Oklahoma is one win away from a spot in the championship series of the College World Series. Sunday night they defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday evening in Omaha by a score of 6-2.
The win takes the Sooners to 2-0 in pool play and sends Notre Dame to play an elimination game against the Sooners’ former Big 12 foes Texas A&M.
Oklahoma was paced by an excellent pitching performance from Cade Horton who threw six innings of two-run ball while striking out 11, walking one, and giving up five hits.
Offensively, star shortstop [autotag]Peyton Graham[/autotag] continued his incredible season with a four-hit night that included a walk and a stolen base. [autotag]Tanner Tredaway[/autotag] chipped in with two massive RBIs to pair with three hits himself.
For the Sooners, it wasn’t the home runs that got the job done offensively as Notre Dame, team that ended the regular season with the nation’s seventh-best ERA, kept Oklahoma in the ballpark. Timely base hits, walks, and aggressive base running came together for some excellent small ball for the Sooners.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third after struggling the first two innings, stranding four men on base.
A Peyton Graham single and steal was followed by a Tredaway base hit to score Graham from second. Treadway then scored from second on a Wallace Clark single.
Meanwhile, Cade Horton dominated the Notre Dame lineup using a deadly combination of a slider, fastball, and a curveball to keep Notre Dame off balance all evening.
The bottom of the fifth saw Oklahoma hit the gas and pull away for good. A few singles got the Sooners on first and third with one out before what was essentially a safety squeeze turned into two runs as the Notre Dame pitcher fielding the bunt made an errant throw allowing the runner on first to score as well giving Oklahoma a 4-0 lead. Jackson Nicklaus then added an RBI single that extended their lead to 5-0.
Notre Dame would chip into the Oklahoma lead with a two-run home run in the top of the 6th off the bat of Notre Dame’s David LaManna. Horton, who was at 90-plus pitches would finish the inning before giving way to an Oklahoma bullpen that allowed only a walk and to hits to seal the game for the Sooners. Jaret Godman and super senior Trevin Michael pitched three scoreless innings, pushing Oklahoma one win away from the College World Series championship.
The Sooners will be facing the winner of the Notre Dame and Texas A&M elimination game knowing that whoever their opponent is will have to beat them twice to move past them.
Oklahoma’s next game will be Wednesday at 12 p.m. CT.
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