Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Sooner Baseball Topples Texas Tech With Walk-off Series Win

By Chip Rouse

Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Sooner baseball recorded its second straight Big 12 series win with a dramatic walk-off home run to outlast Texas Tech 5-4 in the rubber game of their three-game weekend series on Sunday.

Junior second baseman Kyle Mendenhall brought the crowd at L. Dale Mitchell Park to its feet with a leadoff blast to deep left-center field that cleared the fence and ended the game and the series, enabling the Sooners to draw even with the No. 2-ranked Red Raiders in the conference standings. Both teams are 4-2 in the league and 25-6 overall.

Jun 21, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders pitcher Hayden Howard (45) pitches the ninth inning against the Florida Gators in the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Texas Tech Red Raiders defeated Florida Gators 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 21, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders pitcher Hayden Howard (45) pitches the ninth inning against the Florida Gators in the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Texas Tech Red Raiders defeated Florida Gators 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /

Mendenhall was 0 for 9 in the series before launching his game-winning round-tripper off Texas Tech reliever Jose Quezada, who had not given up a hit in two-plus innings before facing the OU second baseman. For Mendenhall, its was his team-leading fifth home run of the season and sixth in his career.

Some run-scoring opportunities in baseball are manufactured or scripted, acknowledged Sooner head coach Pete Hughes.

"“However, I didn’t script Kyle Mendenhall hitting a home run,” Hughes said in his postgame press conference after Sunday’s win. “That is college athletics, it is never by the script.”"

The series win over the Red Raiders was Oklahoma’s fourth consecutive over a ranked opponent and represents the first time in three seasons that the Sooners have won their first two Big 12 series of the season.

Sophomore left fielder Steele Walker, one of three Sooner hitters who are in the top 10 in Big 12 batting, garnered two hits in four at bats on Sunday, his 13th multi-hit game of the season, and also drove in two of Oklahoma’s five runs.

Freshman right-hander Nathan Wiles started the game and allowed all four Texas Tech runs on eight hits. Connor Berry and closer JB Olson worked the final five innings in relief and shut down the Red Raiders on no runs and no hits after the fourth inning.

The Sooners put up a three-spot in the opening inning on Sunday, scoring all three with two outs. OU has scored 89 runs this season after two were out. Texas Tech came back with three of its own in the fourth inning to take a one-run lead and knock the Sooner starter, Wiles, out of the game.

OU tied the contest with a run in the home half of the fifth, and that was the way things stood until Mendenhall’s game-winning blast.

Oklahoma was outhit eight to five by Texas Tech in the series finale and 26 to 20 over the three games. The Sooners improved their home record against the Red Raiders to 26-12-1.

Next up for the Sooners on the baseball diamond is a midweek contest at home with in-state rival Oral Roberts, and then its off to Austin, Texas, on the weekend for a Red River Showdown with archrival Texas.

Home/OU Baseball