Tuesday night’s 4-2 victory over the Massachusetts Minutemen was not a pretty one for the No. 13 baseball team, but the Sooners were happy with it considering how well UMass’s pitcher held them in check.

Senior pitcher Mike Gedman kept OU’s hitters off-balanced with his cut-fastball in a complete-game effort, but the Sooners (16-2) used three early-innings runs to provide their pitching staff with enough comfort to put the team in the win column.

“That cutter, it was hard to pick up,” said freshman designated hitter Max White, who went 3-4 with a double and an RBI. “I don’t really know what our righties were seeing, but it’s hard to keep your hands inside tonight.”

While the Minutemen used just one pitcher in game one of the two-game series, OU had to rely on a platoon of pitchers to hold on to the victory.

Senior pitcher J.R. Robinson started the game on the mound, and he was in the zone during the first three innings. He did not allow a runner to reach base until the fourth inning, but it was his consistency in the strike zone that hurt him Tuesday, head coach Sunny Golloway said.

Robinson went on cruise control after retiring the first nine batters he faced, and the free-swinging Minutemen made him pay when he only hit the strike zone in the fourth and fifth innigns. In his final 1 1/3 of work, Robinson allowed two runs on five hits.

“He did get into a little trouble, but I thought it was because he was too much in the middle of the plate,” Golloway said.

Golloway pulled Robinson after 4 1/3 with OU leading 3-2. Robinson allowed the two runs while striking out six batters, including the first three of the game.

Senior pitcher Jason Chowning was called upon to minimize any momentum UMass had built up in the fourth and fifth innings, and he executed his job perfectly. Chowning faced the minimum amount of batters during his 2 2/3 innings of work while striking out four batters and not allowing a hit.

“My arm felt real loose and I was able to hit my spots today,” Chowning said.

The Sooners could not provide any run support for Chowning while he was on the mound, but they added a run in the eighth inning while pitchers senior Jarrett Semler and junior Anthony Collazo bridged that gap between Chowning and junior pitcher Ryan Duke.

The ninth inning was not a cakewalk for the closer from Corpus Christi, Texas, as he allowed the bases to load with recording only one out before he buckled down and closed the game. The save was Duke’s seventh in as many chances this season, placing him five saves behind OU’s career saves record of 28.

Twelve of the 27 outs OU pitchers recorded Tuesday night came via the strikeout, marking the 11th time the pitching staff ended a game with double-digit strikeouts.

The Sooners and UMass will square off again at 7 p.m. Wednesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park before OU starts Big 12 play Friday at home against Baylor.