OU Cruises Past Southern Nazarene

April 16, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
SNU	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	-	3	6	5
OU	3	1	1	1	2	0	1	6	-	15	14	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Rocha (3-1)	2.1	1	1	0	0	2
L - Ledbetter (1-5)	1.0	3	4	4	1	0
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
SNU - Floyd	2	0	2	0	0	0
OU - Davis	4	1	3	4	2	1

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma Sooners (24-13-1) won their second straight game with a 15-3 victory over visiting Southern Nazarene (29-17) on Wednesday in eight innings.

OU is a perfect 13-0 in mid week games this season and will look to carry the momentum into this weekend's series against No. 11 Missouri.

Aljay Davis finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the eighth inning which completed the run-rule victory.

The Sooners improved to 13-0 in mid week games thanks to an offensive attack that plated 15 runs on 14 hits and scored in every frame but the sixth. Davis and Casey Johnson led the way with three hits each and Bryant Hernandez (two RBIs) and Trey Sperring added two hits apiece. Johnson tied a season best with three RBIs and connected for his fourth homer of the year in the third inning.

"I think we got some needed momentum for this weekend after last night and today," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. "Missouri is a very good club, so it should be a competitive series."

The Sooners got started early with three runs in the first inning. After J.T. Wise plated the first run on a sacrifice fly to right field, Casey Johnson brought home two runs on a double to the gap in right center field.

The Sooners plated single runs in the second, third and fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead after four innings. SNU's Grant Ledbetter dropped to 1-5 after giving up the first four runs in just an inning pitched.

OU starter Antwonie Hubbard made his first career start on Wednesday and struck out four of the first six batters he faced. However, Southern Nazarene, which entered the game with 73 homers on the season, hit solo shots off Hubbard in the third inning and again in the fourth to narrow the gap. The Sooners countered with a RBI single off the bat of Aljay Davis in the bottom of the fourth and two runs in the fifth inning on Bryant Hernandez's sacrifice fly and Tyson Seng's RBI ground out.

Hubbard's outing ended after 4 2/3 innings and he was relieved by Michael Rocha in the fifth. Hubbard's eight strikeouts is a season best for any Sooner in 2008. After Rocha recorded the final out of the frame and a 1-2-3 sixth inning, the Crimson Storm tallied an unearned run in the top of the seventh inning.

Rocha earned the win to improve to 3-1 after 2 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed one hit and one unearned run for his victory out of the bullpen this season.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Sooners extended their lead to 9-3 on Casey Johnson's triple to center field. Johnson scored on an error by the center fielder and the Sooners had a chance to add extra insurance in the inning but left the bases loaded.

In the top of the eighth, Tyson Seng made his first appearance on the mound since March 12, and allowed two hits in the frame. In the bottom of the eighth, OU put the game away on Davis' three-run homer to left field, his first of the season.

The Sooners will host No. 11 Missouri in Norman for a three-game set over the weekend.

The series, which begins on Friday at 6:30 p.m., marks the Sooners fifth straight ranked opponent in Big 12 play. The first 250 fans will receive a free foam schooner hat on Friday. On Saturday, the Sooners and Tigers will get started at 2 p.m. and the first 1,000 fans will receive 2008 OU trading cards. The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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