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Oklahoma baseball: Three takeaways from OU’s Big 12 Tournament win over WVU

By Chip Rouse

ARLINGTON, TX - MAY 1: The Texas Rangers take the field before playing against the Atlanta Braves at Globe Life Field on May 1, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - MAY 1: The Texas Rangers take the field before playing against the Atlanta Braves at Globe Life Field on May 1, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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Peyton Graham stroked a grand slam, Tanner Tredaway delivered four hits and Carson Atwood got his first career start in leading the No. 3-seeded Oklahoma baseball team to a 6-4 win over West Virginia in the opening round of the Big 12 Championship.

Graham’s second-inning grand slam off of West Virginia starter Jacob Watters staked the Sooners to a quick 4-0 advantage and triggered a five-run inning that proved to be the difference in the game.

Tredaway drove in a sixth OU run in the fourth inning. The Sooners led 6-0 heading into the top of the eighth. The Mountaineers scored a single run in the eighth on a wild pitch and three more in the ninth on a pair of home runs off of Oklahoma reliever Nicholas Andrews to make the final score seem closer than it actually was.

The Sooners move on in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination conference championship and will face No. 2 seed Texas Tech, the team OU faced this past weekend, winning two of three games. Oklahoma is 3-1 against the Red Raiders this season.

Three takeaways from the Oklahoma win over West Virginia

  • The Sooners were outhit in the game 10-9, but Oklahoma was able to deliver the key situational hits when it needed them, the big blow being the grand slam by Peyton Graham in the second inning, which was set up by a single and a pair of walks.
  • Oklahoma manager Skip Johnson wanted to give all of his weekend starters an extra day of rest and went with all relievers against West Virginia. The strategy worked with the sophomore right-hander Atwood making his first start as a Sooner. His 34 previous appearances in two seasons were all in relief. Atwood went the first three innings, allowing just one hit and registering a pair of strikeouts. He was followed to the mound by a quartet of Sooner relievers, who collectively gave up nine of the 10 West Virginia hits, all four runs and struck out seven Mountaineers while walking no one.
  • Although the Sooners won this game and advanced in the Big 12 Championship, OU squandered a bunch of other opportunities leaving 13 runners on base. They aren’t going to be able to do that against the better teams in the conference.
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