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COLUMN: World Series from baseball would make perfect year
by   |  April 9, 2009  |  

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Andrew Doyle pitches for Oklahoma during the game against Nebraska March 29. The Sooners defeated the Huskers in the first game of their double header 12-9. Amy Frost / The Daily

As a student at OU, this year has been everything one could have asked for, with the exception of losses in big games.

The football team battled back from a loss to Texas to win the Big 12 Championship and narrowly lost in the National Championship Game against Florida.

Quarterback Sam Bradford became the Heisman Trophy winner in the process.

The men’s basketball team boasted a 25-1 record at one point before star forward Blake Griffin suffered a concussion and sat out the remained of the Texas game and the one following it.

Regardless, the Sooners finished 30-6 as an Elite Eight team, and if they could have shot better from the perimeter, might have had a chance to beat the eventual National Champions, North Carolina.

On top of that, Griffin won National Player of the Year.

Then, there’s the women’s basketball team and seniors Courtney and Ashley Paris.

They brought everything to the table, despite bowing out to Louisville in the National Semifinals, amidst Courtney Paris’ proclamation of paying back her scholarship if they failed to win it all.

Nevertheless, they still made it as one of the Final Four teams, and Courtney Paris gained AP All-American honors for the fourth straight year.

However, there’s still one thing I’ve been waiting for and expecting to happen.

And that won’t come until the summer if it does.

Baseball head coach Sunny Golloway’s predicted in the preseason the Sooners will make the College World Series for the first time since 1995, and now that OU is 33 games into the season, I’m ready to say he’s right.

This team has everything it needs to get to the friendly confines of Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, the pinnacle of college baseball every year in the second week of June.

Normally, a stacked offense, a few solid starting pitchers and a shut-em-down closer is the recipe to Omaha.

Prior to Wednesday night’s game, the Sooners were already hitting .341 and averaging nearly 10 runs per game.

Stacked offense, check.

Starting pitchers Andrew Doyle and Michael Rocha are a combined 7-4 with 57 strikeouts and are solidifying the starting role.

A few good starters, check.

Closer Ryan Duke has posted seven saves, a 2-0 record and opponents are only hitting .230 against him.

It’s safe to say Duke is becoming a ninth-inning force.

Shut-em-down closer, check.

Golloway’s declaration may have been dangerous at the start of the season, but I’m willing to back him.

The Sooners will be in Omaha for the first time in 14 years, when they went the dreaded “two-and-out,” losing to Florida State and Southern Cal.

Related Links:

Baseball: Sooners cruise past Wichita State, 15-0

-Joey Helmer is a journalism senior.

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