Sooners Survive With 6-1 Win Over Blue Devils

OKLAHOMA CITY - The 20th-ranked and second-seeded Oklahoma Sooners baseball team rallied behind a standout pitching performance by junior David Purcey to stave off elimination with a 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Central Connecticut State Saturday morning in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

OU will now face the loser of the 1 p.m. winner's bracket game between No. 1 seed Florida and No. 3 seed UCLA at approximately 4 p.m. at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark.

“We needed a complete game today to save our pitching for the tournament. David (Purcey) stepped up and gave us a complete game,” commented Oklahoma head coach Larry Cochell. “I also thought we swung the bats a little bit better.”

Box Score | Oklahoma City NCAA Baseball Regional

Purcey tossed his first career complete game in leading the Sooners to their first win of the tournament. The southpaw allowed only one run on five hits and fanned nine batters during his stint.

After allowing the Blue Devils a lone run on a pair of hits in the third inning, the Dallas, Texas native gave up only two more hits over the final six frames. He retired the final seven batters of the game, including the last two on strikeouts.

The Sooner offense doubled their hits production after generating only four hits against UCLA on Friday night in their first game of the tournament. All but three of OU's starting nine contributed a hit with sophomore leftfielder LaFringe Hayes and senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire leading the way with a pair of hits.

The Sooners took advantage of a leadoff single by junior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (1-for-3) in the third inning to score the first run of the game. Scuderi raced around the bases on a double placed in the left-center field gap by Hayes (2-for-4) to score OU's second run of the tournament.

CCSU responded in the bottom of the inning with a run to tie the game at 1-1. The Blue Devils turned a leadoff walk into a run as the baserunner, second baseman Sean Salvatore, advanced around the bases on a ground out and single and scored on a second straight base hit by catcher Tim D'Aquila.

Oklahoma got the run back in the top of the next inning as an error by the Central Connecticut State rightfielder allowed the Sooners' second run to score. Sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger (0-for-3) reached base on a fielder's choice with two outs. Rohlinger moved to third base on a double by freshman catcher Josh Stinson (1-for-3) and continued home as CCSU rightfielder Rob Hosgood missed the cut off man on his throw back into the infield.

OU junior third baseman Matt Bose (0-for-1) led off the sixth inning with his second consecutive walk of the game and moved over to third base on a wild pitch and a sacrifice bunt by McGuire (2-for-3). In the next at bat, Rohlinger successfully executed the squeeze bunt down towards first base to draw the defense and allow Bose to come home for a 3-1 OU lead.

The Sooners opened up a 6-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning to take complete control of the game. Junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-5) led off the frame with his eighth home run of the season to give OU aa 4-1 advantage. It was his fourth lead off home run of year.

Oklahoma continued to plate runs following Thornton's shot off the upper deck in right field. Bose drew his third walk of the contest and again moved over to third base on a wild pitch and bunt single by McGuire. Rohlinger drove him in for the second time in the game on a ground out to third base.

McGuire, who stole second and moved to third on Rohlinger's groundout, scored in the next at bat on a sacrifice fly to center field by Stinson to cap off OU's scoring.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Survive With 6-1 Win Over Blue Devils

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