Baseball Live Blog: Oklahoma Opens Regional Action Against Oral Roberts

The Sooners open up the first NCAA Regional at L Dale Mitchell Park for the first time since 2010 on Friday.

NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

NORMAN — John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Randall Sweet offer their real-time observations as the Oklahoma Sooners open the Norman Regional agianst Oral Roberts at L Dale Mitchell Park on Friday night. Newest posts are at the top. Just keep the browser open and refresh often for Hoover, Chapman and Sweet's updates throughout this evening's contest.

8:59 p.m.

As dominant as you like. 

OU opens up the NCAA Tournament with a 14-0 win over ORU. The Sooners will take on Connecticut tomorrow at 8 p.m.

8:54 p.m.

Scott Mudler brought another pair in with a two-RBI single. 

And… there’s a child climbing on the pitch clock in the outfield and covering it up. Iconic scenes at L Dale. 

8:47 p.m.

The machine keeps rolling. 

Synder got an RBI on a fielder’s choice, and Nicklaus extended the lead to 12-0 with a single back up the middle. 

8:28 p.m.

Sooners add another pair with a Spikerman single, but he gets thrown trying to stretch to second. 

OU won’t mind. Oklahoma taking a 10-0 lead into the eighth. 

8:11 p.m.

Just an excellent all-around performance from the Sooners tonight. 

Even Isaiah Lane, who entered the game for Mackenzie, just made a great diving stop over at the hot corner. 

Kind of stuff that will have OU playing with confidence against UConn tomorrow at 8 p.m.

8:07 p.m.

Nothing comes of Madron’s double, so the lead stays at 7-0.

OU’s top three are now 7-for-9 tonight with two doubles’ triple and a pair of home runs. 

Left-hander Carter Campbell into the game for Witherspoon to start the seventh. 

Witherspoon’s final line ended up being nine strikeouts with only one hit. All of the traffic on the bases essentially came from his five walks, but an excellent pair of innings to close out his day. 

8:00 p.m.

Just about party time in Norman. 

Scott Mudler just went bomb, his fourth homer of the year, to put the Sooners up 7-0.

ORU is headed to the pen to bring in right-hander Ryan Carmack.

7:56 p.m.

A pair of strikeouts by Witherspoon to close out the sixth. He’s throwing gas, up to nine strikeouts on the night. 

He’s at 114 pitches, which tops his season high of 112 against Texas Tech on May 4, but why pull him when he’s humming along like this?

7:47 p.m.

A review brought the inning to an end after Mackenzie got picked off a first. 

Trainers look at him after the collision, though, which is the more pressing matter. 

Isaiah Lane came in for him during the review, and he’ll finish this one out. 

7:39 p.m.

And Easton Carmichael decided to get in on the fun. 

Three-run shot doubles OU’s lead, cashing in on the Spikerman walk and Madron’s double. 

The top three of the Oklahoma lineup is now. Combined 6-for-7 with a walk and they’ve got all six RBIs. 

That’ll play. 

7:34 p.m.

Feels like Witherspoon is getting better as he rocks here. Making life easy on the rest of the pitching staff with a casual fifth inning. 

Skip has no problem taking him over 100 pitches, so he’s going to keep rocking with him while he’s cooking. 

OU bats looking to add to the 3-0 lead. 

7:27 p.m.

Hall followed Witherspoon’s lead. Easy inning there for the ORU starter to sit the Sooners down in order. 

Witherspoon returning in the fifth, he’s already thrown 87 pitches. 

7:21 p.m.

Massive, massive frame for Witherspoon. 

Only needed 10 pitches in the fourth and gave the defense nothing to worry about. 

If the offense can keep rolling, have to imagine Skip is going to ride with Witherspoon as long as possible and protect the bullpen. 

Lot of baseball left before truly worry about any of that, though. 

7:15 p.m.

Huge out for Hall. He gets Mackenzie to swing and miss, and OU strands the bases. 

It’s been ORU with the missed chances so far, leaving seven aboard already, but Oklahoma will feel better about stranding the trio there with Madron’s bomb. 

Witherspoon rolling back out to start the fourth. 

7:11 p.m.

And just like that... the Sooners got a Carmichael single and Willits wore one. 

Mound visit to try and settle Hall down. He’s at 77 pitches and the control is starting to fade. 

7:06 p.m.

Welcome back, Bryce Madron. 

Belted a two-run shot to put OU up 3-0 in the third. 

The Sooners’ aggression worked against them a bit in the second inning by helping Jakob Hall keep his pitch count down, but feels like Oklahoma is getting after the ORU starter here on top of adding the pair of runs. 

6:56 p.m.

Witherspoon responds to the mound visit with a couple of strikeouts, bu the is now up to five walks. 

He’s needed 77 pitches to get through the first three tonight. OU had a couple of arms warming up in the pen before ending the top of the third. It’ll be interesting to see how long Skip Johnson sticks with the right-hander. 

6:49 p.m.

That one-out walk was Witherspoon’s fourth walk of the day. His season-high was six last time out against Kansas, though that was a game riddled by errors where he had to be pressing. 

Skip Johnson took a quick stroll out to calm his right-hander down as exactly half of Witherspoon’s 60 pitches have been fired in for strikes. 

6:44 p.m.

A really nice play by ORU first baseman Drew Stahl ensured it was a quick inning for the Golden Eagles. 

But plenty of hard-hit balls from the Sooners on all of the outs so far today. Skip Johnson will take that. 

6:39 p.m.

Witherspoon played with fire again but he’s yet to get burned. 

Messed up an easy grounder that was straight back to him and issued another walk to put a few aboard. 

ORU had plenty of respect for Spikerman’s arm out in center, however, and it kept any runners off third. 

6:23 p.m.

That’ll get the crowd going. 

Leadoff triple for Spikerman. 

Dropped it perfectly between center and right and bounced it off the wall. Immediately cashed into a run on a sacrifice fly. 

Oklahoma up 1-0.

6:20 p.m.

Huge pair of strikeouts there for Witherspoon in the top of the first. 

The one-out strikeout meant he didn’t have to be as concerned with the runner on third, but then back-to-back walks made things nervy. 

Hit a great location for strike three to get out of the frame, though, so no harm no foul. 

6:09 p.m.

ORU designated hitter Alex Rodgers rips a single and the Golden Eagles have a leadoff baserunner to get things underway in Norman. 

5:45 p.m.

About to get going here in Norman. It's the first time L Dale Mitchell Park has hosted an NCAA Regional since 2010, and there's already been an upset today. Connecticut knocked off Duke in the first game earlier today, sending the Blue Devils into an elimination game on Saturday.

OU coach Skip Johnson announced he's rolling with Kyson Witherspoon on the bump yesterday, clearing the path for Braden Davis to take on the Huskies tomorrow — if Oklahoma can take care of business today. 

Bryce Madron is back in the starting lineup tonight, a big addition for the Sooners.