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Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Roll Oral Roberts in Midweek Clash

The Sooners put together a complete performance striking for eight runs while holding the Golden Eagles' offense at bay all evening.

Josh Callaway

Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Roll Oral Roberts in Midweek Clash
Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Roll Oral Roberts in Midweek Clash /

NORMAN – Just what the doctor ordered.

After a heartbreaking loss on Sunday to rival Texas in the rubber match of a three-game series, Oklahoma returned to action Tuesday night for a matchup with in-state foe Oral Roberts.

The Sooners returned to form on home soil rolling the Golden Eagles 8-2 at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. 

"I think it was more of just 'go out and try to play good baseball,'" Skip Johnson said postgame of the team's mindset coming in. "Instead of worrying about win or lose the game, just go out and play good baseball."

OU ORU Box

Looking for a bounce back performance after a tough outing against Oklahoma State last week, left-hander Braden Carmichael took the hill for the Sooners and did not disappoint.

After a rocky first inning in which he walked three batters, Carmichael settled down nicely working four shutout innings allowing just one hit and retiring the last nine batters he faced.

"He kind of settled in a little bit," Johnson said. "He settled in and it was good to get him out of there at that time (after the fourth) - to leave on a good note."

Oklahoma got the scoring started early in the first with Blake Robertson pounding an RBI triple off the top of the wall in right field followed by Tanner Tredaway knocking him in with a single.

The Sooners then added to the lead the following frame with Peyton Graham picking up a run-scoring single of his own to have OU holding a 3-0 lead after two.

"I think they just tried to keep at an even-keel, have more quality at-bats," Johnson said. 

Graham then one-upped himself three innings later with a towering, 416-foot blast to left field to extend Oklahoma’s advantage to four runs.

On the night, the OU 2-4 hitters went a combined 8-for-13 with 5 RBIs - a welcomed and needed sight for the Sooners' offense. 

"That's what they should do, right?" Johnson said. "That's what we expect them to do, but we don't really expect them to do that. Just have a good at-bat. The fans expect them to do that, but we just want them to have a quality at-bat and be themselves."

Jimmy Crooks would get in on the fun later in the inning, tripling in a run to make it a 5-0 ballgame thanks to some suspect defense from the Golden Eagles.

Oral Roberts attempted to get back in the game in the seventh, scratching a run across against OU reliever Colton Sundloff to make the score 5-1.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Skip Johnson elected to be aggressive with his bullpen and go to Carter Campbell - with the decision paying off.

Campbell promptly picked up a big strikeout to end the inning and hold the Sooners’ lead at four runs.

Oklahoma immediately took that run right back and then some in the bottom half of the seventh, plating three runs on an RBI double by Tredaway, a sacrifice fly from Crooks and Tredaway scoring on a wild pitch.

After Campbell tossed a scoreless eighth, the Golden Eagles worked another run across in the ninth off of reliever Griffin Miller, but that would be all as Miller finished the job to seal the 8-2 OU victory.

The win improves Oklahoma to 17-10 on the season and serves as one of their more complete performances of the entire season.

The Sooners will get back to Big 12 play with a huge three-game series against No. 4 Oklahoma State beginning on Friday night in Stillwater with the broadcast coming on ESPN+. 

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Josh Callaway
JOSH CALLAWAY

Josh has been with AllSooners since June of 2021 after spending the previous year with Sooners Wire via USA TODAY Sports. He is also a high school sports broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @JoshMCallaway.

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