Sooners, rain big winners on Sunday

OMAHA, Neb. – Oklahoma and Mother Nature were the winners Sunday at the College World Series.

Thunderstorms postponed the start of Oklahoma’s game with South Carolina for 4 hours and 15 minutes, and then another thunderstorm of 2:01 during the game postponed Sunday’s scheduled evening contest between top-seeded Arizona State and Clemson until Monday at 11 a.m. ET.

In the game that did get completed, Caleb Bushyhead homered and drove in a second run and the Sooners’ bullpen worked out of a pair of bases-loaded situations in the eighth and ninth innings to beat South Carolina, 4-3, at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium.

The victory put Oklahoma (50-16) into a winners’ bracket game Tuesday night at 9 p.m. against the winner of the Arizona State-Clemson game. The loser will play South Carolina (48-16) in the losers’ bracket game at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

After Oklahoma took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off South Carolina starter Blake Cooper, the Gamecocks came back to tie it in the top of the second on a home run by Christian Walker, one of four solo homers in the game.

Bushyhead then gave the Sooners a 2-1 lead with a home run in the bottom of the second inning off Cooper (12-2), who went five innings, allowing six hits and three runs while striking out five.

After South Carolina’s Jackie Bradley Jr. homered in the top of the fourth off Oklahoma starter Michael Rocha, Bushyhead gave his team the lead for good at 3-2 with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth.

Rocha (8-2) went six innings, allowing five hits and two earned runs with three walks and two strikeouts. He was relieved by Jeremy Erben to start the seventh inning, and Erben got a pair of strikeouts in the inning to lead the tying run at second base.

In the top of the eighth, South Carolina’s Whit Merrifield singled and Erben issued a pair of walks with two outs. But Brady Thomas lined out to right to end the inning.

Garrett Bueschele gave the Sooners a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth when he hit his team-leading 17th home off submariner Jose Mata.

In the ninth, Kyle Enders and Robert Beary singled off Erben to lead off. That brought in Ryan Duke, who walked Evan Marzilli with one out to load the bases. Duke then walked Jackie Bradley on four pitches to force in a run, but he got Adrian Morales to fly out to end the game and earn his 12th save.

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES / Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium / Omaha, Neb. / Sunday, June 20, 2010 / Game 3

OKLAHOMA 4, SOUTH CAROLINA 3

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS 3 (48-16)

ab r h rbi


1. Evan Marzilli, lf 3 0 0 0

2. Whit Merrifield, rf 4 0 1 0

3. Jackie Bradley Jr., cf 4 1 2 2

4. Adrian Morales, 3b 4 0 0 0

5. Christian Walker, qb 3 1 2 1

6. Brady Thomas, dh 4 0 2 0

7. Kyle Enders, c 2 1 1 0

8. Bobby Haney, ss 3 0 0 0

Robert Beary, ph 1 0 1 0

9. Scott Wingo, 3b 2 0 0 0

Nick Ebert, ph 1 0 0 0

Adam Matthews, rf 1 0 0 0

Blake Cooper, p 0 0 0 0

Michael Roth, p 0 0 0 0

John Taylor, p 0 0 0 0

Steven Neff, p 0 0 0 0

Jose Mata, p 0 0 0 0

Tyler Webb, p 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 32 3 9 3

OKLAHOMA SOONERS 4 (50-16)

ab r h rbi


1. Chris Ellison, cf 3 1 1 0

2. Max White, lf 3 0 0 0

3. Garrett Buechele, 3b 4 1 1 1

4. Tyler Ogle, c 4 0 1 1

5. Cody Reine, rf 4 1 2 0

Kaleb Herren, rf 0 0 0 0

6. Cameron Seitzer, 1b 2 0 0 0

7. Danny Black, 2b 3 0 0 0

8. Caleb Bushyhead, ss 3 1 2 2

9. Eric Ross, dh 2 0 0 0

Ricky Eisenberg, ph 1 0 0 0

Michael Rocha, p 0 0 0 0

Jeremy Erben, p 0 0 0 0

Ryan Duke, p 0 0 0 0

TOTALS 29 4 7 4

Score by innings

South Carolina 010 100 001 — 3 9 0

Oklahoma 110 100 01x — 4 7 0

DP—Oklahoma 1. LOB—South Carolina 10, Oklahoma 5. HR—Bradley (12), Walker (8), Buechele (17), Bushyhead (6). HBP—Seitzer. SH—Enders (5), White (4), Seitzer (5). SB—Ellison (24). CS—Thomas (2).

