Rocha Blanks Tennessee in 2-0 Win

March 2, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	0
UT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Rocha (1-0)	8.0	2	0	0	0	7
L - Morgado (1-1)	8.0	5	2	1	2	10
S - McCarter (2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0

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

Game Notes
Michael Rocha and Mike Gosse were both named to the Houston College Classic All-Tournament Team ... Rocha had argueably the best outing for any starting pitcher in the nine games played ... Gosse hit .364 in the three games, including his two home runs and three RBIs during the win over Houston ... OU's win over Tennessee was the second in the overall series ... The only other time the two teams met was during the 1951 NCAA Championship game that saw OU defeat Tennessee, 3-2.

Post-game Video:
2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

HOUSTON, Texas --Several of OU's pitchers this season have put together solid performances on the mound, but none have been as good as true freshman Michael Rocha's two-hit performance on Sunday against Tennessee. Rocha blanked the Volunteers in eight innings of work and struck out seven to lead OU to a 2-0 victory at Minute Maid Park in the Houston College Classic.

Oklahoma finished the weekend with a 2-1 record and has won five of its last six games. The Sooners improved to 5-2 overall after two weekends of play. Rocha (1-0) recorded his first victory of the season in his second start. Last weekend, the Buda, Texas, native struck out seven and allowed two runs at then-No. 1 UCLA, but did not register a decision.

The Sooner offense gave Rocha and senior Jake McCarter, who recorded his second save of the season after pitching the ninth, all the offense they needed early.

OU finished the day with just five hits to Tennessee's two. OU junior J.T. Wise finished with a game-high three hits and connected for OU's only RBI of the day, a hard-hit single in the third inning.

"We faced some solid pitching today from Tennessee and we have faced good arms in both of our opening weekends," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "I am proud that our young guys are battling really good arms and finding ways to win and getting better along the way."

For the second consecutive game, OU jumped on top early with a run scored in the second inning off a pair of Tennessee errors. With two outs and Doug Buser on first base, Vols' second baseman Andy Simunic was charged with a throwing error allowing junior Trey Sperring to reach first base and move Buser up to third. During the next Sooner at-bat, Sperring stole second base and in the process, Tennessee committed their second error of the inning, this time by first baseman Yan Gomes, who tried throwing out Sperring at second base. The errant throw allowed Buser to score and gave OU a 1-0 lead.

In the Sooners' third, OU took a 2-0 lead thanks to Wise's third RBI of the weekend on a single through the left side of the infield that plated senior Mike Gosse, who doubled down the right-field line earlier in the frame.

Rocha was impressive early for Oklahoma, retiring the first 12 batters he faced until hitting Cody Brown to lead off the fifth inning. Tennessee followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases with nobody out, but Rocha battled out of the jam by retiring three straight batters to end the frame, including two via a strikeout.

For Tennessee, Bryan Morgado was also effective on the mound. Despite giving up two runs early, the left-hander settled down and struck out 10 batters over eight innings.

Rocha's day ended after the eighth inning and he gave way to McCarter, who nailed the door shut with a 1-2-3 inning. McCarter recorded the win yesterday for OU against Houston and is 1-0 this year with two saves.

The Sooners return to Norman to begin a seven-game home stand at L. Dale Mitchell Park. That stretch begins with North Dakota State on Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Sooners and Bison return to action on Wednesday for a doubleheader at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday will mark the $.50 hot dog and coke day at the ballpark. Following the mid week series, OU will host Western Illinois over the weekend in Norman for a four-game series, featuring a doubleheader on Saturday.

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