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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Bats Come Alive in 19-12 Win at Gonzaga

The Sooners rapped out 20 hits and got another strong pitching performance from Braden Carmichael to take the series against the Bulldogs.

John E. Hoover

By OU Media Relations

SPOKANE, WA — Rocco Garza-Gongora went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and scored four runs, Bryce Madron drove in four runs and Anthony Mackenzie hit a three-run home run to lead the Oklahoma baseball team to a 19-12 win over Gonzaga Saturday night at Patterson Baseball Complex.

Mackenzie’s sixth home run of the season, hit high off the light tower in right field, gave the Sooners (28-22) a 3-2 lead in the third inning. 

OU went on to score five runs in the fourth, four runs in the fifth and one in the sixth as it built a 13-3 lead, then tacked on six runs in the final two frames. The Bulldogs (18-29) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and scored on a solo home run in the fifth, then added two runs in the seventh and seven runs in the ninth.

All 11 position players who saw action recorded a hit for the Sooners. Jackson Nicklaus went 3-for-5 and scored four runs, while Madron, Kendall Pettis, John Spikerman and Sebastian Orduno each notched two hits. Spikerman and Dakota Harris each tallied two RBIs. Oklahoma registered season highs in runs and hits (20), fifteen of which were singles.

Braden Carmichael (6-0) struck out six and allowed one walk and three runs over six innings to earn his sixth straight victory in a start. Jacob Rutherford (4-2) took the loss for Gonzaga.

After the Bulldogs went ahead 2-0 in the first inning on a double by Brian Kalmer and a single by Ezra Samperi, Carmichael settled in and retired 10 of the next 12 batters as Oklahoma built a big lead.

With Mackenzie’s home run as the spark, the Sooners poured on 13 runs over four innings. Nicklaus singled in a run, and Garza-Gongora and Harris each hit two-run doubles in the fourth inning to bring OU’s lead to 8-2. Garza-Gongora singled home another run in the fifth, Madron drove a two-run double and Pettis scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to make it 12-2. After a solo home run by Enzo Apodaca, Nicklaus led off the sixth with a double and scored on a wild pitch to bring the lead back to 10 runs, 13-3.

Oklahoma added two runs in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Madron and a wild pitch that scored Wallace Clark. In the top of the ninth, Madron singled in a run, Spikerman lined a two-run single and Muniz singled home another run to make the score 19-5. Gonzaga plated seven runs in the bottom of the ninth on a hit batter, two walks and a grand slam by Kalmer.

The Sooners and Bulldogs conclude the series at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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