Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Roll Texas A&M, Advance to CWS Finals
OMAHA – On to the national championship.
After opening the 2022 College World Series with back-to-back wins, Oklahoma looked to keep the momentum rolling on Wednesday against No. 5 Texas A&M for a spot in the final series.
Once again, as they have consistently for over two solid months now, the Sooners put together another all-around performance to pick up the win over the Aggies by a final score of 5-1.
For the third straight game in Omaha, Oklahoma was given a fantastic effort by their starting pitching with David Sandlin joining the party on the mound.
The Owasso native worked seven excellent innings allowing just one run and five hits while striking out a career-high 12 Aggie hitters.
"Like Skip (Johnson) and David preach, throwing the first strike was the key with them," catcher Jimmy Crooks said postgame. "Today he was just a bulldog on the mound. He just threw first pitch strike, get after it, get ahead, and then just kept rolling."
The Sooners, who have done a tremendous job in the CWS of striking first on the scoreboard, did so again on Wednesday, going for a crooked number in the bottom of the first on a big swing by Crooks.
The OU backstop continued his monstrous postseason with a three-run smash to right field to put Oklahoma quickly in front 3-0.
In addition to his bat, Crooks has continued to show his value with his leadership and ability on the defensive side - playing a massive role in Oklahoma's run through the postseason.
"The leadership that he (Crooks) provides, the comfort when he goes to the mound and either chews their butt out or gets them fired up or makes them execute pitches," head coach Skip Johnson said. "I think that leadership from the catching standpoint is what is really needed."
"Those guys know that Jimmy cares about them because they know he will put his body in front of you, he will play hurt. He is just a baseball player, and he is a prospect too."
A Texas A&M defensive miscue allowed the Sooners to add onto their advantage in the third, as a slow grounder off the bat of Blake Robertson was fielded and thrown to first base in plenty of time - but Aggies first baseman Jack Moss mishandled the throw, allowing Peyton Graham to score from second base.
The Aggies looked to have something going in the fourth with runners on first and second with nobody out, but Sandlin promptly struck the next three hitters to end the inning.
"I think he was really, really executing pitches in that inning," Johnson said. "I thought for him to focus like that in the middle of a game in that environment was a high elite level of focus and concentration and execution of pitches."
In the fifth, Tanner Tredaway got in on the fun with a ripped RBI single to left field that scored John Spikerman. OU took a 5-0 edge into the sixth.
Texas A&M cracked the scoreboard at that point, with left fielder Dylan Rock drilling a solo homer to left field.
Sandlin recovered quickly, though, sitting down the next three hitters to hold the lead at 5-1.
"I mean, I felt pretty good," Sandlin said. "I just trusted my preparation. Like I've been working towards it all year, and I feel like today was more muscle memory than anything up there on the mound. Just going out there and he just executing, don't think about things too much."
After he worked a 1-2-3 seventh to finish his day, Oklahoma turned to closer Trevin Michael to start the eighth.
The electric right-hander allowed a one-out walk to give Texas A&M a tiny window of hope - but quickly slammed it closed forcing Rock to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Michael then finished it off in the ninth, working around a leadoff single to toss another scoreless frame.
"Trevin, he is awesome," Crooks said. "He knows he is going to have the spotlight on him at the end, but any guy in the pen is going to have a role, and they're going to do their thing, but when Trevin comes out there, we have all the confidence in the world that he is going to just throw strikes, and then get us out of that inning and hopefully just finish it."
The win moves Oklahoma to 45-22 and continues their magical run all the way into the CWS Final Series.
"It still feels kind of surreal," Sandlin said about reaching the finals.
"I mean, we'll feel it come Saturday. We'll be ready for Saturday."
The Sooners will play for a national title in a best-of-three series back at Charles Schwab Field beginning on Saturday night against either Ole Miss or Arkansas.