If you weren’t already a believer, maybe the time to jump on the Sooners baseball bandwagon is now. This is starting to feel pretty real.
Oklahoma scored 26 runs on Thursday sweeping Cincinnati in a doubleheader to clinch another series win, secure yet another school-record (23 conference wins the most in school history) and keep hopes alive to secure a top 8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
On April 7, Oklahoma fell to 17-14 following a Bedlam series loss in Stillwater. Since? The Sooners have won 17 of their last 20 games to improve to 34-17 overall, 23-6 in the Big 12 and are currently on an eight-game win streak that included clinching the program’s first Big 12 regular season title last weekend.
The Sooners offense has scored 73 runs in its last five games.
Have you bought in yet?
Carmichael, Snyder pace Sooners to series opening win
Oklahoma and Cincinnati were tied 6-6 heading into the sixth inning of game one. Normal conference series opener, right? Two starting pitchers trading solo blows. Oklahoma scratched a run across in the first and the fourth. Cincinnati matched with a pair of runs on solo home runs off Sooners starter Braden Davis in the third and fourth inning.
Then Oklahoma’s offense woke up. Easton Carmichaelstarted the Sooners sixth with a triple. Michael Snyder followed with a Carmichael-scoring RBI double. Snyder went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
By the time Carmichael came back to the plate in the seventh, Oklahoma led 8-3. And again he delivered. This time an RBI double to left field. Anthony Mackenzie followed with an RBI single and Oklahoma’s offense was off to the races yet again.
The Sooners scored eight runs in the seventh on six hits. Carmichael responsible for a pair of the hits, driving in three runs in the frame going 4-for-5 in the series opener with three RBIs. He was a home run shy of the cycle.
Oklahoma starter Braden Davis won his sixth consecutive start, improving to 8-3 on the year. He went six innings, allowing just two hits, three runs, two walks and eight strikeouts.
Cincinnati’s Luke Vidourek two-run home run off Carson Atwood in the seventh extended the game out of run-rule territory. Josh Kross added a solo home run in the eighth off Reid Hensley.
The 14-6 victory was Oklahoma’s 22nd conference win of the season, setting a school record for conference wins in a season.
Sooners blend pitching and offense in series win
It didn’t take long for Oklahoma to get on the board in the second game, taking advantage of a pair of Cincinnati errors, scoring seven runs in the opening frame.
Making his first start since April 20, Rocco Garza-Gongora‘s RBI double in the opening frame extended the Oklahoma lead to 6-0 before John Spikerman returned for his second plate appearance of the inning and delivering an RBI single.
Garza-Gongora went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs in the nightcap.
Kyson Witherspoon went five innings for Oklahoma. He allowed five runs, walking one and striking out six. But it was the Oklahoma bullpen that gets the honors for the series-clinching win.
Carter Campbell threw 1.1 innings before back-to-back walks led to Dylan Crooks getting the call from head coach Skip Johnson. Big 12 home run leader Josh Kross led the welcoming party of Crooks with a three-run shot that clipped the Sooners lead to just a run 9-8.
Following a pair of singles to start the eighth, Jaxon Willits hit his eighth home run of the year. The three-run shot to right field extended Sooners lead back to four runs, 12-8. It was Willits’ eighth home run since April 7.
Ryan Lambert extinguished a Cincinnati rally in the bottom half with a strikeout and fly out to right, stranding a pair of runners in scoring position.
Malachi Witherspoon closed the door in the ninth, following a leadoff single.
That’s a one-two punch out of the Sooners bullpen that will be needed if you want to start dreaming.
NEXT UP
Oklahoma will close the regular season on Friday going for a school-record seventh conference series sweep in Cincinnati. The regular season finale is set for 4 p.m.
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