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Michael Catalano’s Pitching, Brenden Brock’s Blast Carry Oklahoma to Win No. 20

A quick in-state midweek clash went OU's way early.
Brady Trantham|
Oklahoma's Camden Johnson celebrates with Brendan Brock
Oklahoma's Camden Johnson celebrates with Brendan Brock | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

Brenden Brock must have had a bad taste in his mouth after being swept by the rival Texas Longhorns over the weekend. With two on in the first, Brock crushed a ball to deep left center that never saw the field of play again to help the Sooners go on up on the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 3-0.

That's all the No. 11 Sooners needed on the road for a midweek clash against Oral Roberts. Oklahoma logged its 20th win of the season by the score of 4-0. OU needed all of five hits to secure victory.

OU (20-8, 4-5) bounced back following a weekend of frustration and some downright bad baseball to put their best foot forward before hosting No. 16 Alabama on Thursday.

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Michael Catalano (4-2) got the start tonight and never let the Golden Eagles get above water. From the second inning until the fourth, Catalano retired eight straight ORU batters and got the best of 11 of 12. He finished with a career-high seven strikeouts, two hits and no walks.

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OU at the plate? More grounders than Augusta National in April.

This was good news due to Oklahoma's continued struggles at the plate. OU notched three hits in the first two innings. After that, the Sooners went into the sixth inning without a hit, let alone anyone reaching base.

Oral Roberts pitcher Conner Johnson came on in the fourth and gave the hitting-adverse Sooners even more problems. In under 50 pitches, Johnson retired 12-straight OU batters (19-straight by ORU overall).

A rare base-hit for the Golden Eagles led to defensive fireworks with the Sooners turning the 6-4-3 double play, their 24th of the year — second in the SEC. OU was able to finish the inning with a strikeout, maintaining their 3-0 advantage.

In the ninth inning, Brock singled just out of the reach of the second baseman. It was the first hit since Jason Walk's double in the second inning — and first Sooner on base.

One pitch later, Alec Blair got his first hit of the night in four tries, advancing Brock to third. Deiten Lachance hit a ball to shallow center field that was caught, but not in time to make the throw home to stop Brock from earning the fourth OU score.

Closer Isaac Williams was able to close out the victory in quick fashion.

With Oklahoma entering the 20-win club in March, they look ahead to righting the wrongs endured in the Red River Rivalry against the stout Crimson Tide on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. OU beat top-20 Texas A&M 2-1 in Norman before traveling to Baton Rouge to climb out of an opening loss hole to take the series from the Bayou Bengals.

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Brady Trantham
BRADY TRANTHAM

Brady Trantham covered the Oklahoma City Thunder as the lead Thunder Insider from 2018 until 2021 for 107.7 The Franchise. During that time, Trantham also helped the station as a fill-in guest personality and co-hosted Oklahoma Sooner postgame shows. Trantham also covered the Thunder for the Norman Transcript and The Oklahoman on a freelance basis. He received his BA in history from the University of Oklahoma in 2014 and a BS in Sports Casting from Full Sail University in 2023. Trantham also founded and hosts the “Through the Keyhole” podcast, covering Oklahoma Sooners football. He was born in Oklahoma and raised as an Air Force brat all over the world before returning to Norman and setting down roots there.

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