Freddy Rodriguez

June 5, 2005

By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Freddy Rodriguez singled home the winning run in the ninth inning and Oklahoma blew a late six-run lead before rallying to beat Maine 11-10 in an elimination game in the Oxford Regional on Sunday.

Chuckie Caufield doubled with one out in the ninth, and Rodriguez came through two batters later with a two-out dribbler up the middle against Jason Weymouth to propel the No. 2 seed Sooners (35-25) into a matchup against top-seeded Mississippi in the regional championship game.

Maine (35-19) put together one final rally against reliever Will Savage. The Black Bears loaded the bases in the ninth with one out on a walk to Ray Vallee and consecutive singles by Joe Hough and Greg Creek, before Savage got Joel Barrett to ground into a game-ending double play.

Savage (9-4) pitched the final 1 1-3 innings for the victory. Weymouth (1-2) allowed two runs in 1 2-3 innings of relief and took the loss.

Oklahoma appeared to have locked up a victory by scoring five runs in the eighth and taking a 10-4 lead, with the big hit coming when Ryan Rohlinger connected for a grand slam off reliever Jason Weymouth.

But Maine tied it up with six runs in the bottom of that inning, keyed by a two-run triple by Creek and capped by consecutive run-scoring singles by Aaron Izaryk and Curt Smith off closer Will Savage.

Kody Kaiser hit his second homer of the regional and 10th of the season, a two-run, opposite-field drive to left-center off Maine starter Troy Martin which tied it at 4-all in the sixth.

Maine entered the regional as heavy underdogs, but the scrappy No. 4 seed shocked No. 2 seed Southern Mississippi on Saturday for its first NCAA tournament win since 1991 before before taking the Sooners to the limit.

Barrett finished 3-for-6 and joined three teammates - Creek, Ryan Quintal and Izaryk - with two RBIs apiece for Maine.