Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Walk-Off No. 6 Oklahoma State in Tulsa

OU rallied from a 6-5 deficit in the bottom of the ninth, scoring two runs to walk off the Cowboys and win 7-6.

Bedlam. Round one to the Sooners.

After a successful opening weekend of Big 12 play that saw them take two of three from Baylor, Oklahoma returned to action on Tuesday night for a non-conference tilt against in-state foe and No. 6-ranked Oklahoma State at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.

The Sooners, despite playing from behind most of the night, found a way to get the job done in thrilling fashion, beating the Cowboys with a walk-off walk to end a 7-6 victory — arguably OU's biggest win of the season so far. 

Entering the bottom of the ninth trailing 6-5, Peyton Graham opened the inning getting hit by a pitch, moved up two bags on wild pitches and got himself to third base with no outs. 

Blake Robertson then came through with the clutch single to right field to lock the game up at 6-6 and turn OU's attention to a potential walk-off win.

After a pair of walks to load the bases, Sebastian Orduno headed to the plate with a chance to win the game — which he delivered by drawing a walk to bring home the winning run. 

𝙒𝘼𝙇𝙆 𝙊𝙁𝙁 𝙒𝘼𝙇𝙆

𝐒𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍#BOOMER pic.twitter.com/gXdyEXXXp4

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) March 30, 2022

Left-hander Braden Carmichael got the start and was hoping to improve on his uneven season so far this campaign. Unfortunately for the redshirt junior, he was not long for this one, tossing only two innings after allowing a four-run second that put the Sooners in an early hole.

Trailing 4-0 just an inning-and-a-half into the game, Oklahoma did something often essential to coming back after a rocky start: mustering an immediate response.

The Sooners struck for three runs in the bottom half of the second on RBIs from Cade Horton, Max McGwire and Jackson Nicklaus to trim the lead to 4-3.

Three innings later, Cowboys first baseman David Mendham extended the OSU advantage by a run with an RBI single in the fifth to push the lead to 5-3.

But, Nicklaus, who has been one of the major bright spots for the Sooners this season, would make his presence felt again in the sixth, connecting on a two-run double to knot the game up at 5-5.

𝐉𝐚𝐱‼ The freshman delivers!

Nicklaus shot a double the other way to bring in two runs, and we are TIED. pic.twitter.com/h99lEfVtRk

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) March 30, 2022

The game headed to the late innings seemingly with Oklahoma holding the momentum, but it was the Pokes who struck next to reclaim the lead with Mendham hitting an opposite-field, solo home run in the eighth to move OSU back in front 6-5. 

After threatening in the eighth but coming up empty, the Sooners headed to the final frame trailing by a run and with just three outs left to work with — but found a way to come through with a pair of runs on some patient at-bats, savvy baserunning and four more pitches outside the strike zone. 

The stunning, come-from-behind victory moves Oklahoma to 15-8 on the young season and gives them a jolt of momentum heading into an extremely arduous stretch of the schedule. OSU fell to 18-7.

The Sooners get back to conference action this weekend with a big three-game series against No. 10 Texas at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, beginning Friday night at 6:30.