The Oklahoma baseball team nearly squandered its winning streak Wednesday night.
The Sooners completed a two-game sweep after surviving Texas Southern's comeback attempt in a 5-4 win in Game 2 of the set at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The win put OU at 8-0 to begin the season, bettering what was already the Sooners' best start under coach Skip Johnson. The 7-0 run to start the season was the best for OU since starting 10-0 in 2013.
After run-ruling Texas Southern 15-4 on Tuesday, the Sooners nearly let Game 2 slip away the next day. It had the starts of another blowout, though, when OU jumped to a 5-0 lead in the seventh inning thanks to three runs in the bottom of the third.
Texas Southern then stormed back in the eighth with three runs to make the count 5-3. The Tigers then added one more in the ninth to get within one.
The Tigers had runners on first and second when senior Dylan Crooks struck out the final two batters to fend off the comeback attempt.
slam the door, DC 🚪💢 @Dylan_Crooks7 pic.twitter.com/z45N6UhWvq
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) February 27, 2025
After two games already and a weekend series still ahead this week, Johnson used a platoon of pitchers to get past this one with no arm throwing more than 40 pitches.
Landon Victorian got the start but pitched only two innings of shutout baseball. He threw a team-high 38 pitches. Beau Sampson and Michael Catalano also tossed two innings, with Catalano earning the win.
James Hitt threw one inning before Jason Bodin, Jaden Barfield and Cooks all got just two outs. Bodin was responsible for Texas Southern's three-run inning and Barfield gave up the run in the ninth.
With the pitching staff fresher than expected after two midweek games, the Sooners will get a day off before hosting CSUN for a three-game weekend series at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
A sweep of CSUN would put the Sooners at 11-0 to surpass the 2013 start and give them their best start since going 16-0 in 2011.