Delayed Okies OK in end

Posted: Monday, June 21, 2010 4:23 pm
By: By The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Sunny Golloway was plumb tuckered out Sunday night, and he wasn’t even one of the guys playing.
After two rain delays totaling more than six hours, the Oklahoma coach watched Jeremy Erben and Ryan Duke worked out of bases-loaded situations in the eighth and ninth innings to hold off South Carolina 4-3 in the College World Series on Sunday night.
“That was not an easy day,” Golloway said. “I kept looking at my watch during the delay and thinking we left the hotel at 10 o’clock, and we were at the 10-hour mark at one point. It’s a good thing the student-athletes were performing. I don’t know that my body would have allowed it after that long of a delay.”
Caleb Bushyhead homered and drove in the go-ahead run, and Garrett Buechele hit a deep drive to left in the eighth to give the Sooners a two-run cushion that allowed Duke to survive a bases-loaded walk to Gamecocks’ slugger Jackie Bradley in the ninth.
When Duke got Adrian Morales to fly out to end the game, he had his 12th save of the season and school record-tying 28th of his career.
South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said both teams handled the challenge of the stop-and-start game.
“It’s just part of baseball. You have rain delays, and that was a tough one,” Tanner said. “But it was the same for both teams. And we came out fighting to the end.”
The Clemson-Arizona State game was postponed until this morning. Oklahoma (50-16) will play the Clemson-Arizona State winner on Tuesday night, with South Carolina (48-16) meeting the loser of that game Tuesday afternoon.
The start of Sunday’s game was delayed 4 hours, 15 minutes, and play was halted for an additional 2:01 by rain and lightning in the middle of the sixth inning.
In games on Saturday at the CWS, UCLA battered Florida 11-3, while TCU routed Florida State 8-1.
UCLA 11, Florida 3
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Despite having been UCLA’s season-long No. 2 starter before Saturday night, Trevor Bauer looked every bit a No. 1 when given the ball for the Bruins’ College World Series opener.
John Savage played a hunch by going with Bauer over Gerrit Cole, and the UCLA coach looked smart after the game.
The sophomore right-hander struck out 11 in strong seven innings and set the UCLA season record, and the Bruins cranked up their offense to beat Florida 11-3 for the program’s first win in Omaha.
“It was a tough decision,” Savage said. “Gerrit has started (first) all season long. That’s one thing we’ve been very consistent with, and we kind of know our roles.
“We just kind of went with the matchup. It could have backfired, but we know we have a bunch of No. 1s. Trevor upheld his end of the deal, and now we’re moving on.”
The Bruins (49-14), who went two-and-out in each of their only two previous Omaha appearances, will play first-time CWS qualifier TCU in a Bracket 1 winners’ game tonight night.
Florida (47-16), the No. 3 national seed, meets Florida State in an elimination game this afternoon.
TCU 8, Florida St. 1
College World Series newcomer TCU isn’t acting like it plans to go home any time soon.
Undefeated freshman Matt Purke overcame early trouble to limit Florida State to four singles and one unearned run over seven innings Saturday, and the Horned Frogs scored five times in the first inning on their way to an 8-1 victory in the CWS opener.
Coming off a hard-earned super-regional win at Texas last week, the Frogs gave Purke a big cushion and continued the Seminoles’ frustration in Omaha.
“This is the point of the season when there are only going to be great teams left playing,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “What we went through last week, there was no tougher situation. Ninety percent of baseball is confidence, and our guys feel good about themselves. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win every time, but we’re going to be ready to play.”
The Frogs (52-12) advance to play UCLA tonight.
TCU is the first team to win its CWS debut since Georgia Tech in 1994 — a team that featured future Boston Red Sox stars Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek.

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