OU Wins Series in Convincing Style

May 11, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
KSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	7	0
OU	3	3	4	0	4	0	0	1	X	10	11	0

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Duke (6-4)	7.0	3	1	1	2	4
L - Murray (2-2)	3.1	6	5	5	0	0
S - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
KSU - Yelovich	2	1	2	0	0	0
OU - Wise	4	2	3	4	1	1

Game Notes
With an RBI single in the fifth inning, Trey Sperring extended his season-best hitting streak to 10 games ... Sperring has hit safely in 15 of the last 16 contests ... OU has scored 10 or more runs in five of the last six games ... J.T. Wise has driven in 12 runs in the last eight games after his four RBI performance on Sunday ... The Sooners were 5-for-9 (.556) on Sunday with runners in scoring position ... J.T. Wise and Mike Gosse each drove in five runs off six hits in the KSU series and combined for three homers over the weekend ... OU finished 21-10 in games played at L. Dale Mitchell Park ... Ryan Duke was awarded a game ball following his sixth win of the season.

Sooner Baseball Central

2008 OU Baseball Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma Sooners finished off the Kansas State Wildcats and the three-game series with a convincing 10-2 win on Sunday during the home finale at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Sunday also marked the final home game for seven OU seniors (Aljay Davis, Mike Gosse, Jarod Freeman, Jake McCarter, Ryan Mottern, Drew Roberts and Zach Sawyer).

After KSU won the series opener on Friday, 6-4, the Sooners received stellar performances from its starting pitching and offense in games two and three. The Sooners scored 20 runs over the final two games and Ryan Duke followed up Andrew Doyle's win on the mound on Saturday with a seven-inning gem on Sunday.

More importantly, the win moves OU (31-21-1 overall, 8-15-1 Big 12) into eighth place in the Big 12 standings with one week to go in the regular season. Kansas State dropped a 1/2 game back of OU into ninth place with a 24-27 overall record and 8-16 Big 12 mark.

"Today, the key was Duke on the mound," said OU head coach Sunny Golloway after Sunday's game. "He kept shutting them down and making pitches. He pitched really well and the team rallied around that pitching performance and scored runs when it needed to. We had a couple of big innings that opened it up for us."

Duke improved to 6-4 after he shut down the Wildcats' offense and held it to one run off three hits over seven innings. Duke also struck out four batters and did not allow a run until the eighth inning while the OU offense chased Justin Murray (2-2) after 3 1/3 innings. Murray allowed five runs off six hits in the start for Kansas State.

J.T. Wise led the Sooners' 11 hit performance on Sunday by establishing a career high with four RBIs and tied Casey Johnson with a game-high three hits. OU scored first with a single run in the first inning, but put things out of reach with four runs in the third and fifth innings.

The Sooners struck first on Wise's two-out single that brought home Aljay Davis to take a 1-0 lead. Mike Gosse put the Sooners ahead 2-0 with an RBI single in the third inning before Wise broke things open with a three-run homer to right field.

In the bottom of the sixth and OU leading 5-0, Wise struck again with his third hit of the ball game which was sandwiched between a walk issued to Gosse and a hit by pitch to Baker. Casey Johnson put OU ahead 6-0 with a two-run double to right field and Trey Sperring followed with a single through the left side as the Sooners took a 7-0 lead. Pinch hitter Spencer Selby plated the fourth and final run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to right field.

The Wildcats finally broke through and scored on Duke in the eighth inning. After retiring the side in order in the seventh, Duke allowed a leadoff single before getting relieved by Michael Rocha. Kansas State scored on Brett Scott's RBI double in the eighth inning, the Wildcats fifth hit of the game.

The Sooners regained the nine-run advantage with Gosse's seventh homer of the season in the bottom of the eighth. The solo shot was Gosse's second of the series and drove in his fifth RBI of the weekend.

The Sooners will return to action next weekend to play No. 8 Oklahoma State in the Ford Bedlam Series. The series opener will take place at Drillers Stadium in Tulsa at 7:30 p.m. before the series shifts to Oklahoma City on Saturday and Sunday. Game two is slated for a 7:35 p.m. first pitch on Saturday at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark and the series will conclude on Sunday at 4 p.m.

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