Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Rally Late to Stun Florida, Move to Super Regionals
A win Sooners fans won't soon forget.
After falling on Sunday night, Oklahoma got back to it against No. 13 Florida in a winner-take-all regional final matchup with a spot in the Super Regionals on the line.
It took nearly nine hours from start to finish, but the Sooners found a way on Monday defeating the Gators 5-4 at Condron Family Ballpark in Gainesville, FL.
With the season on the line, head coach Skip Johnson pulled out all the stops going with closer Trevin Michael as the starting pitcher in the do-or-die contest.
Despite it being only his second start of the entire season, Michael absolutely delivered for his team working six innings allowing just six hits and two runs, one of which being unearned.
"It's just so easy to pitch with these guys behind you," Michael said postgame. "Peyton (Graham) at short, (Tanner) Tredaway in center field was probably the unsung hero of the game. "
"It's easy to go in there and do that kind of thing when you have that defense behind you."
However, for the fourth straight day, the Sooners would fall behind early in this one with Florida designated hitter Jac Caglianone connecting a second inning solo home run to make it 1-0 UF.
That remained the margin into the fifth when Oklahoma left fielder Kendall Pettis connected on a solo shot of his own, his second home run of the regional, to even the game at 1-1.
"It was very special," Pettis said about his second home run of the weekend. "Coming into the regional, I was really still just trying to find my way. I know I had been hot, so I kind of just wanted to bring that here. Just do anything I could to help my team."
However, the scoreboard didn’t stay knotted up for long as the Gators jumped back in front in the bottom half of the inning.
With two outs and a runner on first base, Florida first baseman B.T. Riopelle singled into right field with OU right fielder John Spikerman mishandling the ball - opening the door for the runner to score and make it a 2-1 game.
After the teams traded scoreless innings in the sixth, the game would enter into a lengthy weather delay in the top of the seventh.
After roughly five and a half hours of waiting, the two teams returned to action to complete the final few innings.
The delay evidently did the Sooners some good.
After the Gators worked a run across in the bottom of the seventh to extend their lead, Oklahoma would strike back with electrifying four-run inning to take the lead.
The biggest swing came from a likely source in shortstop Peyton Graham, as he tattooed a two-run home run to left field to pull the game even.
"I took a nap for about an hour and a half," Graham said about what he did during the long rain delay to reset. "We just kind of took our minds off everything which helped us relax and go enjoy the game we play."
Wallace Clark then put the Sooners in the lead with an RBI groundout followed by Jackson Nicklaus squeaking one through the right side to make it 5-3 OU.
"Last night was a tough night, we tried really hard," Johnson said postgame. "The advanced meeting before the game was a really good meeting. We got back to who we are and what we do. And just got back to our game plan."
From there, Johnson made the bold move to go normal No. 1 starter Jake Bennett out of the bullpen to try and finish the game.
Bennett would get the job done, finishing the game off allowing just a single run to hang for the heart-stopping 5-4 OU victory.
"They can pitch," Johnson said about Michael and Bennett doing well in the role reversal. "They have confidence. When you have a team full of guys that have confidence, it's pretty amazing to watch."
The win improves Oklahoma to 40-21 on the year and punches their ticket to the Super Regionals as one of 16 teams remaining in the chase for a national title.
The Sooners will now head to Blacksburg, VA for a date with the No. 4 Virginia Tech Hokies in best-of-three series for the right to go to the College World Series in Omaha.
Complete schedule with game times and broadcast information will be added to this article when they become available.