Baseball Rebounds With 4-2 Win Over Cal State Northridge

SURPRISE, Ariz. Following a 15-5 defeat in their season opener, solid pitching and defense remedied the Oklahoma baseball team's woes as they bounced back with a 4-2 win over Cal State Northridge on Saturday in the Coca-Cola Spring Classic. OU starting pitcher Casey Brown (1-0) kept the Sooners in the game with a solid pitching performance and junior closer Jarod McAuliff shutdown two late CSUN rallies for his first save. A day after Oklahoma posted four errors on the scoreboard, the Sooners' defense was flawless. The win evened the Sooners' season and tournament record at 1-1, while the Matadors fell to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the classic.

Brown started the game by giving up his only run in the first inning before settling in to retire eight of the next 10 batters over the next three innings. He threw seven complete innings and surrendered only six hits, two walks and struck out a pair.

Box Score

McAuliff worked his way out of two tight situations in the eighth and ninth innings for the save. The junior righty came on with two runners on base in the eighth inning and, despite allowing a fielder's choice and a single to the first two batters he faced, struck out the final batter to end the threat. He again faced a similar situation in the Matadors' final at bats as they got the first two batters aboard before the Sooners' defense got him out of the jam with a key double play and he fielded his position well to assist on the final putout.

Offensively, sophomore second baseman Russell Raley and senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire both turned in two hit performances. The Sooners were also successful at scoring in three of the five innings they got their leadoff hitter on base.

.With the game at a 2-1 stalemate since the second inning, Oklahoma opened up a three-run lead in the seventh with a pair of scores. McGuire (2-for-2) got things started with a single and scored two batters later on freshman leftfielder Aaron Ivey's (1-for-4) first career hit, a double to right. With two out in the inning, senior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (0-for-2) began another mini-rally by reaching second base on back-to-back errors by the Northridge second baseman. Oklahoma's second baseman, Raley (2-for-4), followed with a RBI-single to score Scuderi for the 4-1 advantage.

Both teams generated some offense early as each one scored a single run in the first frame. Oklahoma manufactured a run early in the top of the first inning as junior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (0-for-4) got the game going with a leadoff walk, was sacrificed to second and stole third base. Scuderi then came home on a wild pitch to put the Sooners ahead 1-0.

The Matadors battled back and knotted the game up in the bottom of the inning. A leadoff double by CSUN centerfielder Quinn Ciccarelli led to the tying run as left fielder Keith Renno delivered a two out RBI single to bring him in.

The Sooners went ahead in the second inning with a single run. The Sooners' effort was aided by an error on the CSUN second baseman who booted a ball that allowed junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-4), who had doubled to start the inning, to come around the bases to score.

In OU's tournament finale, lefty David Purcey will make his first start of the year for the Sooners on the mound. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. (CST).