Oklahoma Baseball: Sorting out Sooners’ improbable series win(s) over TCU

Oklahoma baseball has encountered  plenty of ups and downs this season, but this past weekend was about as up as it can get.

The Sooners showed a great flair for the dramatic, walking-off the league-leading TCU Horned Frogs not once, but twice over the weekend and claiming its fifth Big 12 series win of the season.

Down to its last out in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, and trailing by two runs, senior OU catcher Renae Martinez drove a pitch from TCU reliever Durbin Feltman over the left-field fence with two Sooners on base, giving Oklahoma an improbable, walk-off 9-8 victory over the Horned Frogs.

Then, just 24 hours later, TCU’s attempt to clinch its third consecutive Big 12 regular-season title was doomed once again as Sooner first-baseman Austin O’Brien stroked a single into left-center field, breaking up a 9-9 tie and scoring pinch runner Kyler Murray with the winning run in a 10-9 Oklahoma walk-off win for the second straight day.

“You can’t script it any better than that,” O’Brien said to Oklahoma City Oklahoman reporter Ryan Aber after stroking the walk-off, game winning hit in Sunday’s 10-9 win by Oklahoma.

“You can’t script it any better than that.” Sooner first baseman Austin O’Brien on his game-winning, walk-off hit giving Oklahoma a 10-9 victory and the series win over TCU

O’Brien, a senior,  was one of several Sooners playing what could be their last home game a L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooner first baseman collected six RBI in the series and went 5-for-14 at the plate (,357 average). He delivered an extra-base hit in all three games, and on Monday was named Big 12 Player of the Week for his weekend heroics.

By winning the series, two games to one, Oklahoma improved its overall season record to 34-18 and 12-9 in the Big 12. The Sooners are in third place, one game behind second-place Texas Tech with a Bedlam regular-season finish scheduled against Oklahoma State this weekend.

The Sooners had a chance to sweep the weekend series with TCU, but surrendered three runs in both the eighth and ninth innings after taking a 4-3 lead in the home half of the seventh. The 9-6 win by TCU on Friday was the Horned Frogs ninth consecutive win over Oklahoma and, more importantly, clinched at least a share of the regular-season conference crown.

OU’s series win over the Horned Frogs snapped the nine-game losing string to TCU and also held off the title-clinching celebration by the Frogs for at least one more week.

Here is what else you need to know about the Sooners’ good fortune over the weekend against another top-10 team:

• Oklahoma has played 28 consecutive games against teams ranked in the top 50 in NCAA Division I RPI (ratings percentage index). TCU is ranked No. 5, according to RPI.
• The Sooners battered TCU pitching over the weekend, reaching double digits in hits in all three games and a combined total of 35.
• OU is 22-4 when it scores six or more runs, which it did in all three games against TCU.
• The Sooners completed the home portion of their 2017 regular-season schedule with a 23-6 record, the best they have posted at L. Dale Mitchell Park since going 25-6 in 2013.
• Oklahoma’s come-from-behind 9-8 win on Saturday was the 650th win in head coach Pete Hughes’ career. Hughes is 126-99-1 in his four seasons at OU.
• The series opener with TCU, a 9-6 OU loss, marked the first time this season the Sooners have lost when leading after the seventh inning. Similarly, OU’s 9-8 win on Saturday was the first time in 18 games this season that the Sooners have won after trailing going into the ninth inning.
• Oklahoma led the series finale on Sunday 7-0 after three innings. TCU erased that deficit and actually owned a 9-8 lead before the Sooners fought back to tie it up with a run in the bottom of the sixth and then rallied for a 10-9 victory with a walk-off single by senior first baseman Austin O’Brien with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
• The win in the rubber game of TCU series was the 13th consecutive in a Big 12 series when going to the series finale all tied a one game apiece.
• The Sooners are 6-3 since losing at West Virginia on April 28.
• The Big 12 Preseason Media Poll projected Oklahoma to finish sixth in Big 12 baseball this season. They are currently in third place, one game behind second-place Texas Tech.
• Oklahoma has Big 12 series wins this season over the two teams immediately ahead of the Sooners in the conference standings (first-place TCU and second-place Texas Tech) and the two teams immediately behind them (Baylor and West Virginia).