Oklahoma Baseball: Virginia Tech Beats Sooners to Force Decisive Game 3 Sunday
A rubber match it is.
Following a thrilling 5-4 victory in the series opener on Friday, Oklahoma looked to finish off their Super Regionals matchup with No. 4 Virginia Tech on Saturday afternoon in Blacksburg, VA.
But, this time, it would be the Hokies coming out on top 14-8 thanks to a big offensive effort at English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park.
"I didn't think we played very good today," head coach Skip Johnson said postgame. "Started off struggling a little bit, and it kind of snow balled. We got a chance to get the momentum back, and then we didn't play defense."
Getting the start for the Sooners was right-hander David Sandlin, who entered the day on his best stretch of the season having won each of his last three starts.
However, on this day, the JUCO transfer struggled to find success against the potent Virginia Tech lineup.
Sandlin would fail to complete the fourth inning, finishing his day with five earned runs charged against him.
"He (Sandlin) just kept some balls over the middle of the plate," Johnson said. "You keep the ball over the middle of the plate against a good offense, you get beat. But you got to credit him for having the guts to throw it to the target. That's all we ask him to do is throw the ball to the target."
The Hokies, who operated as the visiting team, didn’t wait long to get on the board as Nick Biddison homered to left field on just the second pitch of the game to make it 1-0 VT.
Two innings later, Virginia Tech struck for four runs on a pair of two-run home runs by Gavin Cross and Cade Hunter - making it 5-0 Hokies.
But, as they have all year, Oklahoma would respond.
The Sooners went for three runs in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI knock from Blake Robertson and a two-run single by Jimmy Crooks.
Suddenly, OU was back in it at 5-3.
In the fourth, Oklahoma pulled to within a run with Brett Squires hammering a solo shot to right field to make it a 5-4 game.
The Sooners seemingly carried all the momentum with them into the fifth, but the Virginia Tech bats would put a quick end to that.
The Hokies went for their second four-run inning of the day, started by Tanner Schobel lifting VT’s fourth home run of the day.
Now trailing 9-4, Tanner Tredway would inch Oklahoma a tad closer in the bottom half with a home run of his own - a solo shot to cut it to 9-5.
That would be the only run OU worked across against VT reliever Jonah Hurney, who stabilized things greatly for a Hokies pitching staff that got off a rocky start.
He finished his day working four innings allowing just two hits and one run, picking up the win in relief.
"We didn't really have a good approach against him (Hurney)," Crooks said. "All of his stuff was working today. We just didn't make our adjustments."
The Virginia Tech offense continued to remain relentless from there scoring four more runs in the seventh and eighth innings to balloon their lead out to 13-5.
"They (Virginia Tech) took advantage of mistake pitches, which, they're good hitters," Johnson said. "That's what's going to happen when you make mistakes."
The Sooners would flirt with making things very interesting in the bottom half of the eighth, striking for three runs on RBIs from Kendall Pettis, Peyton Graham and Robertson.
But, after the Hokies tacked on another run in the top of the ninth, OU would be retired in order in the bottom half to end the game.
The loss slides Oklahoma down to 41-22 on the year and delays hopes of reaching the College World Series for another day.
For the second straight weekend, the Sooners will now take part in a winner-take-all game with the winner advancing and the loser going home.
"I'm just glad our guys fought to the bitter end," Johnson said. "We'll see what happens tomorrow."
The rubber match of the Blacksburg Super Regional is set for noon CT on Sunday back at Atlantic Union Bank Park.