Oklahoma baseball: Sooners unload on Mississippi State
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma baseball took game one in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, exploding for 13 runs in the final three innings for a 20-10 rout over Mississippi State.
Trailing 10-7 entering the seventh inning, the Sooners sent 15 men to the plate in the seventh, scoring nine times to take a 16-10 lead. OU added four more runs in the ninth on three consecutive doubles and a ground out.
Oklahoma hitters battered eight Mississippi State pitchers for 20 runs on 22 hits, including six doubles.
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Sooner pitching was rocky early in the game. Junior right-hander Jake Irvin started for the Sooners. He worked 3 1/3 innings, surrendering eight runs on seven hits along with issuing four bases on balls. Kyle Tyler came in in relief for OU in the third and didn’t fare much better. He went 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits.
Mississippi State produced nine runs on eight hits, including three home runs, in the first four innings, but only one run and four hits the rest of the way.
The heroes for Oklahoma offensively were shortstop Brandon Zaragoza, who was four for seven at the plate with four RBI. Senior second baseman Kyle Mendenhall and freshman Justin Mitchell were both three for five with a combined five runs scored and five RBI. Junior outfielder Blake Brewster also enjoyed a productive day at the plate, going three for five with three runs and three runs batted in.
Four of Mississippi State’s 12 hits off of Oklahoma pitching left the park, while the Sooners’ failed to hit a home run despite rapping out 22 total hits.
The Sooners were 13 of 25 with runners in scoring position and still stranded 14 runners on the base paths. Mississippi State was just three for 12 with runners in scoring position.
For the third straight game, Oklahoma was forced to go to battle without its two leading run producers, outfielders Steele Walker and Kyler Murrray, both nursing injuries.
Oklahoma (37-23) will now play the winner of the game between No, 1 seed Florida State (43-17) and No. 4 Samford (36-24), the champions of the Southern Conference, with an opportunity to go up 2-0 and in the driver’s seat in the Tallahassee Regional.