South Carolina ip h r er bb so era

Blake Cooper 5.0 6 3 3 1 5 2.92

Michael Roth 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 1.44

John Taylor 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 3.76

Steven Neff 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 4.11

Jose Mata 0.2 1 1 1 0 0 2.51

Tyler Webb 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 4.11

Oklahoma ip h r er bb so era

Michael Rocha 6.0 5 2 2 3 2 3.53

Jeremy Erben 2.0 4 1 1 2 2 3.68

Ryan Duke 1.0 0 0 0 2 1 3.31

Win—Rocha (8-2). Loss—Cooper (12-2). Save—Duke (12). HBP—by Roth (Seitzer). Inherited runners/scored: Duke 2/1. Pitches/strikes: South Carolina, Cooper 67/48; Roth 19/11; Taylor 2/2; Neff 1/1; Mata 12/9; Webb 12/9. Oklahoma, Rocha 86/47; Erben 55/31; Duke 19/9. Umpires—HP, Kelly Gonzales; 1B, Gus Rodriguez; 2B, David Savage; 3B, Mark Ditsworth. Time—2:53. A—22,835. Game delays: Start of game 4:15 by thunderstorm; 2:01 by thunderstorm prior to bottom of sixth inning.

NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES / Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium / Omaha, Neb. / June 19-30

BRACKET 1

Saturday, June 19


Game 1: Texas Christian 8, Florida State 1

Game 2: UCLA 11, Florida 3

Monday, June 21

Game 5: Florida State (47-19) vs. Florida (47-16), 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Elimination game

Game 6: Texas Christian (52-12) vs. UCLA (49-14), 9 p.m. (ESPN2HD)

Wednesday, June 23

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 7 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Elimination game

Friday, June 25

Game 11: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 9, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Possible elimination game. If Winner Game 6 wins Game 11, it moves into Championship Series and Loser Game 11 is eliminated; if Winner Game 6 loses, teams play Saturday, June 26 at 2 p.m.

Saturday, June 26

Game 13: Winner Game 11 vs. Loser Game 11, 2 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Winner to Championship Series, loser eliminated.

BRACKET 2

Sunday, June 20


Game 3: Oklahoma 4, South Carolina 3

Game 4: (1) Arizona State (52-8) vs. Clemson (43-23), ppd. because of weather delays to Monday morning at 11 a.m. ET

Monday, June 21

Game 4: (1) Arizona State (52-8) vs. Clemson (43-23), 11 a.m. (ESPNU)

Tuesday, June 22

Game 7: South Carolina (48-16) vs. Loser Game 4, 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Elimination game

Game 8: Oklahoma (49-16) vs. Winner Game 4, 9 p.m. (ESPN2HD)

Thursday, June 24

Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 8, 7 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Elimination game

Friday, June 25

Game 12: Winner Game 8 vs. Winner Game 10, 9 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Possible elimination game. If Winner Game 8 wins Game 12, it moves into Championship Series and Loser Game 12 is eliminated; if Winner Game 8 loses, teams play Saturday, June 26 at 2 or 7 p.m.

Saturday, June 26

Game 13/14: Winner Game 12 vs. Loser Game 12, 2 or 7 p.m. (ESPN2HD). Winner to Championship Series, loser eliminated.

CHAMPIONSHIP / Best-of-3 series

Monday, June 28

Game 1: Bracket I winner vs. Bracket II winner, 7:30 p.m. ET

Tuesday, June 29

Game 2: Bracket I winner vs. Bracket II winner, 7:30 p.m. ET

Wednesday, June 30

Game 3: Bracket I winner vs. Bracket II winner, if necessary, 7:30 p.m. ET