Oklahoma baseball: Sooners win first weekend series in a month

It has been almost 30 days since the Oklahoma baseball team won its last weekend series.

That changed over the Easter weekend, as the Sooners took two of three games in a nonconference series over the University of Minnesota. The past three weekends, Oklahoma has opened a series with a win only to lose the next two games in the series.

This time, the Sooners reversed the pattern, dropping the opener 8-1 before rebounding to take the final two games in the series.

In Friday night’s series opener, Oklahoma garnered just five hits provided by five different players and scored its only run in the game in the ninth inning in its final at bat. Minnesota put the game away early with a four-run outburst in the first inning off of OU starter Cade Cavalli, sparked by a three-run, fence-clearing blast by third baseman Jack Wassel. The Gophers added a three spot in the fifth, making it 7-0, and cruised home from there.

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The second game in the series moved to Target Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Minnesota Twins. Junior right-hander Nathan Wiles held Minnesota to just one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. The Minnesota pitching effort was equally as sharp, but the Sooners were able to score single runs in the third and fifth innings, and Oklahoma held on for a 2-1 victory.

First baseman Tyler Hardman drive in both Sooner runs on a bases-loaded walk and an RBI double.  and closer Jason Ruffcorn recorded the final five outs in Saturday’s contest for the save.

Sunday’s rubber game of the series returned back to Seibert Field on the UM campus. A three run home run by Oklahoma junior outfielder Brady Harlan, the first of his collegiate career, in the top half of the fifth inning overcame a 2-0 Sooner deficit and provided the winning runs in a 5-2 OU win.

Sooner starter Levi Prater spotted Minnesota single runs in the first two innings but held the Gophers at bay from there, going 6 2/3 innings, allowing just the two runs on five hits, and picked up his sixth win of the season to go with three losses. Ruffcorn pitched the final inning and earned his Big 12-leading 10th save of the season.

By winning two of three at Minnesota, Oklahoma improved to 27-14 on the season. The Sooners finish up the final legs of their season-long 11-game road trip this week with a stop at Wichita State on Tuesday before traveling to Manhattan, Kansas, for a three-game weekend series at Kansas State.

OU returns home for its final home series of the season a week from Friday, when the Sooners will host Texas Tech.