There was yet another late rally by the opponent, but after a phenomenal start by Jake Bennett, the Sooners held off the Texas Tech Raiders and won 6-3. OU will move on to the Big 12 semifinal to face the winner of the Texas Tech-Kansas State game. The Raiders and Wildcats will play on Friday and the winner of that game will play the Sooners on Saturday.
Redshirt Sophomore Jake Bennett pitched an absolute beauty. 7.2 innings of two hit, one run ball. The lefty gave the Sooners the pitching they needed to upset the 2-seed Red Raiders and move on with that loss still in their back pocket if they end up needing it.
Tech scored their only run off of Bennett in the third inning off of a sacrifice fly. A ninth inning rally saw the Red Raiders hit a two-run home run off of Oklahoma’s Trevin Micheal, but it was too little too late for the Raiders to come back tonight.
Jackson Nicklaus went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBIs and Peyton Graham weren’t 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Sooners offensively.
While the team has looked very good so far, the back-to-back late game rallies by West Virginia and Tech should be cause for concern. OU’s bullpen has been an issue all season and it could be what costs them the conference title.
TCU still has to play Oklahoma State on Friday to earn their spot in the semifinal to play the Texas Longhorns. The Sooners need one more win. One more to earn a chance to play for their first Big 12 title in nearly a decade.
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