April 22, 2011
 
The Sooners take the series opener in a 9-2 romp.
 
Norman, Okla — Nebraska's (25-15, 5-8) bid for its third straight win of the week week was put to stop Friday night as No. 11 Oklahoma (28-11, 8-7) took an early lead and took the first game of the series 9-2 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Facing the Big 12's top offensive attack, the Sooners tallied 15 hits on five NU pitchers. Oklahoma starter Michael Rocha (8-1) threw a complete game and held Nebraska to its only two runs in the fourth inning. The Huskers produced eight hits off Rocha, but did not create any offense until the fourth when OU had already taken a 5-0 lead.

"We escaped damage in the first and second innings, but we didn't escape damage in the third," head coach Mike Anderson said. "It was a poor outing that way. We'll try to learn from it. I'm glad the kids fought back and had a chance when we made it 5-2. We made some physical errors but there were some mental errors (also). I give Oklahoma credit. They did a very good job tonight, but they didn't force us to make those errors. We forced those errors and we haven't been doing that. Hopefully we can control that tomorrow."

Matt Freeman was chased after 2.0 innings as OU scored one in the first and added four in the third, including a three-run homer to left by Tyler Ogle. Freeman did have a clean second inning, aided by an 8-2 putout from Krietemeier to Burleson to get out Seitzer at the plate and end the frame, keeping OU at one run.

Rocha, meanwhile, went through Nebraska's lineup in order the first time around before the Huskers came alive in the fourth and tagged him for four hits. Kale Kiser singled a full count pitch up the middle to start the inning before Cody Asche and Kash Kalkowski roped back-to-back RBI doubles to make it 5-3 with one out. The Huskers had a chance to chip away further at the Sooner lead, but Chad Christensen hit a grounder to short and could not beat the relay as the Sooners turned a 6-4-3 double play.

Leading 5-2, the Sooners scored a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth off relievers Tom Lemke and Brandon Pierce. Chase Adams and Sean Yost combined to throw the final 2.0 innings and kept OU off the board.

Farmer, who went 2-for-3, had his 14th multiple hit game of the season, while Kiser also went 2-for-4 to give the duo half of Nebraska's hit total.

Nebraska will look to even the series when the three-game set continues Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 2 p.m

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.