Sooners Dominate Dallas Baptist

Dallas Baptist

Oklahoma

Highlights

Box Score

Photos

Notes

Line Score
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
DBU	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	7	3
OU	5	0	6	0	1	0	0	0	X	12	13	0

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W - Irvin (1-0)	5.0	5	2	2	3	5
L - Johnson (2-2)	2.1	9	10	7	1	0
S - N/A	-	-	-	-	-	-

Individual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Neuse	4	2	2	2	1	1
OU - Walker	4	2	3	0	0	0
OU - Hollas	4	1	2	2	0	0

Player of the Game
SS-Sheldon Neuse Neuse homered in back-to-back games for the fourth time in his career. He has slugged six this season and has 19 in his career, which is the second most among active Big 12 players.

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma baseball team put up a pair of crooked numbers early in a 12-2 rout of Dallas Baptist at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Tuesday night. The Sooners improved to 15-14-1 overall, while the Patriots fell to 18-10.

Oklahoma had lost each of its last eight match-ups with Dallas Baptist dating back to 2011.

“I know we've always had a tough time with them since I've been here,” recalled head coach Pete Hughes. “They're a good program and well coached. So that was fun, it's good to play well in a midweek game against a high-level opponent.”

The game got off to a shaky start for Sooner freshman right-hander Jake Irvin (Bloomington, Minn.), who struck out two batters in the first, but walked the bases loaded before getting a groundball to strand all three.

The Oklahoma offense responded with five runs in the bottom half of the first as each of the first three batters reached on a base hit. Junior shortstop Sheldon Neuse (Fort Worth, Texas) brought in the first run of the game with a base hit up the middle to score freshman third baseman Cade Harris (Leona, Texas).

Junior first baseman Austin O'Brien (Owasso, Okla.) extended the Sooner lead with a two-run single up the middle. Freshman designated hitter Steele Walker (Prosper, Texas) then doubled to put two in scoring position for senior left fielder Hunter Haley (Nacogdoches, Texas), who brought in both with an opposite-field single to left that made it a 5-0 OU lead.

“This is how you go on some stretches, especially if you can get the bats hot while playing well,” continued Hughes. “Baylor is pretty good, but we're so caught up on trying to become a better team, it doesn't really matter who we play against. We get caught up in playing better baseball so all these young kids grow up, and that's our goal every game. They're starting to respond to things and make less mistakes.”

Neuse led off the third with a solo home run over the 410' mark in center field, his sixth of the year. Oklahoma would bat around and score six runs on four hits and three DBU errors. Junior second baseman Jack Flansburg (Orange, Calif.) picked up a double and junior center fielder Ben Hollas (Longview, Texas) added a RBI-single.

Irvin (1-0) earned the first win of his career. He struck out five and allowed two runs on five hits and three walks, including a solo home run off the top of the wall down the left field line to Patriots center fielder David Martinelli. Right-hander MD Johnson (2-2) went 2.1 innings and was hammered for 10 runs, seven earned, on nine hits and a walk.

The Sooners outhit the Patriots, 13-7, for the game. Eight starters recorded a hit and four went for multi-hit games. Walker finished the night 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Neuse and Hollas each recorded a pair of hit and a pair of RBI, while O'Brien drove in a team-leading three runs.

Oklahoma remains at home this weekend when Baylor comes to town. The series gets underway Friday, April 8 at 6:00 pm.

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Players Mentioned

Jack Flansburg

Hunter Haley

Cade Harris

Ben Hollas

Jake Irvin

Sheldon Neuse

Sheldon Neuse

Sheldon Neuse

Austin O'Brien

Austin O'Brien

Steele Walker

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University of Oklahoma Athletics