Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Clobber West Virginia to Open Series
NORMAN – The Oklahoma bats just keep on hitting.
After a monumental series win at TCU last weekend, the No. 24-ranked Sooners returned to action on Friday night opening the final home series of the year against West Virginia.
OU managed to pick up right where they left off despite four days away from game action, rolling the Mountaineers 15-1 on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
"They're separating balls and strikes," head coach Skip Johnson said postgame about what the offense is doing so well right now. "That was the difference tonight, and coming up with big hits."
"That's what you can say more than anything, they had really quality at-bat and really quality at-bat and quality at-bat," Johnson said.
Getting the ball as he has all year on Friday nights was left-hander Jake Bennett, who responded quite nicely to a rare rocky outing against the Horned Frogs a week ago.
The Sooners’ ace worked six dominant innings allowing no earned runs or walks with just three hits while striking out seven.
"I thought Jake was really good," Johnson said. "First inning, he set the tone. That's (West Virginia) a good offense. It might not have looked like a good offense, but they're good. And they can put a lot of pressure on a defense."
"I was really proud of him tonight coming back and doing what he did."
After a couple of quick scoreless frames, the Oklahoma bats would begin their onslaught in the third.
Jackson Nicklaus got the scoring started with a solo shot to right field, his seventh of the season, to put OU in front 1-0.
Kendall Pettis later picked up an RBI single and Peyton Graham scored on a wild pitch to have the Sooners leading 3-0 after three.
Oklahoma struck for two more runs just one inning later, with Wallace Clark plating one on an RBI single and Brett Squires scoring another on a sacrifice fly.
After the Mountaineers got on the board in the fifth, the Sooners would double their run total with a five-run bottom half.
Graham scored on a throwing error and Clark picked up an RBI on a bases loaded walk to start the scoring.
Squires then ripped a two-run double to deep right center before Pettis knocked in another to have Oklahoma way out in front at 10-1.
The Sooners kept it rolling in the sixth, scoring two more runs on a Clark two-run single up the middle.
"Wallace is a young man that, he proves you wrong," Johnson said.
"He's one of those guys that's going to prove himself. And that's what's awesome about watching him play. He's getting big hits."
Defensive miscues would help OU add another in the seventh, as Graham reached third base on an error in deep left field - later scoring on a wild pitch.
Oklahoma wasn't quite done scoring there, as Trent Brown pounded a ball to deep left field to plate Mason Lowe all the way from first base followed by Graham singling in Brown - making the score 15-1.
After Bennett's six innings of work, a pair of freshman right-handers teamed up for the final nine outs with Nicholas Andrews and Aaron Calhoun finishing the job out of the bullpen.
The win is Oklahoma’s 30th of the season with the team now holding a 30-17 overall record and a 12-7 league mark.
The middle game of the weekend set is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon back at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.