Oklahoma’s Rally Falls Short as No. 2 Georgia Tech Pulls Away in Seventh Inning

The Sooners kept things interesting for most of their game against Georgia Tech, but the Yellow Jackets took control late.

Jason Walk heads back to the dug out against Alabama. | Carson Field, Sooners On SI

The Sooners kept within striking distance of Georgia Tech, the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, for the first two-thirds of Saturday’s winner’s bracket game.

But in the final third, the Yellow Jackets broke the game open.

Georgia Tech (51-9) scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, helping the Yellow Jackets win 9-3. The Sooners will now face elimination against The Citadel at noon on Sunday.

Georgia Tech struck early in Saturday’s game. The Yellow Jackets led 3-1 after four innings, thanks to a pair of home runs.

But Oklahoma (33-22) made things interesting.

Infielder Dayton Tockey hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to make it a 3-2 game. And in the sixth, infielder Jaxon Willits blasted a solo shot of his own to tie the game.

The Yellow Jackets, though, showed why their offense is regarded as one of the nation’s best late in the game.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Georgia Tech’s Parker Brosius belted a deep two-run home run to right field off of OU starter Xander Mercurius to give the Yellow Jackets the lead back. 

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And in the seventh, Georgia Tech pulled away for good.

The Yellow Jackets loaded the bases with no outs before relief pitcher Jason Bodin walked in a run. Alex Hernandez drove two more across on a single one batter later to make it an 8-3 game.

Oklahoma reliever Trent Collier retired one batter after Hernandez’s single, but he also walked a batter to load the bases again. The Yellow Jackets scored one more run to make it a six-run game with only two more trips to the plate remaining for OU.

The Sooners didn’t put any runners on the bases in the final two innings, allowing the Yellow Jackets to collect their six-run win.

Mercurius pitched well until Brosius’ home run, but he still collected the loss. He allowed five earned runs on seven hits and three walks.

Oklahoma began the day with an 8-3 win over The Citadel in both teams’ first game of the Atlanta Regional. That game was supposed to be played on Friday, but inclement weather moved it to Saturday morning.

The Sooners will now face the Bulldogs again on Sunday. The winner of that contest will face Georgia Tech later on Sunday, and they would need to defeat the Yellow Jackets twice to advance to Super Regionals.