Extending a winning streak to eight games was not a problem for the No. 15 baseball team as it defeated the Houston Baptist Huskies 9-1 Wednesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park in the final home game before spring break.

The Sooners (13-1) came out of the gates swinging by getting out to a 4-1 lead in after three innings and never looked back. The only time the game was close after scoring began was when the bottom of the second inning began with the score tied 1-1, but freshman second baseman Max White gave OU the lead for good with a two-run home run off the batters’ eye in center field.

The three-run lead was all the support senior pitcher Michael Rocha needed. Other than allowing the one run in the second inning, Rocha was on target during his five innings of work.

Rocha (2-0) allowed a home run, which was the only run and hit he surrendered by, in his second start of the season while striking out two batters despite getting little help from his defense.

The Sooners committed four errors, three by the infield, while Rocha was in the game, but the right-hander did not let the errors faze him. Rocha recorded an out after each of the four errors.

OU’s bats broke the flood gates in the fifth inning when it plated four straight runners on four hits and a safety-squeeze bunt. Four players drove in runs during the inning after loading the bases and settling for moving runners from base to base to bring them in.

Head coach Sunny Golloway pulled Rocha despite throwing a mere 59 pitches once the Sooners got out to the 8-1 lead, and relied on the bullpen to pitch the final four innings.

Golloway turned to freshman pitcher Drew Verhagen to throw three innings and senior pitcher Jarrett Semler to throw the ninth inning to close out the game. The two pitchers did not allow a run in their four innings of work, and OU added a run in the eighth inning to reach the nine-run plateau for the sixth time this season.

Two OU hitters, White and senior designated hitter Ross Hubbard, had multi-hit games. Hubbard collected two hits in two at-bats and drove in a run, and White went 3-54 with the home run and two RBIs.

The Sooners head down to Corpus Christi, Texas, this weekend to participate in the Whataburger Classic. OU’s first game of the tournament will be against Mississippi State at 7 p.m. Friday, and junior pitcher Zach Neal is expected to start on the mound.