Buried in all the basketball tournament hoopla and record-breaking softball news over the weekend was a four-win week by the Oklahoma baseball team over a pair of Texas teams.
The Sooners improved to 9-5 last week with a midweek win over Dallas Baptist followed by a three-game weekend sweep of the University of Texas San Antonio. All four games were home contests at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
A seven-run outburst in the fifth inning fueled OU to an 8-7 victory over Dallas Baptist. Graduate transfer Michael Trevin went five strong innings for the Sooners, allowing just one run on one hit while striking out 10, and was credited with the win, his first of the season.
The Sooners took the series opener UTSA on Saturday, winning 10-5 behind the bats of Diego Muniz, Tanner Tredaway and Jackson Nicklaus. Tredaway and Nicklaus collected three hits apiece and Muniz drove in four of OU’s 10 runs. Muniz was one of three other Sooners who had two hits in the game. Left-handed starter Jake Bennett went six complete innings for the Sooners and picked up his first win of the season. He allowed two runs (one earned) on five hits and struck out six.
The two teams played a doubleheader on Sunday with the Sooners winning both ends, 8-3 and 9-5.
Freshman second baseman Nicklaus had three hits and three other Sooners had two hits each in leading the way for Oklahoma in the first game of the Sunday twin bill, and sophomore right-hander David Sandlin pitched a gem, going eight innings and giving up just one run on two hits while striking out six.
In the second game on Sunday, Oklahoma broke open a scoreless game with four runs in the second inning, the big hit coming on a two-run home run by left fielder Kendall Pettis on the way to a 9-5 win. The Sooners scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings and two more in the eighth to put the game away.
Sophomore Chazz Martinez was credited with the win, his second of the season along with two losses. Like all the OU starters in this series, Martinez worked deep into the game, retiring after seven full innings of work after yielding one run on three hits.
The Sooners remain in Norman for the rest of this week, hosting a two-game series with Air Force on Tuesday and Wednesday, then New Orleans comes to town for a three-game weekend series at L. Dale Mitchell Park.