Oklahoma baseball rewind: Sooners take TCU series, move up to 4th
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma baseball had lost six consecutive games and seven of the last 10 against the 21st-ranked TCU Horned Frogs. The Sooners reversed that trend over the weekend, however, taking two of three — and in Ft. Worth, no less.
Lupton Baseball Stadium at TCU had been a house of horrors for Oklahoma dating back to the 2014 season. Since that time, the Sooners had won just twice in the past dozen games in Ft. Worth.
OU dropped the opening game of the series on Friday 9-7, setting off reminders of past trips to TCU in recent seasons. The Sooners jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the opening inning, but a seven-run fifth-inning explosion by TCU sent OU starter Jake Bennett to the showers and quickly turned the tide of the game.
The Sooners rallied with a couple of runs in the seventh and single runs in the eighth and ninth but fell a couple of runs shy in their comeback bid.
Game 2 on Saturday was a different story. The Sooners again jumped out in front 3-0, scoring three times in the third inning, and never looked back after that. OU added three more in the fifth and a four-spot in the sixth to take a 10-4 advantage after six innings.
Saturday starter David Sandlin went the first 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and striking out three and was awarded the win, his fourth of the season with three losses. Left-hander Chazz Martinez came on in relief in the sixth and finished things out, picking up his first save of the season.
Shortstop Peyton Graham and center fielder Tanner Tredaway each had a pair of hits, totaling four of Oklahoma’s seven total hits in the game. Instead, the Sooners capitalized on 13 walks issued by six TCU pitchers and four hit batters.
Oklahoma broke out with an early lead in the rubber game of the series on Sunday, scoring four times in its first at bat. That would prove to be all the Sooners would need as OU employed a trio of hurlers to shut down the Horned Frogs 5-1, allowing just one run on six hits and fanning seven TCU hitters.
Freshman Cade Horton turned in his longest starting stint of the season, going 4 2/3 innings. He was followed by Carter Campbell, who pitched an inning and a third and picked up his second win. Michael Trevin closed out the final three innings, yielding no runs and no hits along with five strikeouts to earn his seventh save of the season.
Three OU hitters — catcher Jimmy Crooks, third baseman Wallace Clark and second baseman Jackson Nicklaus — recorded two hits apiece, and right fielder Sebastian Orduno singled in a pair of runs in the Sooners’ four-run first inning.
TCU scored it lone run of the game on Sunday in the fifth inning on an RBI double by shortstop Tommy Sacco, the Horned Frogs’ top hitter. Only three other TCU baserunners reached second base against OU pitching on Sunday.
The series win was Oklahoma’s fourth in the Big 12 this season and third in a row.
The Sooners improved to 29-17 overall and 10-7 in Big 12 play. That enabled them to move a half-game ahead of West Virginia into fourth place in the conference standings. Those two teams will duel it out next weekend in Norman.