Down 3-1 going to the home half of the eighth inning, Oklahoma rallied for three runs to post a 4-3 come-from-behind win over No. 25 Florida on Friday night at Kimrey Family Stadium.
A triple by Jaxon Willits with one out in the eighth scored two runs to tie the game, and Dasan Harris came through with a two-out single up the middle to drive in the game-winning run for the No. 15 Sooners (30-14, 12-10 SEC).
Sooners boost SEC standing with Game 1 comeback
The victory helped break a four-way tie for sixth place in the SEC standings heading into Friday's series opener that is now a two-way tie between the Sooners and Arkansas. Florida and Ole Miss both dropped back a game in a tightly packed middle of the conference with losses on Friday.
Sophomore right-hander Kadyn Leon got the start for Oklahoma. Having made just one start prior to Friday's game, Leon worked the first two innings, allowing no runs and three hits, before giving way to LJ Mercurius out of the bullpen. It was Mercurius' first appearance out of the bullpen this season.
The UNLV transfer has struggled of late but pitched 4.0 strong innings, giving up one run on one hit and striking out four Gator batters. When Mercurius departed, the game was deadlocked at 1-1.
Florida broke the tie with single runs in the seventh and eighth off of Mercurius' younger brother, Xander, to take a 3-1 lead and set up the Sooners' heroics in the bottom half of the eighth.
Oklahoma managed just six hits in the game, with freshman first baseman Connor Larkin collecting two of them, including a double. It was the first multi-hit game of his collegiate career. Blake Cyr's solo home run in the eighth for Florida was the only home run in the game, his 11th of the season.
The Sooners are now 19-5 at home this season with two more games remaining in the series in Oklahoma's final homestand of the regular season. With a No. 15 national ranking, OU is right near the cutoff line for hosting an NCAA Regional. The top 16 teams in the final rankings are awarded a regional host site.
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