Well, this one seems noteworthy.
Oklahoma returned to the diamond on Tuesday night for a date with the No. 1 team in the nation at their place looking to pull off a win many didn’t give them a whole lot of a chance to go get. But, the Sooners did just that going into Fayetteville to knock off the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks 8-5 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Getting the ball for Skip Johnson was left-hander Braden Carmichael who entered the season with a 2-0 record and a 3.27 ERA as one of the more underrated Sooners starters. He would gut out six innings on a night where the team really needed it to try and get the win.
Things didn’t start off great for him, allowing two runs in the first on a pair of run-scoring singles. Things would settle down for him after that, though, as he would toss the next four innings scoreless.
The big inning of the night for Oklahoma offensively came in the third when they plated five runs on a two-RBI single by left fielder Kendall Pettis, a two-run home run by right fielder Breydon Daniel and a run-scoring knock by third baseman Peyton Graham. They would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
The Sooners would push their lead from three to six over the next few innings scoring a run in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from center fielder Tanner Tredaway with the other two coming in the sixth on a wild pitch that plated a run and an RBI-single by designated hitter Diego Muniz.
Carmichael wasn’t quite able to close out his outing on a high note, as he allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth to chop the Oklahoma lead down to 8-4. He would still go on to get the win to move to 3-0 on the year.
Arkansas would draw a little closer on a solo home run in the eighth off of Jaret Godman, but still trailed by three runs going to the bottom of the ninth against the preseason All-American closer Jason Ruffcorn.
Things started shaky for Ruffcorn, allowing the first two men to reach and bring the tying run to the dish, but he would settle in quickly. He would strike out the next three Razorbacks hitters to slam the door to earn his first save of the season and give the Sooners the humongous statement win on the road.
Now at 9-7, the team has to have a confidence they haven’t had yet this season. This is far and away their most impressive win to date and could certainly be a spark plug to the team finding their groove at the right time with conference play rapidly approaching. Simply put, this was absolutely big time and should silence some of the panic from the fans at least momentarily moving forward.
Oklahoma will come right back to home soil for a weekend set with Houston beginning Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park.