Baseball Sweeps Arkansas Pine Bluff

Feb. 27, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UAPB	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	8	2
OU	0	0	0	2	6	0	0	1	X	9	11	4

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Blue (1-0)	5	5	2	2	0	2
L - Clark (0-2)	0	3	5	5	1	0

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	3B
UAPB - Pace	3	1	2	1	1	0
OU - Wise	4	1	2	3	0	1

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- The OU baseball team rattled off its third straight win on Wednesday, a 9-3 victory over visiting Arkansas Pine Bluff at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Sooners have not lost a game since dropping the season opener to then No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, a game which they lost in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off homer.

After a slow start on Wednesday, the Sooners' offense was led by sophomore Spencer Selby's two-run homer in the fourth and junior J.T. Wise's three-run triple in the fifth inning.

Despite going scoreless for the first three innings, the OU offense put together a solid outing at the plate on Wednesday by laying down sac bunts and connecting for extra base hits.

"Bunting the ball today is what opened up the game," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "We just tried to lay it on the ground and get guys in scoring position and all of a sudden, bases loaded and J.T. bangs a triple. So the timing of that was perfect."

Junior C.J. Blue earned the win in his first appearance as a Sooner. The Terrell, Texas, native struck out two batters during his five-inning start. Blue allowed two runs, one in the first and one in the fifth, off five hits and zero walks. Blue is the eighth OU pitcher to make his debut this season.

For the second straight day, the visiting Golden Lions jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. The OU offense waited until the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead on Selby's second homer of the season. The Oklahoma City native leads the Sooners in 2008 with two homers, five RBIs and a .462 batting average.

Oklahoma opened the game up with six runs in the fifth inning after batting around the order. Wise's bases clearing triple to center field paved the way while junior Matt Harughty also drove in a run during the frame on a sacrifice bunt.

The Sooners tacked on another run in the eighth and finished the game with 11 hits to the Golden Lions' eight. Four Sooners (Selby, Wise, junior Trey Sperring and senior Aljay Davis) finished with two hits and Wise had a game-high three RBIs.

That was all the offense the Sooner pitching staff needed to record the win. Blue is the third straight OU starter to put together a quality start of at least five innings. The only starter not to last five innings was sophomore Jeremy Erben, who lasted four innings in the season opener but struck out five and allowed one earned run.

Solid pitching has been the key to success for OU this season, so far after four games, the pitching staff's ERA is under three and has struck out 40 batters.

The pitching and the rest of the Sooners will be tested this weekend as they travel south to play in the Houston College Classic. OU will begin things on Friday at noon against No. 15 Rice in a rematch of the 2006 Houston Super Regional.

On Saturday, the Sooners will face another 2006 NCAA Tournament foe, Houston, at noon.

OU will conclude the tournament on Sunday at 11 a.m. against Tennessee. The Sooners and Volunteers have not faced each other since the 1951 season, when OU claimed its first national title with a 3-2 win in the title game over Tennessee.

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