Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Go For 22 Runs in Blowout of Kansas State
NORMAN – Keeping the bats hot.
After their blowout win to open the series on Friday, Oklahoma continued their three-game set with Kansas State on Saturday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
The Sooners picked up right where they left off in the opener, scoring 22 runs en route to a decisive win over the Wildcats for their fifth straight Big 12 victory.
"I thought our offense played really well," head coach Skip Johnson said postgame. "Separating balls from strikes all day long. It was fun to watch."
Getting the start for OU was right-hander David Sandlin, who put forth a solid outing until a three-run home run by Wildcats center fielder Cole Johnson knocked him out of the game in the sixth.
"I don't think he really got tired, I think it's more of sitting - you sit two 40-minute innings...him running back and forth trying to play catch in between it gets tough at times," Johnson said of Sandlin's struggles after sitting for long Oklahoma offensive innings.
While the shot did muddy up Sandlin’s line, it hardly put a dent in the Oklahoma lead as the Sooners had yet another offensive explosion on Saturday.
After John Spikerman scored on an RBI groundout by Peyton Graham in the first inning, OU would strike for an absurd 18 runs in the second and third innings alone.
The big swings in the seven-run second came on a two-run double by Brett Squires and a two-run homer by Blake Robertson. OU led 8-0 after two.
The Sooners then had a marathon third inning where they plated an outrageous 11 runs before Kansas State could finally get the third out.
Spikerman got the scoring started with a two-run double that allowed him to score himself on an error in the outfield.
Jimmy Crooks then tacked on another two runs with a double to center to push the OU lead to 13-1.
Then came a medley of bases loaded walks for the Sooners with Jackson Nicklaus, Squires, Kendall Pettis and Spikerman all walking in runs to balloon the advantage to 17-1.
Squires scored on a fielder's choice followed by Robertson tacking on another run with an RBI single before the inning mercifully ended with Oklahoma holding a commanding 19-1 lead.
The Wildcats’ bats did manage some offense of their own, albeit still well behind, going for two runs in the fourth and three runs in the sixth to trim the deficit down to 19-6.
Nicklaus got two of those runs right back in the bottom of the sixth lifting his fifth home run of the year out to right center to score two more and make it 21-6.
"He's extremely athletic," Johnson said of Nicklaus, who showcased his speed and power on the day with a bunt single along with the homer.
"That's really his identity. To have some bat control and be able to do those situations."
After Kansas State went for four more runs in the top of the seventh, the Sooners would score another in the bottom half with an error in center field allowing Crooks to score after he had previously doubled.
Carter Campbell and Colton Sundloff would record the final six outs from there to finish up the 22-10 OU victory.
The win moves the Sooners to 27-14 on the year and is their fifth straight in league play moving their conference mark to 9-5.
Oklahoma can now go for the sweep in the Sunday finale at 2 p.m. back at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
"You got to go play against the baseball," Johnson said of the key to finishing the series with a sweep on Sunday.
"You're not dealing with professionals, you're dealing with 18- to 22-23-year old young men. So you got to make sure you just got talk to them about separating 'hey we got to play baseball. How good can we play against the ball.'"