COLLEGE BASEBALL

• Oklahoma survives South Carolina in rain-soaked affair

  Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Caleb Bushyhead and Garrett Buechele both homered for Oklahoma, leading the Sooners to a 4-3 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in the rain-soaked opening round of the 2010 College World Series.

  Originally scheduled to start around 2 p.m. (et), inclement weather pushed the start time back over four hours, and the game was halted again in the sixth inning for another two hours. The game didn't finish until after 11 p.m. (et), more than nine hours after the first pitch was scheduled.

  Bushyhead drove in a total of two runs in a 2-for-3 effort, and Tyler Ogle also knocked in a run for Oklahoma, which survived the first game of the double-elimination tournament and will play the winner of Arizona State- Clemson, which was originally scheduled for Sunday but was pushed back to Monday morning at 11 a.m. (et).

  South Carolina, which received homers from Jackie Bradley Jr. and Christian Walker, will play the loser of Monday's first matchup in an elimination contest.

  Oklahoma's Michael Rocha earned the win after pitching the first six innings, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and two strikeouts. The loser was South Carolina's Blake Cooper, who yielded three runs, six hits and a walk while fanning five in five frames.

  Buechele's solo homer led off the Sooners' eighth and gave the home team a 4-2 lead, which proved important during an exciting ninth inning.

  With Jeremy Erben on the mound for Oklahoma to try and close the game out, Kyle Enders singled and Robert Beary sent a pinch-hit single to right field.

  That prompted Ryan Duke to enter the game from the bullpen, and he struck out Adam Matthews.

  He then lost some control, walking Evan Marzilli and Bradley around a Whit Merrifield foul out to force home a run. After Bradley had walked on four pitches, Adrian Morales flied out to center on the first pitch he saw to end the game.

  Ogle's RBI single in the first gave Oklahoma an early lead, and the teams traded solo homers in the second -- Walker for the Gamecocks and Bushyhead for the Sooners.

  Bradley's leadoff shot in the fourth pulled South Carolina even, but Oklahoma had another answer with Bushyhead's RBI single in the home half for a 3-2 game, which is where the score stood when the rains came back again.

  06/20 23:49:33 ET