By John Shinn
HOUSTON — Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway said his team plays its best with its back to the wall. Thanks to a pretty big shove from Rice Saturday, the Sooners are in a position to prove it.
The Owls clubbed four home runs and rolled to a 10-4 victory over the Sooners in Game 1 of the best-of-three NCAA Tournament super regional at Reckling Park.
OU starter Steven Guerra, who shut down Houston last Saturday in a Norman Regional elimination game, gave up back-to-back first-inning home runs to Brian Friday and Josh Rodriguez.
The blasts gave Rice (54-10) a 4-0 lead.
OU never recovered.
“I couldn’t locate (pitches) and they were taking some good hacks,” Guerra said. “I left the ball up … It was their day today.”
He fell to 11-4 and was one of five pitchers the Sooners rolled out.
But Daniel McCutchen wasn’t one of them. He had been the starter for every series opener, but he was moved back a day in the rotation after throwing 218 pitches in the Norman Regional.
He’ll go to the mound at noon today in Game 2. OU has to win to keep its season going.
The Sooners (44-21) played like a team with a cushion. The intensity they used to win four straight in the Norman Regional was missing.
“We didn’t seem to have that edge we’d been playing with the last four or five games,” Golloway said.
Rice starter Eddie Degerman (13-1) wasn’t dominant, but he was a lot better than the Sooners’ mound offerings.
OU spent last week trying to adjust to the senior right-hander’s awkward delivery. He held the Sooners to one hit over seven innings in February.
OU had a little more success Saturday, collecting six hits and four runs off Degerman. But OU had to scratch and claw for everything.
“Thank goodness we don’t have to see him again,” Golloway said. “Twice in one year is two times too many for me … If you would have told me we would score four runs, get him up to 118 pitches and he wouldn’t finish, I’d take that.”
Joseph Hughes singled to score Aaron Reza in the second inning and Jackson Williams scored on an error to cut it to 4-2.
But it wasn’t nearly enough. Every time OU scratched in a few runs, Rice replied with power shots.
The Owls picked up two more runs in the second inning on a wild pitch to score Tyler Henley and Greg Buchanan’s RBI single.
Buchanan went 4-for-5, pacing Rice’s 14-hit attack. Friday drove in four runs, adding a sacrifice fly in the fourth to score Henley.
“We answered every time they started coming back and that was critical,” Rice coach Wayne Graham said. “I don’t think we were ever complacent in the game.”
OU’s Ryan Rohlinger went 3-for-5 and teamed up with Kevin Smith for back-to-back RBI doubles in the seventh inning, cutting the deficit to three runs.
“We battled offensively,” Rohlinger said. “We just couldn’t put a lot together. We had our chances.”
The Owls put it away in the bottom half of the seventh on a solo home run from Aaron Luna and a two-run blast from Danny Lehmann.
That capped the scoring and put Rice firmly in the driver’s seat to return to the College World Series for the fifth time since 1997.
“It was a good night for us, but we obviously know we still have a lot of work to do,” Graham said. “This ball club we’re playing is very hard-nosed.”
Saturday, OU didn’t match Graham’s description.
But Golloway hopes the win-or-go-home predicament lights a fire under his team.
“Maybe this is what it takes,” Golloway said. “We have to get our back to the wall. That’s when we are the toughest. I know our young men will accept the challenge.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
