Oklahoma Baseball: Jake Bennett Dominates as Sooners Roll Kansas State
NORMAN – A great way to start the weekend.
After a somewhat disappointing loss to Oral Roberts to follow up their dominant sweep of Kansas, Oklahoma got back to conference action on Friday night opening up a three-game home set with the Kansas State Wildcats.
Picking up right where they left off in Big 12 play, the Sooners demolished the Wildcats 14-2 to open the weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
"With the offense the way that it's been playing, and the mantra they play by, it starts getting contagious," head coach Skip Johnson said postgame. "It even helps the pitching. When all of a sudden you get a four-run lead, your breaking ball gets better, your fastball command gets better."
The story of the night was Oklahoma starting pitcher Jake Bennett, who tossed one of the best outings of his collegiate career.
The big left-hander threw seven dominant shutout innings allowing just two hits and tying his career-high with 11 strikeouts.
"From where he was a freshman to right now, is a product of his work ethic and what he's done going pitch to pitch," Johnson said of Bennett.
"Definitely getting ahead (of batters)," Bennett said of why he was so successful on Friday. "Just trying to stick with my approach. Just going one pitch at a time and just going right at hitters."
Despite the game time moving back from 6:30 to 7:30, and then back up to 7:00, Bennett was rock solid from the start. Which is something Johnson said the pitchers work on to prepare for postseason play.
"We talk about it, in Omaha, you could be sitting there and then all of a sudden get a phone call and you've got a four-hour delay," Johnson said. "You got to be prepared in every situation."
The Sooners got the scoring started early with second baseman Jackson Nicklaus lifting a solo home run out to left field to give OU a quick 1-0 lead in the second.
Shortstop Peyton Graham would see Nicklaus’ homer and raise him two more RBIs as he crushed a three-run laser shot the following frame to suddenly push Oklahoma’s advantage to four runs.
The score remained there into the fifth when center fielder Tanner Tredaway got in on the party with a two-run double roped down the left field line to balloon OU’s lead to 6-0.
The Sooners tacked on another in the sixth with left fielder Kendall Pettis doubling off of the left-center wall to move the score to 7-0.
Graham then followed up his missile home run from earlier with one even more impressive in the seventh, a towering 447-foot blast to left to add another OU run.
"I think those two are top-five for sure," Graham said of his two homers. "This year, especially."
Tredaway plated a run on a triple later in the frame to have Oklahoma leading 9-0 through seven innings.
The Sooners were still a ways from done offensively, as they went for another five runs in the eighth on RBI doubles from John Spikerman and Blake Robertson, a two-run homer by Tredaway, and a run-scoring knock by Diego Muniz.
Robertson, who's season on-base percentage climbed to .526 after reaching four more times tonight, continued to be wildly productive in the 3-hole for Johnson's club.
"I really wish our guys would learn a lot from what Blake Robertson does," Johnson said. "The guy doesn't give at-bats away. I mean it doesn't matter what the score is, he just doesn't give at-bats away."
Ben Abram and Aaron Calhoun then finished things off in the ninth teaming up for the final three outs allowing two runs to finish up the huge OU win.
The win moves Oklahoma to 26-14 on the year and is their fourth straight Big 12 win to improve their league mark to 8-5.
The middle game of the series is set for 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon back at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.