OU Rallies for 10th Inning Victory Over ORU

No. 11 Oklahoma 7, Oral Roberts 6 (10 inn.)

Danny Black had a career-high four hits on Friday

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H
ORU	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	0	0	6	13
OU	0	2	0	1	2	0	0	1	0	1	7	11

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Duke (2-0)	1.1	2	0	0	0	1
L - Johnson (2-4)	4.2	5	2	2	3	7
SV - none	-	-	-	-	-	-

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Black	5	2	4	1	0	0
ORU - Saladino	5	1	3	3	0	1

Oklahoma vs. Oral Roberts Game Highlights

Post-Game Press Conference

Oklahoma vs. Oral Roberts Photo Gallery

Box Score: Oklahoma 7, Oral Roberts 6 (PDF)

Post-Game: Coach & Player Quotes

Game Notes
OU is 4-1 in NCAA Tournament openers under Golloway and 23-10 overall ... Garrett Buechele extended his hitting streak to nine games ... He has hit safely in 30 of the last 32 games ... Reine's homer was the 18th this season by the Sooners in the eighth and ninth innings ... Seven of OU's 25 come-from-behind victories this season have come when trailing after seven innings ... OU is 11-5 in one-run games this season and 60-24-1 under Golloway ... Friday's game was the third in extra innings for OU (2-1) this season ... The Sooners are 17-3-1 in extra frames under Golloway.

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NCAA Norman Regional Central

NORMAN, Okla. -- For the fourth time in the last five wins, the No. 11 Sooners produced a comeback victory in the ninth inning or later with a 7-6 win in 10 innings on Friday in the Norman Regional opener over Oral Roberts. Chris Ellison delivered the decisive hit in the bottom of the 10th to bring home Cody Reine.

Two innings earlier, Reine smashed his sixth home run of the year off the light pole in right field to tie the game at six apiece.

"Great college baseball game," said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. "In 15 of these now, you realize what your student-athletes go through, and the pressure and how things amount this time a year. Everybody wants to win so bad and, as coaches, we just get out of the way and don't make more of it than they already know what it is, and just let them go play. I just saw some student-athletes that I was extremely proud of on both sides of the field. The game came down to a few key plays."

One of those key plays came on the defensive end as Danny Black made a diving stop up the middle to keep the ball in the infield in the ninth with Ryan Duke (2-0) on the mound. Instead of scoring the potential game-winning run, it loaded the bases for Duke as he forced Chris Elder into an inning-ending ground out.

"Danny Black's play up the middle (in the ninth) was outstanding," added Golloway. "Chris Ellison clutched up. (Cody) Reine, to my right, came up big for us when we needed it."

Black played a key role defensively in the game but his bat was just as effective with a career-high four hits, including a RBI single in the fifth inning. Black and Reine (2-for-4, three runs) led the offensive charge that featured 11 hits.

Oklahoma (45-15) held a 5-1 after five innings, but Oral Roberts (35-25) countered with a five-run sixth inning. It was the first meeting between the in-state schools since 2004 and the third meeting in the postseason (OU leads 3-0).

Michael Rocha got the start and the Sooners were cruising along until Tyler Saladino's three-run homer in the sixth inning cut the lead down to one run, 5-4, in the sixth inning. A double by Chris Elder in the next at-bat ended Rocha's afternoon and Jeremy Erben was unable to stop the bleeding as ORU smacked another homer, this time off the bat of Seth Furmanek to take a 6-5 lead.

Erben settled down and the homer was the only run allowed in his 3 2/3 innings. He paved the way to Duke, who made his first appearance since May 18 against Arkansas.

"I thought our pitching was really tough," said Golloway. "I think we pitched the ball really well today, and if it didn't look like that, it was a tribute to the hitters who were stepping in the box for Oral Roberts University. They played great. It was a great game and we were very fortunate to come out with the victory."

While Rocha allowed five runs in five innings, his opposition, Bryce Smolen, also gave up five runs in five innings. ORU reliever Sean Johnson (2-4) gave up the final two runs over 4 2/3 innings for the loss.

The Sooners will play North Carolina, the No. 3 seed, on Saturday at 7 p.m. after the Tar Heels topped Cal, 12-3 in game two on Friday. It marks the first meeting between the two programs and tickets are available on SoonerSports.com or at the box office.

ORU and Cal will play game one on Saturday in the loser's bracket at 1 p.m.