OU Baseball: Braden Davis, Oklahoma Open BYU Series With Big Win

The Sooners' left-hander struck out 11 and OU's hitters jumped on top early, and the bullpen did just enough to hold off the Cougars in their opener in Provo.

Braden Davis / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

By OU Media Relations

PROVO, UT — Oklahoma won its fifth straight game and the first of its three-game series at BYU, beating the Cougars 10-8 on Thursday night at Larry Miller Park. 

The Sooners were powered by an 11-strikeout outing from starting left-handed pitcher Braden Davis. Davis’ 11 K’s in 6 1/3 innings was one strikeout shy of his career high. 

The OU offense did their part, scoring 10 runs on 12 hits. With the win, OU (22-14, 12-4) moves into sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with its 12th win in conference play. 

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Oklahoma got on the board early thanks to senior Anthony Mackenzie. After a two-out error on BYU (15-19, 6-13) that allowed sophomore Easton Carmichael to reach, redshirt senior Michael Snyder followed with a single to center before Mackenzie laced an RBI single to left for the first run of the game. 

Davis retired the first seven batters he faced into the third inning, and the Sooners gave him more insurance with two runs on two hits at the top of the fourth. Following a leadoff single from Mackenzie and hit by pitch drawn by redshirt senior Kendall Pettis, freshman Jaxon Willits kept his hot streak going with a two-run single dropped into left. 

OU made it 6-0 through four-and-a-half courtesy of a Snyder two-run double and groundout from Pettis that allowed Snyder to score. BYU would get three runs back in the bottom half of the fifth via a solo home run and a pair of RBI base hits to make it 6-3 through five. 

Davis responded by retiring the side in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts before the OU bats would again add insurance in the seventh. 

After a walk drawn by senior Bryce Madron and Carmichael single, his third straight base hit in the game, a fielder’s choice forced by Mackenzie allowed Madron to cross home. The next at-bat, an errant throw on a pickoff attempt at first base allowed Snyder to race across to make it 8-3, Sooners. 

Davis (W, 4-3) would exit in the seventh with a final line of 6.1 innings pitched, five hits, three runs, three walks and 11 strikeouts. Relievers Reid Hensley (0.2 IP), Carson Atwood (1.1) and Malachi Witherspoon (0.2) would finish the job with Atwood fanning a pair and Hensely and Witherspoon each striking out one.

BYU put two more runs on the board at the bottom of the eighth via sacrifice fly and run-scoring single to make it 10-5 after eight. 

OU would plate two runs on two hits in the ninth on an RBI single from Pettis and BYU error. The Cougars attempted a rally at the bottom of the ninth, scoring three runs via home run but Witherspoon would induce a pop up to end the contest and give OU its 24th win of the season. 

At the plate, Carmichael and Snyder each registered three-hit games, going 3-for-5. It marked the fifth straight multi-hit game for Carmichael and the third in the last four games for Snyder. Snyder, Mackenzie and Willits would all plate a pair of runs in the contest. 

The teams meet for Game 2 of the three-game conference set on Friday at 7 p.m. CT.