Oklahoma rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning on Sunday and won it with a home run in the 10th to capture the series against South Carolina in the Sooners' first SEC road series.
Down to its final out with runners on first and third in the top of the ninth and trailing 5-3, a fielding error allowed one Oklahoma run to score. That was followed by an infield single by Kyle Branch that drove in Jaxon Willits with the tying run, giving the 12th-ranked Sooners new life.
Reliever Dylan Crooks retired the side in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extra frames. With one out in the top of the 10th, leadoff-hitter Jason Walk hit a game-winning home run over the left-centerfield wall, his second of the season, to earn the Sooners their 17th win of the season and the series win over South Carolina.
The Sooners scored four times in the first inning, hit three home runs in the game and rode a strong pitching performance by Friday starter Kyson Witherspoon to take Friday's opening game in the series, 8-5. Witherspoon worked 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out seven, and earned his fifth win of the season still without a loss.
Oklahoma won the game on Friday despite being outhit 12-11 by the Gamecocks. South Carolina also left nine runners on base. The Sooners sealed the win on solo home runs by Dayton Tockey in the sixth and Dawson Willis in the eighth.
The game on Saturday was all South Carolina. The two teams battled back and forth for the first three innings, but the Gamecocks jumped on Sooner starter Malachi Witherspoon for three runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take a commanding 9-4 advantage on the way to an 11-5 victory.
Malachi, the brother of Friday starter Kyson Witherspoon, struck out five in four innings, but gave up six runs, all earned, on seven hits and was charged with the loss, his first of the season to go 2-1.
With the two wins at South Carolina, the Sooners improve to 17-2 on the season and notched their first SEC series win in program history.
Oklahoma will host UT Arlington on Tuesday and entertain Mississippi State for a weekend series at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Four observations from OU's series win at Arkansas
1. The 11 runs scored by South Carolina on Saturday tied the most surrendered by the Sooners this season.
2. Oklahoma starting pitcher Kyson Witherspoon leads the SEC with five wins, ranks ninth with a 1.91 ERA and third in strikeouts with 47 in 28.1 innings.
3. OU third baseman Dawson Willis' solo home run in the eighth inning on Friday was the first of his career.
4. Jaxon Willits hit a two-run blast in the third inning on Saturday to give Oklahoma a brief 3-1 lead in a game the Sooners ultimately lost 11-5. It was his fifth of the season, tying him with Easton Carmichael for the team lead.