Tag: Big 12 baseball tournament

Sooners cruise to a 14-0 win over Oral Roberts to open NCAA Tournament play

Kyson Witherspoon and Carter Campbell combined for the shutout and the Sooners offense erupted for a 14-0 win over Oral Roberts in the NCAA tournament.

It was the first time the Oklahoma Sooners hosted postseason baseball at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman since 2010, and the boys in Crimson and Cream were ready to rock and roll from the opening pitch.

Oklahoma entered the NCAA Tournament fresh off a loss to their in-state rivals, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game. However, with how the Sooners have played since conference play began, bouncing back was easy for them.

Their first opponent was an Oral Roberts team that the Sooners had already faced this season, splitting a pair of midweek games.

Kyson Witherspoon got the start. Oklahoma opted to save Braden Davis in case the Sooners were in the loser’s bracket or had to face Duke.

Witherspoon escaped early danger, stranding the bases loaded to end the first. Oklahoma immediately opened things up with a triple from centerfielder John Spikerman and a Bryce Madron sac fly. Madron returned to the starting lineup after sitting out the Big 12 tournament to rest an injury from the end of the regular season.

 

With the Sooners up 1-0, they never looked back. Witherspoon worked around two runners in the second and third innings to hold the Golden Eagles scoreless.

In the bottom of the third, Madron let the rest of the home crowd know he was healthy as he blasted a two-run home run to right field, giving OU a 3-0 lead.

After some clean innings from Witherspoon, Oklahoma opened the game up on an Easton Carmichael three-run home run to make it a 6-0 game.

Witherspoon finished his day tossing six innings of shutout ball. He struck out nine batters and sat down the last ten batters he faced. Simply, it was a dazzling performance in his NCAA Tournament debut.

Oklahoma continued to pile on runs the rest of the way. Scott Mudler hit a solo home run and had a two-run single. Spikerman had a two-run single. And Jackson Nicklaus added an RBI single himself.

Carter Campbell finished the pitching from the seventh inning onward and kept things spotless, giving up no runs to complete a dominant performance from the Sooners.

It’s hard to imagine Skip Johnson drawing up a more perfect opening game. Minimal pitchers were used, and the team showed tremendous discipline at the plate, which made Oral Roberts pay for mistakes in the form of 17 hits.

Oklahoma will advance to the winner’s bracket and will face UConn tomorrow at 8 p.m. local time under the lights. The winner of that game will be just one win away from clinching a spot in the Super Regionals.

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Oklahoma Sooners complete comeback to beat Kansas in walk-off fashion

Oklahoma completes dramatic comeback to beat Kansas and advance to Big 12 Title game.

Friday in Arlington was a blast for those who donned the Crimson and Cream. Oklahoma, one of the nation’s best baseball teams, entered the day as the Big 12’s number one seed, looking for a win to reach its final Big 12 Tournament championship game.

They had to wait for their opponent as Kansas and TCU, teams OU defeated earlier in the week, duked it out in an elimination game. Kansas jumped out to a 9-0 lead after just the first inning before TCU roared back to tie the game at 9. The Jayhawks won 10-9, setting up one-half of the Big 12 semifinals.

Oklahoma started the game poorly, and Kansas looked like a team that had already been awake for three hours. Brendan Girton started the game for the Sooners, but he didn’t have it out there. He only completed one inning, allowing four runs in the first and two in the second before being lifted for Grant Stevens. He walked two batters as well.

With the Sooners in a 6-0 hole, Stevens came in and immediately cemented himself as one of the stars of the day. He twirled 5.1 scoreless innings with six strike outs, scattering seven hits and no walks.

The Sooners bats began to come to life in the fifth inning. Backup catcher Scott Mudler singled to start the fifth for the Sooners. With two outs in the frame, freshman shortstop Jaxon Willits, smoked a first-pitch slider from Kansas’ J’Briell Easley to right field for a two-run homer.

Easley had dominated the Sooners to that point, amassing double-digit strikeouts. Easton Carmichael singled and forced Kansas to swap Easley for Kolby Dougan. Carmichael immediately stole second before Michael Snyder and Anthony Mackenzie drew walks to load the bases.

Jackson Nicklaus, another one of the stars of the day, delivered a two-out knock to right, scoring two and closing the gap to 6-4. Lefty Gavin Brasosky was brought in to face Kendall Pettis, who then delivered another two-out hit, scoring Mackenzie. Nicklaus was thrown out trying to reach third base to end the inning. But the Sooners were down just 6-5 heading to the sixth.

Stevens shut down the Jayhawks in his last full inning of work, and Oklahoma got right back to work trying to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth.

A Jason Walk single and two wild pitches put Oklahoma in a prime spot. Centerfielder John Spikerman earned a walk before another big hit by Jaxon Willits tied the game. This time, it was a double to right center field. Oklahoma failed to scratch another run across despite runners on second and third with less than two outs.

Carson Atwood, James Hitt, Jett Lode, and Ryan Lambert continued Stevens’ work and put up zeros for the remainder of the game, leading to the ninth and final frame.

Mackenzie singled to right field for his second hit of the game, and Jackson Nicklaus wrote his name in Oklahoma baseball history. Facing a 2-2 count, Nicklaus sent Oklahoma to the Big 12 championship series with a loud blast of a home run to right field.

Nicklaus went 2-for-5 with four RBI. Willits was 2-for-4 with a walk and three RBIs. Carmichael and Walk each had two hits in the win.

After an awful first inning, Oklahoma’s bullpen kept the Jayhawks off the board for the remainder of the game.

