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OU Baseball: Ohio State Rallies Late to Beat Oklahoma

The Sooners come home 0-2 on their Las Vegas trip after a comeback attempt in the bottom of the ninth comes up short.
John E. Hoover|
OU Baseball: Ohio State Rallies Late to Beat Oklahoma
OU Baseball: Ohio State Rallies Late to Beat Oklahoma

Oklahoma threw snakes eyes in Las Vegas.

The Sooners took another loss on Sunday and come out of their trip to the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic winless as Ohio State rallied in the ninth inning for a 4-3 win.

OU returns home 0-2 on the trip after losing 19-9 to Pittsburgh on Friday. Saturday’s game with Cal was canceled due to inclement weather.

After giving up two runs in the top of the ninth, the Sooners tried to rally in the bottom of the inning when John Spikerman drew a full-count walk with two outs, then stole second, which was immediately followed by ball four to Rocco Garza-Gongora.

But Easton Carmichael flied out to right on the first pitch to end the rally and send the Sooners home winless on the weekend.

OU fell to 5-5 on the season, while Ohio State improved to 6-4.

Kyson Witherspoon was brilliant in relief — until hitting a snag in the top of the ninth.

After Witherspoon threw three scoreless innings, the Buckeyes reached him for a run with two out in the ninth that loaded the bases on Henry Kaczmar’s single to left. With OU clinging to a 3-2 lead, Tyler Pettorini single to third to bring home the tying run, and Mitchell Okuley drew a bases-loaded walk that put Ohio State in front 4-3.

Malachi Witherspoon relieved his twin brother and minimized the damage from there with an inning-ending strikeout.

The Buckeyes scored first when Pettorini delivered an RBI single off starter Brendan Girton for a 1-0 lead.

Kendall Pettis got that back in the bottom of the second, however, when he smacked a two-out solo home run to left field to make it 1-1.

Ohio State took the lead again in the top of the third when Okuley’s infield single brought home Kaczmar for a 2-1 lead.

OU made it 3-2, however, when Carmichael and Bryce Madron both came home with unearned runs on an error in center field.

The Sooners are back on the diamond Tuesday night when they host Wichita State at L. Dale Mitchell Park at 6:30 p.m. Big 12 Conference play begins next weekend when OU hosts Central Florida, beginning with Friday’s 6:30 p.m. series opener.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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