Oklahoma redeemed itself from a series sweep by Kentucky during the regular season, downing the Wildcats 5-1 in the opening round of the SEC Baseball Tournament on Tuesday.
Kentucky, the 13-seed in this week's SEC Baseball Tournament being at Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Alabama, took three straight games from the Sooners in Lexington just a couple of weeks ago. That was not the case on Tuesday, however, in the fourth game of the season between these two teams.
Oklahoma avenges sweep with win in SEC Baseball Tournament
The Wildcats got on the board first, pushing across a single run in the third inning made possible by a fielding error by Sooner third baseman Dawson Willis. Oklahoma responded with three runs in the bottom of the third on a two-run home run by Jason Walk and a run-scoring single by Easton Carmichael, who continued to wield a hot bat for the Sooners, collecting two of OU's seven hits in the game.
Jaxon Willits scored on a groundout in the sixth to make it 4-1, and then delivered a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score Carmichael, who had tripled to lead off the inning. That completed the Sooner scoring.
The first four hitters in the Oklahoma lineup registered at least one hit in the game and totaled five of the Sooners' seven hits.
OU head coach Skip Johnson bypassed normal first-game starter Kyson Witherspoon, going instead with a bullpen game strategy in hopes of having the Sooners' ace and All-SEC First-Team selection available against the stronger competition 12-seeded OU would face should the Sooners advance in the tournament.
The pitching strategy worked like a charm with freshman southpaw Jaden Barfield getting the start and going the first four innings, giving up just the one unearned run and four hits while striking out three.
Fellow reliever James Hitt entered the game in the fifth and worked the next four innings, allowing no runs and just two hits, and was credited with the win, his second of the season, and the Sooners' closer, Dylan Crooks, finished out the game, retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Oklahoma now faces a similar challenge against Georgia on Wednesday. The 5-seeded Bulldogs won two of three over the Sooners at Georgia during the regular season. The winner of the OU-Georgia contest will move on to face 4-seeded Vanderbilt on Thursday. Interestingly, the Sooners swept their three-game home series with Vandy in early April.
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