It was a strong performance and provides the opportunity for the tournament’s No. 1 seed to win the title for the first time since 2014. Oklahoma still has a chance to lock up a top eight seed, which would give OU the right to host both regional and super regional rounds of the NCAA tournament.

The championship game will take place Saturday at 6:00 p.m. CT at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. The game can be seen on ESPNU.

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Texas baseball looks to gain ground in Big 12 race

There is a lot on the line for the Texas Longhorns baseball team heading into the final week of the Big 12 regular season.

There is a lot on the line for the Texas Longhorns baseball team heading into the final week of the Big 12 regular season. Continue reading “Texas baseball looks to gain ground in Big 12 race”

Where Texas baseball goes from here after going winless in Arlington

Texas baseball will look to flush the Big 12 Tournament from memory.

The Texas baseball team had a forgettable Wednesday and Thursday in Arlington.

The Big 12 Tournament saw the team lose to the worst team in the bracket, Kansas, before dropping an elimination game to bubble team, Kansas State. Just a day earlier, K-State got shellacked 16-3 by the TCU Horned Frogs.

Put simply, the Longhorns need to flush this week from memory and recover for the stretch run. In a sense, saving its energy rather than playing for a Big 12 title could be a blessing in disguise. Even so, Texas faithful would have liked to see the team secure a regional host designation. Now, that’s likely out of reach.

Texas can move forward and forget the last two games, and frankly it should. The team’s abysmal performance in being swept by Oklahoma is in the rear view mirror after sweeping West Virginia for a Big 12 regular season title. Past failures have little bearing moving forward.

Baseball can be a random game in which the better team often loses. However, you can make your own luck by limiting errors and properly managing games. Texas needs its head coach David Pierce to put the team in a better position to win than he did in the conference tournament. His players need to execute when called upon to perform.

The team’s unknown tournament destination should be the least of its worries. The Longhorns will look to get back to the good baseball they played against West Virginia that secured a regular season conference title.

Texas advances to the Big 12 semifinals with a 5-3 win over TCU

Texas is one game away from the Big 12 tournament championship.

The Longhorns are in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 baseball tournament after taking down the top-seeded Horned Frogs 5-3.

Lucas Gordon followed up Pete Hansen’s tournament-opening gem with one of his own. He kept TCU off balance by attacking the strike zone early and often. Gordon went 7.2 innings while holding TCU to just two hits and one earned run.

Texas took control of the game from the jump. After a leadoff single by Douglas Hodo and Ivan Melendez reaching on a hit-by-pitch, Murphy Stehly smoked an 85 mph slider over the left-field wall to put the Horns up 3-0.

TCU scored a pair of runs in the middle innings to cut the Texas lead to 3-2 before insurance came in the eighth. A balk and an Austin Todd RBI single put Texas up 5-2, creating some breathing room for the late innings.

Tristan Stevens secured a four-out save to take home the victory.

The win puts Texas in excellent position to host a regional next week. The Horns RPI has jumped up from No. 21 to No. 9 in the past two days.

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Pete Hansen leads No. 19 Texas past No. 9 Oklahoma State 4-0

Pete Hansen silenced the Cowboys bats from start to finish.

It was an early morning start for Texas and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament. Both teams’ bats came out of the gates slow but the Longhorns tallied a few runs late in the game to come out on top 4-0.

Texas ace Pete Hansen silenced the Cowboys for eight phenomenal innings. The lefty struck out 12 Oklahoma State hitters while spreading out just five hits.

Small ball got the Longhorns on the board in the sixth as Doug Hodo laid down a perfect bunt single, leading to an Oklahoma State throwing error allowing Trey Faltine to score.

Texas would begin to extend its lead in the next inning. Austin Todd worked one of the best at-bats of the season, fighting off nine pitches before sending a laser into the left-field seats. Trey Faltine added an RBI single later in the frame to put Texas up 3-0.

Silas Ardoin blasted home run No. 11 on the year in the top of the ninth as Texas closed out the game 4-0.

The Longhorns will face the winner of Baylor-TCU on Thursday with a spot in the Big 12 semifinals on the line.

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Big 12 Baseball Tournament: Seeding, schedule and how to watch

Texas and Oklahoma State will start things off on Wednesday morning.

The 2022 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament will begin on May 25 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Continue reading “Big 12 Baseball Tournament: Seeding, schedule and how to watch”

Big 12 Baseball Tournament Moving Location in 2022

Since 1997, the Big 12 baseball tournament has been hosted in OKC in all but three years. Beginning in 2022, it will be at Globe Life Field.

Since the creation of the Big 12 baseball tournament in 1997, it has been hosted in Oklahoma City in all but three years. While it will remain that way until 2021, beginning in the 2022 season, it will be in a new location.

It will now be held in the brand new Globe Life Field, the future home of the Texas Rangers. The ballpark is not officially open, as the first games will be held in late March for the Rangers.

This is not the first time the tournament has been held in Arlington, as the 2002 and 2004 tournament was also held in what was then The Ballpark in Arlington. The Longhorns won the tournament in 2002, winning three games in a row after losing their opener against Texas A&M. Outfielder Dustin Majewski was the tournament MVP for Texas.

The last time it was held outside of Oklahoma City was in 2015 when it was moved to Tulsa. The Longhorns also won the tournament that year, making them champions of two out of the three Big 12 tournaments held outside of Oklahoma City.

Hopefully, that tradition continues as it will be held in the Dallas Fort Worth Area for the foreseeable future, beginning in 2022.

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