The Oklahoma Sooners jumped out to an early lead in their Bedlam matchup with Oklahoma State and cruised to a 9-5 victory to advance in the Big 12 baseball championships.
The Sooners opened the game with a pair of walks to John Spikerman and Kendall Pettis to open the game in the top of the first. A Bryce Madron sacrifice fly to right field put runners on second and third with one out in the inning.
Dakota Harris jumped on the first pitch he saw from Oklahoma State pitcher Carson Benge for the two-run single. Harris then advanced to second on an Anthony Mackenzie fielder’s choice before being driven in by an RBI single from Easton Carmichael to make it 3-0 after the top of the first.
Getting the start for the Sooners, Carson Atwood provided a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first, holding onto Oklahoma’s momentum.
The Sooners added another run in the top of the second on a Pettis sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 and Atwood retired the Cowboys in order in the bottom of the second.
In the top of the third, the Sooners scored on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Nicklaus to make it 5-0. Then Spikerman singled up the middle to bring Sebastian Orduno in from third to extend the lead to six. Then Oklahoma took advantage of an Oklahoma State wild pitch when Pettis was able to reach first after striking out, allowing Wallace Clark to score to make it 7-0.
The Cowboys finally got on the board in the bottom of the third with three runs, chasing Atwood out of the game. James Hitt came in to help limit the damage and then threw 2.2 innings, allowing two hits and two walks before giving way to Carter Campbell who came in and threw four innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk.
With the score 7-4 in the seventh, the Sooners got back to work offensively. Nicklaus reached on an error, which allowed Kade Fletcher to score on the sacrifice. Later in the inning, Mackenzie walked with the bases loaded to make it 9-4 Oklahoma.
The Sooners allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Campbell was able to keep the Cowboys off balance over the final four innings.
John Spikerman and Easton Carmichael each collected a pair of hits and six different Sooners drove in a run.
A bubble team for the NCAA tournament, this is a huge step to securing a postseason berth. The Sooners now move on to face the winner of the final game of day one between the No. 3 seed West Virginia and the No. 6 seed Texas Tech.
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