OU Baseball: Oklahoma Again Dominates Wright State in Doubleheader Sweep
The hits just keep coming for Oklahoma.
After putting up 20 runs in a shutout victory in Friday’s home opener, the Sooners’ hit parade continued in an embarrassingly easy doubleheader sweep of Wright State on Saturday.
OU routed the Raiders 14-9 in the opener, then kept it going in the nightcap with a 10-3 victory at L. Dale Mitchell Park. In the three games so far this weekend, Oklahoma has put up 51 hits. The teams meet again on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Sooners improved to 5-2 on the season while Wright State fell to 1-5.
After John Spikerman’s solo home run in the first, Oklahoma broke away from a 1-1 game and took control of the opener with seven runs in the second inning.
Carter Fredrick’s RBI single through the left side scored Jackson Nicklaus to make it 2-1, and Spikerman’s RBI infield single scored Frederick and Anthony Mackenzie for a 4-1 lead. The rally continued as Easton Carmichael singled to left to score Spikerman and Jaxon Willits, and Michael Snyder brought home Bryce Madron with a double to left that made it 7-1. Mackenzie’s sacrifice fly scored Carmichael for a 8-1 lead.
In the third, Carmichael added to the total with an RBI single to left that brought home Willits.
The Raiders finally got some offense going in the top of the fourth with four unearned runs against OU starter Brendan Girton. An error by Mackenzie at third, a wild pitch by Girton and back-to-back doubles by Dominic Pilolli and Gus Gregory eventually chased Girton and cut the Sooner lead to 9-4.
But Oklahoma struck back for two runs in the bottom of the fourth and three more in the fifth.
Kendall Pettis smacked a one-out triple to right center field, then came home on Frederick’s double to right. That was followed by a double to the gap by Spikerman, pushing OU’s lead to 11-4.
In the fifth, Snyder led off with a single, moved to second when Nicklaus was hit by pitch, and came home on a rundown on Mackenzie’s single to make it 12-4. Pettis then singled up the middle to score Nicklaus for a 13-4 lead. Pettis stole second, went to third on Willits’ walk and scored on Spikerman’s sac fly to left to give Oklahoma a 14-4 advantage.
Girton went 3 2/3 innings and allowed five runs, but only one earned.
Jace Miner (1-1) pitched two innings of relief and struck out three to get the win, but gave up two earned runs on two hits. Carson Atwood, Grant Stevens and Malachi Witherspoon combined to allow four earned runs down the stretch, including a pair of two-run home runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Spikerman in the opener went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored and raised his season batting average to .560. Carmichael was 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Snyder, Mackenzie, Pettis and Frederick each had two of OU’s 15 hits and Snyder, Mackenzie and Frederick each had two RBIs.
In the nightcap, Spikerman wasted no time continuing the Sooners’ offensive push. He drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, stole second, stole third and scored on a throwing error.
Snyder opened the second inning with a double to right center field, advanced on a groundout and scored when Pettis ripped an RBI double to left center for a 2-0 lead.
Wright State plated a run with an RBI double off Kyson Witherspoon in the top of the third, but OU quickly got that back as Madron poked a one-out triple into the right field corner and scored on Carmichael’s RBI single. After Nicklaus singled, Snyder brought home Carmichael with a sacrifice fly for a 4-1 lead.
OU extended that to 5-1 when Pettis led off the fourth with a solo home run to left field.
The Sooners kept it going in the fifth when Snyder drew a one-out walk and scored on Mackenzie’s double to left center. Mackenzie then came home on Pettis’ single to left to push the lead to 7-1. Pettis stole second and raced home on Scott Mudler’s double to right center for an 8-1 OU lead.
After Wright State plated another run in the top of the sixth, Snyder made it 10-2 in the bottom when he followed Nicklaus’ one-out single with a towering two-run home run to left center.
Kyson Witherspoon was solid over five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and three walks and striking out three. He was touched up for another run on a pair of hits to start the sixth and gave way to Reid Hensley, who got a fly ball and two strikeouts to shut down the rally.
Carter Campbell pitched the last 2 2/3 innings, walked three and struck out four. His first strikeout came in the seventh after he walked the bases loaded.
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