Selby's Late Homer Keys OU Win

March 1, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H
OU	1	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	3	8	8
UH	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	0	5	11

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - McCarter (1-0)	3.0	2	0	0	0	1
L - Stuckey (0-1)	3.0	1	3	3	2	6

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
UH - Austin Goolsby	4	1	3	1	1	0
OU - Gosse	4	2	3	3	0	2

Post-game Video:
2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

HOUSTON, Texas --Sophomore Spencer Selby drove a three-run home run over the left-field fence in the top of the tenth inning to give the Sooners' (4-2) an 8-5 win over Houston (4-3) on Saturday afternoon at Minute Maid Park in game two of the Houston College Classic.

"Right now we are 4-2 and we could be easily be 2-4, so I am proud of this team and the players' effort," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "We have had some breaks go our way but we have created them with mental toughness, with a lot of hustle and a positive attitude. I really like our young guys and I like the way they are fighting. As we play more games and develop, I think everything is going to work out for us."

Oklahoma hit four homers in the game, two by senior Mike Gosse, and senior Jake McCarter (1-0) earned the win with three solid innings of relief. Houston's Ty Stuckey (0-1) was responsible for the final three runs and suffered the loss, but John Touchton surrendered the game-winning homer.

Selby's 10th-inning heroics were made possible by solid pitching and defense late in the game by the Sooners. McCarter entered the game in the bottom of the eighth with no outs and the bases loaded and limited the Cougars to one run. In the ninth, OU needed a perfectly executed relay from center field to send the game to extra innings.

In the bottom of the ninth, McCarter found trouble after allowing a two-out single to Bryan Pounds that bounced hard near the top of the left-field wall. The next batter, Austin Goolsby drove a double into the gap in left center that was out of the reach of a diving Selby and it appeared deep enough to score Pounds. But the throw from center fielder Jamie Johnson hit Matt Harughty at the cutoff and his relay to home plate was just in time to preserve the game and send it to extra innings.

In the top half of the ninth, junior J.T. Wise tied the ball game at four runs off his sacrifice fly to center field. Wise made the second out of the inning but plated Selby, who tripled one batter earlier to the gap in right center.

Gosse led off the game with a home run off Houston's Jared Ray and followed that up with a two-run shot, also to right field, in the third inning to give OU a 3-0 lead.

In the Houston fourth, the Cougars cut the lead down to one run, 3-2, on Matt Murphy's RBI single and Austin Goolsby's RBI double to the gap in left center field. In their next inning, Houston took a 4-3 lead on Chase Dempsay's two-run single to center field.

After Wise tied the game with the sacrifice fly in the sixth, Houston regained the lead in the bottom of the eighth, taking a 5-4 advantage on a run-scoring fielder's choice. However, the Cougars' lead was short lived as Wise connected again, this time off UH reliever Ty Stuckey for his first home run of the year.

Chase Anderson started the game for OU and lasted four innings and surrendered four runs off six hits and three walks. Anderson kept OU in the game with four strikeouts and received solid support out of the bullpen. Besides McCarter's three innings, senior Ryan Mottern held Houston scoreless for two innings and freshman Ryan Duke allowed one run in his one inning of relief.

"I thought our guys really threw the ball well today," said Golloway. "Chase (Anderson) threw well, Mottern was outstanding and we took him out because his back tightened up a bit. I thought Duke, the freshman threw really well, he got the bases loaded and it was time to go to Jake McCarter. What a job Jake (McCarter) did, to give up one run with bases loaded and no outs."

Offensively, OU was outhit 13-8 but its four round trippers proved to be the difference. Gosse recorded a game-high three hits and three RBIs and Selby finished with two hits and three runs driven in.

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.

The game will be broadcast live on the internet on Oklahoma All-Access. The paid site is available on SoonerSports.com. In addition, a live web cast is available for a fee on www.astros.com.

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