair of hits in the contest, including a two-out double in the top of the ninth to put the tying run in scoring position. However, OU's Ryan Duke entered the game in relief of Rocha and got Matt Juengel to ground out to end the game and in the process collect his school-record 29th career save.

Naquin's 2-for-4 night extended his hitting streak to seven games, during which he is batting .586 (16-for-29).

The series continues on Saturday as the Aggies and Sooners face off at 2 p.m. from L. Dale Mitchell Park. Making the start for A&M will be sophomore Michael Wacha (2-1; 0.67 ERA) who will be pitted against OU freshman lefty Dillon Overton (3-0; 1.04).