OU Baseball: Oklahoma Offense Fuels Run-Rule Victory Over Oklahoma State
STILLWATER — Just before the Sooners hit the road for another SEC road series, Skip Johnson’s bunch made the trip north up I-35 to take on Oklahoma State in the only Bedlam baseball meeting of the season.
Oklahoma rolled to a laugher, winning 11-1 in run-rule fashion at O’Brate Stadium.
Jaden Barfield made his first career start for Oklahoma on Tuesday night as the Sooners went with a bullpen game to try and take down the Cowboys.
But pitching mattered a lot less after the Sooners jumped to a 5-0- lead in the first inning.
Back-to-back singles by Trey Gambill and Jaxon Willits put pressure on the Oklahoma State defense early.
A bunt single by Easton Carmichael was thrown past first basemen Colin Bruggemann into right field, allowing Gambill to score and give Oklahoma the early 1-0 lead.
Sam Christiansen kept things going with an RBI single that drove in Willits and Carmichael to grow the Sooner lead to 3-0.
A walk by Drew Dickerson and a error on a safety squeeze by pitcher Ryan Ure allowed Christansen to score as the Oklahoma lead increased to 4-0.
Kyle Branch joined the hit parade when his RBI double drove in Dickerson and extended the lead to 5-0 after one inning.
After a perfect first inning by Barfield, Oklahoma State put runners on first and second with one out following a Cowboy walk and a hit batter. But a popout and strikeout kept OSU off the scoreboard and the Sooners carried a 5-0 lead into the third.
Reid Hensley came in for Barfield in the top of the third inning. Barfield threw two innings, struck out two and allowed zero hits and zero runs.
The first Cowboy base hit came in the top of the third inning with a leadoff single by Drew Culbertson. A walk to Brayden Smith applied pressure but Hensley induced a flyout and a groundout to keep the Cowboys off the board.
Oklahoma added another run in the top of the fourth with an RBI double by Christensen that was just feet away from being a home run. That drove in Willits, who had reached on an error, as the Sooner lead grew to 6-0.
Bruggemann scored the first Cowboy run of the game with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth off Hensley that cut the OU lead to 6-1.
Back-to-back walks to Dayton Tockey and Branch forced the Cowboys into their fourth different pitcher in five innings as Noah Wech came in with runners on first and third with one out. But a strikeout by Dawson Willis and a groundout by Gambill ended the Sooner threat.
Jamie Hitt entered for Oklahoma in the fifth inning and held Oklahoma State scoreless in three innings out of the bullpen.
After a couple of innings where they couldn’t get anything going offensively, the Oklahoma offense burst back onto the scene in the eighth inning.
A walk to Gambill and an RBI single by Willits drove in the seventh Sooner run of the night as they took a 7-1 lead.
A single by Carmichael and a pitch that Christiansen loaded the bases with an opportunity to break the game wide open.
Jason Walk worked his way into a hitter’s count and he crushed a 3-1 pitch from Stoney Rhodes over the left field wall for his first collegiate grand slam and grew the lead to double digits as OU took an 11-1 lead.
Sooner closer Dylan Crooks entered in the bottom of the eighth to face the heart of the Oklahoma State order. He ran through the Cowboys and then struck out the side in the ninth to give the Sooners the 11-1 run-rule victory.
The Sooners will stay on the road for their SEC series this weekend and head to Columbia to take on the Missouri Tigers. Game 1 is scheduled for 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
