Sooners Survive Late Scare to Beat UT-Arlington

Originally Published: Mar 2, 2010 6:22 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

NORMAN, Oklahoma – The No. 17 Oklahoma baseball team held off a late comeback to defeat UT-Arlington 4-3 in the Sooners’ home opener Tuesday.

Down by one in the top of the ninth, UTA had a runner in scoring position with two outs when Brian Nephew hit a hard ground ball at OU second baseman Danny Black. Black could not field it cleanly, but recovered to throw out Nephew and seal the Sooners’ victory.

The Mavericks entered the ninth down by two, but quickly cut that in half with extra-base hits from their first two batters of the inning. OU closer Ryan Duke responded by retiring the next four batters and earning his fourth save of the season.

The Sooners (7-1) built a lead early in the game with a big third inning for the second consecutive game, this time thanks to a three-run home run from Garrett Buechele with two outs. Buechele then extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth with an RBI single.

UT-Arlington scored one run each in the sixth and ninth innings, but it was not enough to spoil OU’s homecoming. The top of the Sooners’ lineup led the offensive attack, with Buchele, Chris Ellison and Danny Black accounting for four of the team’s seven hits.

Ryan Gibson (2-0) had a strong start for the Sooners, giving up four hits and one run in seven innings of work. He struck out four and walked only one of the 25 batters he faced. Gibson is now one of three Sooners to reach two victories and the run he surrendered Tuesday was his first of the season.

OU’s victory marked the beginning of a home stand that will continue with four games in four days as part of the Sooner Classic in Norman. The Sooners will begin their host tournament at 3 p.m. Thursday against South Florida.