No. 8 Oklahoma Rallies to Defeat LSU, Win Road Series Over Tigers

It took nearly eight innings, but Oklahoma’s bats finally got moving late in the third game of its series against LSU.

The No. 8 Sooners scored three runs in the eighth inning to defeat the Tigers 4-3 on Saturday. Oklahoma’s Game 3 win comes after the Tigers and Sooners split the series’ first two contests.

Early on, it looked like Oklahoma’s offense would have a big day. Infielder Camden Johnson blasted a solo home run over the left-field fence on the game’s second at-bat.

But for the next several innings, the Sooners (19-5 overall, 4-2 SEC) couldn’t string together any timely hits.

Between the first and seventh innings, Oklahoma stranded 10 runners on the base path. During those innings, the Sooners were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-4 with a runner on third with less than two outs.

Thankfully for OU, LSU (16-9, 2-4) never put the game away. The Tigers got three runs on two homers during the first five innings, but OU held them to only one other hit during the first six innings.

Trailing by only two runs in the eighth inning, the Sooners’ offense finally woke up.

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Alec Blair drew a leadoff walk before Nolan Stevens got on base with a single that moved Blair to third. Kyle Branch then singled to cut the deficit to only one run with no outs in the eighth.

Jason Walk then moved the runners to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt before Trey Gambill reached on a hit-by-pitch.

With one out, LSU had a chance to get out of the inning, but Tigers second baseman Jack Ruckert committed a fielding error and allowed the Sooners to get another run without recording an out. Oklahoma scored one more run — on a Brendan Brock sacrifice fly — to take its first lead since the first inning before the Tigers closed out the frame.

The Tigers went down in order in each of the final two innings as the Sooners sealed their one-run victory.

Left-handed pitcher Cord Rager started the game on the mound for OU. He allowed only two hits, but both of them were home runs.

Reliever Jackson Cleveland earned the win for Oklahoma. He didn’t allow any baserunners during his 2 ⅓ innings of work.

Oklahoma’s series win against LSU follows last week’s SEC-opening series against then-No. 22 Texas A&M. The Sooners took two games of three against the Aggies in Norman.

OU will play its Red River Rivalry series against Texas next week in Austin.

The Longhorns are 18-3 and 2-2, and they took two games of three against Ole Miss last week. Last year, Texas won two games of three against Oklahoma in Norman.

This year’s series will run from Thursday to Saturday, and the series opener will begin at 7 p.m.