The No. 22 Sooners’ pitching staff was saved by a nine-run rally in the sixth inning in OU’s 17-5 victory over the San Diego State Aztecs in the first game of Saturday’s double-header in San Diego.

The come-from-behind-blowout win improved the Sooners to 2-0 on the short season, and is the second victory where OU’s starting pitcher did not record the victory.

The Sooners found themselves playing an early game of catch-up after the Aztecs’ bats tagged senior pitcher J.R. Robinson for three runs in the first two innings. OU was able to bring across a run in the third inning on an RBI-sacrifice fly by senior Ross Hubbard to narrow the gap to 3-1.

Robinson exited the game after three innings, giving up the three runs while striking out three and giving up six hits.

Junior pitcher Michael Rocha did not fare better on the mound. He had trouble staying consistent in the strike zone and allowed a run to score in each of his two innings of work to let the Aztecs extend their lead to 5-1 after five innings of play.

Rocha was credited with the victory.

Despite leaving seven runners on base through the first five innings, the Sooners exploded for nine runs in the top half of the sixth inning. The inning’s onslaught was highlighted by a three-run triple by sophomore shortstop Caleb Bushyhead and three errors by the Aztecs.

OU sent 13 batters to the plate in the inning and eight different Sooners reached base and scored at least one run.

With the run support, junior pitcher Jason Chowning was able to hold SDSU’s bats at bay while OU kept piling on the runs. Chowning pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings before pitchers junior Anthony Collazo and senior Jarrett Semler came in to pitch the final 1 1/3 innings of the game.

Junior left fielder Casey Johnson, who missed Friday night’s opener with a minor injury, slugged a two-run home run in the seventh to add on to his already impressive afternoon. The homer put the Sooners up 12-5.

To add insult to injury, sophomore catcher Tyler Ogle hit a two-out grand slam to cap off OU’s five-run ninth inning.

Bushyhead and Johnson finished the game gathering three hits apiece, while Bushyhead drove in three runs and Johnson had two RBIs.