Sooners Sweep No. 12 Ranked Horned Frogs

The Oklahoma baseball team traveled down to Fort Worth for a three-game series against the No. 12 ranked TCU Horned Frogs. OU completed the series sweep on Sunday, with a 9-4 victory. Let’s talk about it.

It was an eventful weekend for OU baseball to say the least. A new milestone was reached on Friday, as the Sooners won 7-3, and head coach Skip Johnson recorded his 200th career win at Oklahoma.

In the first game of three, the Sooner’s offensive capabilities were fully displayed. Bryce Madron had quite the performance, going 3-4 from the plate, with one RBI. Michael Snyder continued his hot start to the season, with a two-run home run, that gave Snyder the team lead with four.

The Sooners utilized a four-run seventh inning to capture the win against the Horned Frogs. Carter Frederick hit an RBI single, John Spikerman drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, Madron followed up with an RBI single, and Easton Carmichael drove in the fourth and final run of the inning.

Braden Davis sometimes struggled against TCU but kept the Sooners in the ball game. The starter for OU went four innings, surrendered three runs, allowed four walks, and struck out three. Kyson Witherspoon came on in relief of Davis and was brilliant. He threw to the tune of five innings of scoreless baseball, allowed three hits, and two walks, and struck out eight. TCU can be a handful for opposing pitchers, and Witherspoon shut them down completely.

OU broke TCU’s 17-game win streak at home in game one of the series.

In game two, the pitching was once again the backbone for the Sooners, and helped secure the series win. Starter Brendan Girton tossed four innings and allowed two runs, only giving up one hit. Carter Campbell followed suit, and went three innings, only allowing one run on two hits, and struck out five. Malachi Witherspoon earned the win, and allowed two runs, four hits, and struck out one batter.

Once again, the Sooners had a big scoring inning when they needed it most. A four-run frame in the fifth inning, helped jumpstart the OU offense. Jaxon Willits got things going with a chopper that forced a TCU error, and allowed Kendall Pettis to score. Two batters later, Bryce Madron was able to put a ball in the seats for a three-run home run.

Scott Mudler would add one more run for OU in the eighth with a sacrifice fly. TCU would tie the game up in the bottom half of the inning on a pair of singles.

All tied up in the bottom of the ninth, and Skip Johnson turned to Carter Frederick to pinch hit. He ripped a leadoff go-ahead solo run home run. Jackson Nicklaus added an insurance run for OU with a groundout. Oklahoma won 7-5.

In the series finale, the OU offense wasted no time, unlike the previous two games. Easton Carmichael drove in a run on a groundout, and a wild pitch allowed Bryce Madron to score from third to plate two for the Sooners in the first inning.

It was the weekend of crooked numbers for OU. Oklahoma put up a three-spot in the fourth inning. Jackson Nicklaus got the rally started with a double. Frederick drove him in with an RBI single. In only his second start of the season, Jason Walk recorded both his first collegiate hit and RBI. Kendall Pettis joined in on the fun with an RBI groundout.

The very next inning Michael Snyder hit his second home run of the series to extend the Sooner lead to six.

James Hitt pitched well for the Sooners in the last game of the series. He went 5.2 innings and allowed four runs and seven hits, and earned the win. Both Dylan Crooks and Carson Atwood did their jobs, pitching a combined 2.2 innings.

The Sooners would plate three runs in the ninth inning to complete the sweep of the Horned Frogs.

Next up for the Sooners is another ranked matchup, with No. 19 Dallas Baptist University coming to L. Dale Mitchell Park on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Images courtesy of Reghan Kyle/OU Daily and Jenna Burress/OU Daily