Strong Pitching Propels Oklahoma to Super Regional

The Sooners got a dominant starting performance from Bobby Shore to knock off North Carolina in the Sunday night game.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:47 am

By: News On 6

Strong Pitching Propels Oklahoma to Super Regional

Originally Published: Jun 6, 2010 10:19 PM CDT

More Norman Regional baseball coverage from Oklahoma Sports

- Sooners' Starter Gets Back on Track in Regional Final
- Strong Pitching Propels Oklahoma to Super Regional

- Tar Heels' Bats Too Much, ORU Eliminated
- Injured Pitching Staff Comes Up Short for Golden Eagles
- Oral Roberts Avoids Elimination with Walk-Off Home Run
- Unlikely Hero Comes up Clutch for Golden Eagles
- Oklahoma Tops North Carolina in Dramatic Fashion
- Golloway's Faith Rewarded in Win over Tar Heels

Gerald Goodridge
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- A strong pitching performance from starter Bobby Shore kept the North Carolina offense from finding a rhythm and secured a 3-2 win for the Sooners, sweeping their regional for the first time since 1995.

With the win Oklahoma (47-15) advances to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament, after failing to escape the regional round in the previous two seasons.

The game was heated from the opening innings. In the top of the first inning with Tyler Ogle at third, Chris Ellison hit a fly ball to right field that was caught for the out. Ogle tagged up and headed home. North Carolina (38-22) right fielder Brian Goodwin – who has 120 put outs on the year – gunned the ball to the catcher. The throw was in time and Ogle collided with Tar Heels’ catcher Ben Bunting and was called out because of the collision due to NCAA rules.

North Carolina pitching coach Scott Forbes, apparently wanting Ogle ejected, came out of the dugout arguingandwas immediately ejected. Forbes continued to argue, even trying to bump chests with the umpire, but eventually left the ballpark under his own power.

OU took its final lead of the game in dramatic fashion. After Max White and Garrett Buechelle struck out to start the inning, Cameron Seitzer walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch and took third on an Ogle single. In the next at-bat, Cody Reine hit an infield single to score Seitzer and take a 3-2 lead.

The Tar Heels scored first in the bottom of the second on a Seth Baldwin RBI single to right field.

Oklahoma answered in the top of the fourth. With runners on first and third, Danny Black laid down a bunt single to bring Seitzer home and knot the game at 1-1.

The Sooners took their first lead of the game in the top of the sixth. North Carolina brought in pitcher Zack Bernard, who had control issues from the moment he entered the game. With runners on first and second, Black added another RBI to his total with a double to the right field wall to score Ogle from second to take a 2-1 lead.

Bernard was then pulled after throwing just five pitches. His replacement, Michael Morin, walked Ricky Eisenberg and then retired Caleb Bushyhead and Ellison to end the inning.

However, North Carolina didn’t wait long to respond. Bunting, up 3-1 in the count, sent a long ball over the left field wall to tie the game at 2-2. That proved to be Shore’s only mistake of the night.

Shore (9-5) gave up just one earned run on four hits in his 7.1 innings of service for Oklahoma. Jeremy Erbanpitched the final 1.2 innings for the Sooners, allowing only one hit.

Michael Morin (5-3) received a loss for the outing after giving up the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning.

Oklahoma advances to the Super Regional round with a site, date and opponent yet to be determined. The Sooners await the winner of Monday’s matchup in the Charlottesville Regional between Virginia and St. Johns.