No. 14 Oklahoma Gets Insurance Late as Sooners Take Down Missouri

The Sooners began their series against the Tigers on a high note, using three late home runs to pull away.

Oklahoma outfielder Jason Walk swings against Missouri. | Carson Field / Sooners On SI

NORMAN — Oklahoma’s series against Missouri this weekend is massive for its NCAA Tournament regional hosting chances, and the Sooners took care of business in Game 1.

No. 14 OU defeated the unranked Tigers 9-6 on Friday. The win is Oklahoma’s third conference victory in a row.

Early on, it looked like the Sooners would cruise to their win. 

Oklahoma plated four runs in the second inning off of four hits to take a commanding, 4-0 lead. Mizzou went scoreless for the first three innings with only two hits.

The Tigers, however, made a game out of it. After the teams traded solo home runs in the fourth inning, Missouri designated hitter Blaize Ward hit a two-run shot in the fifth to make it 5-3.

Starting pitcher LJ Mercurius gave up both of Mizzou’s home runs, but he didn’t allow his outing to unravel. Mercurius came back out in the sixth inning and retired the Tigers in order to finish his outing on a high note.

Mercurius’ younger brother, Xander Mercurius, kept Mizzou in check again in the seventh — and after that, the Sooners pulled away.

OU scored four insurance runs on three home runs — from Jason Walk, Trey Gambill and Camden Johnson — in the bottom of the frame to take a six-run lead.

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Missouri loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth, but relief pitcher Kadyn Leon got out of the jam and held the Tigers scoreless. Mason Bixby closed the game for OU and allowed three runs in the ninth, but the Sooners' cushion was large enough to give them the win.

LJ Mercurius collected the win, allowing three earned runs on six hits and zero runs while striking out nine Tigers. Mercurius improved to 6-4 with the win, and he entered Friday’s game with a 4.93 ERA.

Oklahoma’s four home runs were a season high. Dasan Harris hit the home run in the fourth inning before Walk, Gambill and Johnson hit their blasts in the seventh. Walk, Harris and Johnson each logged multiple base hits.

With the win, Oklahoma is 25-12 overall and 8-8 in SEC play. The victory is OU's first series-opening win since the Sooners took down Texas A&M on March 13 in their first SEC game.

The Sooners are back to .500 in conference after they lost five of six SEC games over a two-week stretch that dropped them to 5-7. OU won two of three games at Vanderbilt last week before defeating the Tigers on Friday.

Mizzou is 20-18 and 3-13 after the Game 1 loss.

The Sooners will go for the series win Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. OU will host the final game of the series at 2 p.m. on Sunday.