John, Sooners Cruise Past Lions

Feb. 23, 2011

No. 4 Oklahoma 12, UAPB 1 (7 inn.)
Box Score |

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
UAPB	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	-	-	1	6	2
OU	0	0	2	1	3	6	X	-	-	12	10	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	E	BB	SO
W - John (2-0)	7.0	6	1	0	2	9
L - Dunn (0-1 )	4.0	5	4	4	3	0

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Buechele	4	2	1	5	0	1
UAPB - Austin	3	1	2	0	0	0

Notes:
John's nine strikeouts tied a season high by a Sooner with Burch Smith, who punched out nine against William and Mary on Feb. 19 ... John is the third Sooner starter to last seven innings in a start (Michael Rocha and Dillon Overton) ... Garrett Buechele's career-high five RBIs tied the total set on April 30, 2010 vs. Kansas State ... Buechele leads the Big 12 with four homers ... Only one other player in the conference had more than one homer entering today ... OU has plated 65 runs in the last four games off 65 hits, both marks lead the Big 12 ... The Sooners' previous best start under Golloway came in 2009 and 2010 ... Both those squads won the first five games of the season before dropping game six.

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NORMAN, Okla. -- In his first career start, redshirt freshman Jordan John lasted seven innings with nine strikeouts to lead No. 4 Oklahoma past Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 12-1, on Wednesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Sooner offense, which has scored 65 runs in the last four games, only needed seven innings on Wednesday to complete the run-rule victory. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-4) took an early 1-0 lead in the third inning, but the Sooners took over in the bottom half of the frame and cruised to a 6-0 record.

The last time OU won six straight games to start off a campaign was in 1998. That club began the season with a 12-0 mark before suffering its first loss in the 13th game.

John (2-0) made his first career appearance in relief on Saturday and recorded the win with three scoreless innings and three strikeouts. His only blemish on Wednesday was an unearned run scored in the third inning when Arkansas-Pine Bluff collected three of its six hits in the game. John countered with four scoreless frames after that and produced 1-2-3 innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning. Three of his career-high nine strikeouts came in the seventh and final frame.

A year after sitting out his first season in Norman with Tommy John surgery, John leads OU with two wins and 12 strikeouts.

“He wasn't 13-0 and an All-American in high school for nothing,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway on the highly touted John. “He knows how to pitch. He knows how to compete.”

While John kept the Lions at bay, Garrett Buechele paced the OU offense and tied a career high with five RBIs, including his fourth home run of the year, a three-run shot in the sixth inning to give OU a 10-1 lead.

Later in the sixth, Jack Mayfield gave OU the double-digit cushion with a two-run single to left field. Mayfield was the only Sooner on Wednesday to produce a multi-hit game. Mayfield's first career triple earlier in the game was the first of 10 on the afternoon for Oklahoma.

The Lions' William Dunn (0-1) lasted four innings in his first start of the year. The right-hander surrendered four runs off five hits and three walks.

The Sooners are 8-0 all-time against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and will conclude the current nine-game home stand this weekend with a first-time opponent in Oakland.

The three-game series with the Grizzlies from Rochester, Mich. begins on Friday,Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. Game two is set for noon on Saturday and the series closes out on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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