SOONERS LOSE TO VANDY IN SEC TOURNEY
Oklahoma won their first two games in the SEC Baseball Tournament, before being eliminated by Vanderbilt, 6-1, in the quarterfinals, in Hoover, Alabama.
The 12-seed Sooners opened the SEC tournament with a 5-1 win over 13-seed Kentucky, in the first round on Tuesday. OU was powered by a two-run, go-ahead home run from Jason Walk in the third inning. OU starting left-handed pitcher Jaden Barfield and relievers James Hitt and Dylan Crooks combined to hold the Wildcats (29-24) to just one run on six hits.
Oklahoma advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over fifth-seeded Georgia Wednesday evening. The Bulldogs came into the tournament ranked No. 10 in the nation, saw their record drop to 42-15 overall.
The Sooners were led by another exceptional outing from right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon. The OU ace went a season-high 7.2 innings of two-run baseball, striking out eight and scattering just five hits and no walks. It was Witherspoon’s SEC-leading 10th win of the season and ninth time in 15 starts that he’s fanned eight or more batters.
In the quarterfinal matchup against Vanderbilt, the Sooners (35-20) were stifled by Vanderbilt’s (40-16) pitching. OU struck out a season high 17 times while leaving 10 runners on base.
Vanderbilt scored the first runs of the game in the third inning with four runs on four hits and an OU error.
The Sooners scored their only run of the game in the top of the fourth. After a leadoff hit by pitch to Sam Christiansen, Jaxon Willits reached on a walk, then Jason Walk knocked in one of the runners with a groundout to third.
Vanderbilt scored single runs in the bottom of the fourth and seventh innings to cruise to victory.
Oklahoma will be the No. 2 Seed in the NCAA tournament in Chapel Hill, NC playing against Nebraska.
OSU LOSES TO KANSAS IN BIG 12 TOURNEY
The Oklahoma State Cowboys got past Baylor in the first round of the BIG 12 Baseball Tournament at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex., this past week. However, the Cowboys were then eliminated by the second-seeded and No. 21 Kansas Jayhawks, 7-6, in the quarterfinals.
OSU began defense of its Big 12 tournament title with a 4-3 win over Baylor in the opening round on Wednesday.
Mario Pesca was outstanding in relief of starter Sean Youngerman to earn the win out of the bullpen. The right-hander tossed 3.2 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out a pair, to improve to 7-2 on the season.
Offensively, the Cowboys had just five hits, with Kollin Ritchie and Colin Brueggemann picking up RBIs, but it was enough to lift the Cowboys to the quarterfinals.
With the loss to Kansas, the Cowboys fell to 28-23, while KU improved to 43-14. OSU hopes to find out it will earn a 12th consecutive NCAA Regional bid as an at-large team.
Kansas scored single runs in the bottom half of the first and third innings, but OSU put three runs across in both the third and fourth innings to gain a 6-2 lead after four innings of play.
The Jayhawks tied the game at 6-6 with a three-run home run off the bat of Brady Ballinger in the bottom of the seventh.
In the bottom of the ninth, Mike Koszewski hit a walk-off double to knock in the winning run from third base.
OSU won a NCAA berth to play against Duke in the Georgia Regional in Athens, GA.
ORU MISSES NCAA BID
It took two games on Saturday to crown the Summit League Tournament Champion, as ORU advanced from the loser’s bracket and beat North Dakota State in the first championship game of the tournament, 3-1, forcing a second game.
It was NDSU’s first loss of the double-elimination tournament, so the two teams played another game. In the second game, NDSU came out on top 4-2, and earned the Summit League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In the first game, ORU pitcher Dalton Patten delivered a masterful performance in his first career start, going seven strong innings with five strikeouts and allowing just one unearned run on four hits.
ORU jumped on top early as Jack Schark executed a textbook safety squeeze to score Cooper Combs in the top of the first. ORU added a run in the fourth.
NDSU scored a single run in the fifth inning, but Combs put the Golden Eagles ahead, 3-1, with a solo homer to lead off the eighth inning. It was his ninth homer of the season.
Reliever Conner Floyd shut the door from there, stranding five Bison runners over the final two innings to preserve the win, and earn his ninth save of the season.
In the deciding game of the tournament, the Bison took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and never trailed.
ORU loaded the bases in the fourth and managed to score only one run in the inning. Keaton Campbell would later draw a bases-loaded walk in the sixth to pull ORU within 3-2, but North Dakota State’s bullpen proved too strong.
Danny Lachenmayer entered in the sixth and struck out seven Golden Eagles across 3.1 innings, including fanning the final batter with the tying run on third base in the ninth. Wailele Kane-Yates led ORU at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double in the loss.
ORU ends the season with an overall record of 38-23 and 21-9 in the Summit League.