Oklahoma baseball: Sooner bats, pitching click in 12-2 win at ORU
By Chip Rouse
![Bryce Madron hits in the sixth inning to bring in a tying run as the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) baseball team plays Rider at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Feb. 24, 2023 in Norman, Okla. [Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman]Ou Practice](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F60d92c73bc7479a7507d3e51502832aac8082d8b3b7ffa26d68c00621dc7b4d9.jpg "Bryce Madron hits in the sixth inning to bring in a tying run as the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) baseball team plays Rider at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Feb. 24, 2023 in Norman, Okla. [Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman]Ou Practice")
It hasn’t happened near enough this season, but the Oklahoma baseball bats and pitching were in orchestra-like synchrony on Tuesday and the result was a 12-2 midweek win over Oral Roberts in Tulsa.
Nine different Sooners had a hit in the game and three of them collected three hits apiece, in the game, and left-handed starter Braden Carmichael allowed two runs and just three hits in six-plus strong innings as Oklahoma earned its third victory in the last five games and improved to 16-14 for the season.
The first four hitters in the Oklahoma lineup –SS Anthony Mackenzie, RF Bryce Madron, CF John Spikerman, 1B Sebastian Orduno and PH Patrick Engskov — accounted for 11 of the Sooners’ 17 hits in the game and scored seven of the 12 runs.
Oklahoma started the game with three consecutive hits and scored twice in the opening inning off of ORU starter Evan Kowalski. The Sooners scored a single run in the third, two more in the fourth to go up 5-1 and then broke the game wide open with a four-spot in the fifth.
“It was a good night for us,” said head coach Skip Johnson. “I thought today we were really going in all cylinders.”
It was Carmichael’s third start of the season and his longest outing. He doubled his previous longest outing, which was just 3.2 innings, and earned his first win of the season.
Both of Oral Roberts’ runs scored on home runs leading off the third and seventh innings.
The Sooners are now 43-36 against Oral Roberts in the all-time series, but it was only the second time they have scored in double digits against ORU in Tulsa. OU scored 13 in a 14-13 loss to the Golden Eagles in Tulsa in 1987.
OU returns to Big 12 action on Thursday with three-game road series at Baylor.