Oklahoma bullpen throws
Oklahoma bullpen throws gem as the No. 9 Sooners took a midweek baseball matchup at Oral Roberts, 11-2, Tuesday night in Tulsa.
ORU (15-9) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a leadoff single, a trio of wild pitches and a double play that allowed a run to score. Senior righty Reid Hensley entered in relief in the first and retired the side and proceeded to hurl five scoreless, hitless innings with three strikeouts.
The OU (21-3) offense put up 11 runs on 12 hits and drew nine walks.
After the Golden Eagles’ leadoff single in the first, OU pitching didn’t allow another hit until the seventh and allowed just one runner to reach in the third inning. OU’s bullpen of Hensley, Gavyn Jones (2.0 IP) and Jackson Kircher (2.0) surrendered no runs and just three hits and four walks.
OU scored single runs in the second and third to tie the contest. Dawson Willis drew a bases-loaded HBP in the second and a double play in the third allowed Jaxon Willits to race home to tie the game.
The Sooners pulled away with four-run innings in the fourth and seventh. In the fourth, Willis scored on a wild pitch before fellow junior Trey Gambill launched his first home run as a Sooner on a deep two-run shot to right. After a single from junior Easton Carmichael, freshman Kyle Branch plated him on an RBI double to left field to give the Sooners a 6-2 lead through four.
In the seventh, OU scored four runs on just one hit and a pair of ORU errors. After a pair of walks to start the frame, Willis registered his second RBI of the game on a single through the left side. Two runs then came home on a pair of errors by the ORU shortstop and left fielder. A groundout RBI from Willits closed the inning’s scoring for OU, making the game 10-2.
Oklahoma pushed the final run of the game across in the eighth on an RBI single from freshman Drew Dickerson. It was Dickerson’s third run batted in of his frosh campaign and brought the final to 11-2, Sooners.
At the plate, OU was paced by Branch and Willis, with respective 3-for-5 and 3-for-4 performances. Seven Sooners recorded a hit in the contest with six bringing in at least one run, led by Willis and Gambill’s two each.
On the mound, Hensley (W, 2-0) took his second win of the season, hurling five shutout innings with three strikeouts and just one walk and no hits allowed. Relievers Jones and Kircher each went two innings with Kircher striking out a season-high four to Jones’ one. OU starter Jacob Gholston surrendered two runs on one hit and two walks in the first inning.
Winners of 10 of their last 12 games, the Sooners return to SEC play this weekend with a series at No. 12 Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala., March 28-30. OU looks for its third SEC series victory in as many weekends, starting SEC play 4-2.
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