College Baseball roundup
OU WINS ATLANTA REGIONAL
Rain on Friday forced the Oklahoma Sooners’ opening game in the NCAA Atlanta Regional to be moved to Saturday morning, and the Sooners responded with an 8-3 win over The Citadel (35-25).
The win was the 300th victory for head coach Skip Johnson at the Division I level, all in his nine seasons at Oklahoma.
The Sooners belted 15 hits including two home runs by Dayton Tockey and Trey Gambill.
Freshman starting pitcher Cord Rager had a great outing, pitching six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks.
OU reliever LJ Mercurius finished the game by pitching three shutout innings with four strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one walk. Mercurius earned his first save of the season and second of his career.
The Sooners advanced in the winners’ bracket to face regional host and No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech on Saturday evening, losing 9-3.
The Sooners drew even with the Yellow Jackets in the top of the sixth inning, tying the game at 3-3, before Georgia Tech blew open the scoring and tallied six runs across the sixth and seventh innings to pull away.
The OU offense was powered by home runs from Dayton Tockey and Jaxon Willits, whose blast was his sixth of the season, a solo homer in the top of the sixth that tied the game at three.
OU then played The Citadel on Sunday afternoon, for a second time in the regional. This time it was an elimination game won by the Sooners, 15-5.
That moved OU into the final game of the regional having to face Georgia Tech Sunday evening.
In this game, the Sooners belted four home runs to defeat the Yellow Jackets, 15-8.
Brendan Brock hit a pair of homers while Trey Gambill and Deiten Lachance each homered for the Sooners.
OU scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 10-8 lead and never look back. Since it was Georgia Tech’s first loss in the regional, it forced a final decisive game between the two teams on Monday afternoon.
Editor’s Note: OU won the Monday game against Georgia Tech with a walk-off homer from Dayton Tockey. They are scheduled to play in the Kansas Super Regional against KU at 5 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. on Sunday so far at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
OSU COMES UP SHORT IN REGIONAL
Second-seeded Oklahoma State came up short in its NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional opener Friday as No. 3 seed USC Upstate beat the 19th-ranked Cowboys, 8-5, at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
OSU’s offense seemed to be on task as the Cowboys outhit the Spartans, 9-6, however OSU could not get timely hitting and left 13 runners on base and committed three errors that led to a pair of unearned runs for the Spartans.
Remo Indomenico led the Cowboys going 2-for-5 at the plate, including a home run and three RBI, while Garrett Shull and Evan Saunders also drove in runs for OSU.
Ethan Lund got his 16th start of the season and took the loss on the mound to fall to 5-3. Lund allowed five runs in 2.2 innings as he gave up just two hits but walked four batters.
With the loss, the Cowboys moved to the losers’ bracket to face fourth-seeded Alabama State in an elimination game on Saturday.
OSU jumped out to an early lead but then had to squeak out a run in the 11th inning to win the ballgame, 8-7.
The Cowboys scored four runs in the top of the fourth inning on a Colin Brueggemann grand and added a couple more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 6-0 lead.
Alabama State scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, then added a run in the seventh inning. The Hornets designated hitter Cale Clark hit his first home run of the season, a two-run shot, on the first pitch he saw from OSU reliever Mario Pesca, to tie the game at six in the bottom of the eighth.
Each team scored a run in the 10th inning, and OSU’s Kollin Ritchie belted a solo homer in the top of the 11th inning that proved to be the game winner.
OSU advanced to play USC Upstate again, and this time the Cowboys hit six home runs enroute to a 12-1 win on Sunday.
Campbell Smithwick and Remo Indomenico each homered twice for the Cowboys against Upstate, while Avery Ortiz and Terrance Bowen also belted homers.
Hudson Barrett was masterful on the mound, pitching seven shutout innings to improve to 6-1. The southpaw tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and allowed only two hits.
The win moved the Cowboys to the Regional final to take on top-seeded Alabama, Sunday evening, and the Crimson Tide won the game 9-7 in 11 innings, bringing OSU’s season to an end.
The Cowboys, who made their 13th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance and were a No. 2 seed, concluded their season with a 39-22 record. Alabama is now 40-19.
OSU four home runs in the contest as Deacon Pomeroy, Avery Ortiz, Brock Thompson and Kollin Ritchie all homered. The Pokes finished with 150 home runs on the season, the second-highest total in program history behind only 154 in 1988.
Ritchie finished the season with 31 homers, second most in school history in a season behind only Pete Incaviglia’s NCAA-record 48 homers in 1985.
The two teams exchanged the lead a couple of times in the game but were tied 6-6 after nine innings. Alabama scored three runs in the top of the 11th after getting two runners on base with infield singles, and then with two outs, Brady Neal homered to right field to give the Crimson Tide a 9-6 advantage.