OU baseball: Gray tosses complete-game shutout in series opener

The Associated Press

OU sophomore Jonathan Gray throws a pitch against Oklahoma State on Saturday, May 5, 2012, in Oklahoma City. The Sooners beat the Cowboys, 8-4.

The No. 23 Oklahoma baseball team improved to 15-4 following Friday night’s 1-0 victory against Northwestern State at L. Dale Mitchell Park thanks to junior pitcher Jonathan Gray’s complete-game effort and junior designated hitter Matt Oberste's solo homer.

Key Stat: 12 — Junior pitcher Jonathan Gray struck out a career-high 12 Demons in Friday night’s victory. He did so while barely breaking a sweat, throwing a complete-game shutout on 111 pitches. He now has thrown 16 straight scoreless innings.

Key Player: Junior pitcher Jonathan Gray — When your team wins 1-0, the starting pitcher without question is going to be the key player. Gray tossed a complete-game shutout while allowing only five hits and striking out a career-high 12 batters. The flame thrower — Gray touched 100 mph throughout the game, including on the final pitch of the outing — improved to 4-1 while lowering his ERA to 1.51. This was Gray’s second straight shutout start, and the impressive thing about this one was the fact he only used two pitches: his fastball and slider.

Hit Streak Watch: Junior designated hitter Matt Oberste extended his hit streak to 22 games with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. The streak is tied for third best with former OU first baseman Aaron Baker (2007) in program history.

What it means: The Sooners are halfway to accomplishing their goal for every weekend: winning the series. One more win, and they’ll have met that goal, which would be a good rebound from last weekend after dropping two-of-three games on the West Coast.

What’s next for the Sooners: OU and Northwestern State return to L. Dale Mitchell Park for game two of this three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday. Junior lefty Dillon Overton (4-1, 3.30 ERA) is scheduled to start.

Jono Greco

Jono Greco, journalism graduate student, is the assistant sports editor for the Spring 2013 semester. This is his seventh semester on staff, previously working on the sports desk as the football and baseball beat reporter, as well as multiple other sports beats. He served as copy chief during the Fall 2012 semester.

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