Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Go For 22 Runs in Blowout of Kansas State

NORMAN – Holding the bats scorching.

After their blowout win to open the sequence 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 proper the place they left off within the opener, scoring 22 runs en path to a decisive win over the Wildcats for his or her fifth straight Huge 12 victory.

“I assumed our offense performed very well,” head coach Skip Johnson stated postgame. “Separating balls from strikes all day lengthy. It was enjoyable to look at.”

Getting the beginning for OU was right-hander David Sandlin, who put forth a strong outing till a three-run house run by Wildcats middle fielder Cole Johnson knocked him out of the sport within the sixth.

“I do not assume he actually received drained, I believe it is extra of sitting – you sit two 40-minute innings…him operating forwards and backwards making an attempt to play catch in between it will get robust at occasions,” Johnson stated of Sandlin’s struggles after sitting for lengthy Oklahoma offensive innings. 

Whereas the shot did muddy up Sandlin’s line, it hardly put a dent within the Oklahoma lead because the Sooners had one more offensive explosion on Saturday.

After John Spikerman scored on an RBI groundout by Peyton Graham within the first inning, OU would strike for an absurd 18 runs within the second and third innings alone.

The large swings within the seven-run second got here 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 the place they plated an outrageous 11 runs earlier than Kansas State might lastly get the third out.

Spikerman received the scoring began with a two-run double that allowed him to attain himself on an error within the outfield.

Jimmy Crooks then tacked on one other two runs with a double to middle to push the OU result in 13-1.

Then got here a medley of bases loaded walks for the Sooners with Jackson Nicklaus, Squires, Kendall Pettis and Spikerman all strolling in runs to balloon the benefit to 17-1.

Squires scored on a fielder’s alternative adopted by Robertson tacking on one other run with an RBI single earlier than the inning mercifully ended with Oklahoma holding a commanding 19-1 lead.

The Wildcats’ bats did handle some offense of their very own, albeit nonetheless effectively behind, going for 2 runs within the fourth and three runs within the sixth to trim the deficit all the way down to 19-6.

Nicklaus received two of these runs proper again within the backside of the sixth lifting his fifth house run of the yr out to proper middle to attain two extra and make it 21-6.

“He is extraordinarily athletic,” Johnson stated of Nicklaus, who showcased his pace and energy on the day with a bunt single together with the homer. 

“That is actually his identification. To have some bat management and be capable to do these conditions.”

After Kansas State went for 4 extra runs within the high of the seventh, the Sooners would rating one other within the backside half with an error in middle area permitting Crooks to attain after he had beforehand doubled. 

Carter Campbell and Colton Sundloff would document the ultimate six outs from there to complete up the 22-10 OU victory. 

The win strikes the Sooners to 27-14 on the yr and is their fifth straight in league play shifting their convention mark to 9-5.

Oklahoma can now go for the sweep within the Sunday finale at 2 p.m. again at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. 

“You bought to go play towards the baseball,” Johnson stated of the important thing to ending the sequence with a sweep on Sunday. 

“You are not coping with professionals, you are coping with 18- to 22-23-year outdated younger males. So you bought to be sure to simply received speak to them about separating ‘hey we received to play baseball. How good can we play towards the ball.’”