No. 10 Baseball Wins 7-3 at Little Rock

May 4, 2011

Oklahoma 7, UALR 3
Box Score

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	1	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	7	8	1
UALR	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	3	9	1

Pitching	IP	H	R	E	BB	SO
W - Bruce (2-0)	5.0	5	2	1	2	5
L - Graziano (3-8)	2.2	3	3	3	2	3

Batting Leaders	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
OU - Ellison	3	2	2	2	1	1
UALR - Bignall	4	1	3	1	0	0

Notes
Wednesday's game was the first in 25 games played between OU and UALR away from Norman ... The Sooners are 22-5 when scoring first this season ...Chris Ellison hit his second homer of the year and ninth of his career with a solo shot in the third ... Cale Ellis stole two bases in the fourth inning, doubling his season total ... The Sooners stole four bases on Wednesday, one shy of tying a season high ... OU has 14 multi-stolen base games on the year ... Ryan Duke made his 85th career appearance, 11 behind the all-time lead at OU held by Jarod McAuliff (2002-04).

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The No. 10 Sooners improved to 32-13 on Wednesday with a 7-3 win over Arkansas-Little Rock at Dickey-Stephens Park, the home of the Arkansas Travelers, the AA affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

The win avenged an earlier loss to the Trojans back on March 13 and completed a 3-1 series victory for the Sooners. OU won the first two games of a three-game series back in March in Norman before dropping the finale. UALR dropped to 16-27 on the season and is 3-22 all-time against the Sooners.

On the mound for the Sooners, true freshman Steven Bruce lasted five innings to improve to 2-0 in his first career start. Out side of the unearned run in the second inning, Bruce allowed just one other run, in the fifth, after tossing a career-high 91 pitches. Bruce also finished with a career-high five strikeouts.

“He did a great job in a starting role,” said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway on Bruce. “He pitched really well in a pro ballpark, against a home team that was looking to make a statement with this game.

“We are a ranked team and they already had a win against us earlier in the year, and they could've split a four-game series with us. So he (Bruce) had everything, maybe, working against him, but he pitched really well.”

Offensively on Wednesday, Oklahoma took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second as Cameron Seitzer led off the frame with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch by UALR starter Garret Graziano. Seitzer moved to second base on Ricky Eisenberg's sacrifice bunt and then went to third base on Max White's single before scoring on the wild pitch.

The Trojans immediately countered in the bottom of the second and capitalized on an error by OU shortstop Cale Ellis to score an unearned run.

In the third inning, Chris Ellison led off the third with a solo home run, his second of the year, and Cameron Seitzer followed with a RBI single four batters later. The long ball, the Sooners' 34th of the year, a Big 12 best, paved the way for the victory as OU never looked back.

Ellison struck again in the fourth inning with a two-out sacrifice squeeze to give OU a 4-1 lead.

The Trojans threatened in the sixth inning after Bruce left the ballgame and after Tyson Seng walked the only two batters he faced, Kindle Ladd recorded three straight outs, two via strikeout, with the bases loaded. Anthony Collazo tossed 1 1/3 inning and Ryan Duke closed out the ninth. Four different Sooner relievers combined to surrender one run on four hits.

Ellison and Seitzer led Oklahoma's offense with two hits apiece as the Sooners also swiped four stolen bases on the evening.

“We were aggressive tonight and that's something we need to carry over into the weekend,” added Golloway.

OU returns to Big 12 play over the weekend and hosts Kansas in a three-game series (May 6-8).