Oklahoma baseball: Sooners outlast Gonzaga, clinch series in slugfest
By Chip Rouse
![Anthony Mackenzie enters the dugout after a tying run in the sixth inning 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%2F4700f8825bea25a6a566c50c7cc12778f87abe589eba4c1cfc76cf1f1b90b752.jpg "Anthony Mackenzie enters the dugout after a tying run in the sixth inning 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 was not a good day for pitchers in Spokane, Washington on Saturday as the Oklahoma baseball team exploded for 19 runs in a 19-12 series-clinching win over Gonzaga.
Six Sooners had at least two hits, including a four-hit game by Rocco Garza-Gongora, as Oklahoma erased a 2-0 deficit with a three-spot in the third inning, five in the fourth and five more in the fifth to open up a 12-3 advantage. Garza-Gongora drove in three runs and scored four times.
Anthony Mackenzie triggered the Sooner rally with a towering three-run home run that hit high off the light tower in right field. Mackenzie’s home run put OU ahead 3-2, and the Sooners never trailed after that.
Eleven of the 12 OU players who got an at-bat in the game recorded a hit. Jackson Nicklaus was three for five and scored four times. Bryce Madron was one of four Sooners with two hits, and he drove in four. In addition to collecting 20 hits, 13 Sooners reached base via a walk.
Left-hander Braden Carmichael started for Oklahoma and worked 6.0 full innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, striking out six and walking one. He was credited with the in to go 6-0, tops among the Sooner starters. Carmichael was followed by five other OU pitchers. As a staff, OU gave up 17 hits and issued five bases on balls.
The two teams plated a combined 11 runs in the ninth inning. Oklahoma scored four time in the top half of the inning, and Gonzaga rallied for seven runs, but unfortunately that left the home team eight runs shy of pulling out the win.
The Oklahoma win evened the Sooners’ all-time series against the Zags at three game apiece and improved OU’s season record to 28-22.