OU Baseball: Oklahoma Drops Rubber Match at Georgia

Oklahoma and Georgia’s SEC series this weekend was the first time in history the two proud programs got to square off on the diamond.

It was a three-game classic, but the Bulldogs came away the victors this time.

No. 9-ranked Georgia hit three home runs to rally from an early deficit and topped the No. 13-ranked Sooners 6-3 on Saturday afternoon in the final game of their series at Foley Field in Athens.

Oklahoma won Thursday’s opener, but Georgia took the last two.

OU fell to 30-13 overall and 11-10 in SEC play, while the Bulldogs improved to 35-11 and 12-9.

Malachi Witherspoon (3-5) threw 103 pitches and threw six strong innings for the Sooners but took the loss. He gave up four runs, but only one earned, scattered four hits and just one walk, and struck out seven.

Scott Mudler went 2-for-4 at the plate with all three RBIs. He was the only Sooner with multiple hits as Oklahoma managed just five hits on the day and stranded 10 baserunners.

OU struck early as Jason Walk was hit by a pitch with one out and raced to third on Kyle Branch’s single to right field. After Dasan Harris struck out swinging, Mudler connected for a double down the right field line, scoring Walk and Branch for a 2-0 Sooner lead.

OU could have had more, though. Dawson Willis’ single put runners on the corners, but Trey Gambill struck out swinging to end the rally.

It wasn’t the only time the Sooner hitters left meat on the bone.

Easton Carmichael swung at strike three but got to first on Leighton Finley’s wild pitch. Sam Christiansen’s double put runners at second and third, and Walk was again hit by pitch to load the bases with one out. Branch, however, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the fifth, Jaxon Willits followed Gambill’s leadoff walk by hitting into another double play.

Oklahoma’s defense shined in the fifth inning.

Witherspoon jumped off the mound to barehand a perfect bunt down the third baseline and threw out Devin Obee by inches. Then Walk tracked down Henry Hunter’s deep fly ball to center fielder and climbed the wall to keep it from going out. Witherspoon struck out Robbie Burnett for the third out.

Defense let the Sooners down in the sixth, however.

Willis’ error at third allowed Nolan McCarthy to reach base, and Slate Alford followed with a single. After Witherspoon got two strikeouts that would have ended the inning without the error, Brennan Hudson blasted a three-run home run — all unearned — to center field that gave the Bulldogs a 4-2 lead.

In the seventh, OU loaded the bases again on three walks, but Carmichael’s fly out to center stranded three.

After Skip Johnson pulled Witherspoon to start the bottom of the seventh, Georgia’s momentum surge continued with a pair of solo home runs by Kolby Branch and Burnett — one off Jamie Hitt and one off Jason Bodin — as the Bulldogs made it 6-2.

Mudler cut into that with a two-out RBI double in the eighth. Christiansen walked and Walk grounded him out at second. Kyle Branch then walked, and after a Georgia pitching change, pinch hitter Christian Hoffman lifted a high fly ball to the base of the center field wall — deep enough to move Walk to third base. Mudler zeroed in on a 2-1 slider from McLoughlin and ripped it down the third base line, sending Walk home and moving Branch to third. Willis represented the tying run, but he fouled out to end the inning.

The Sooners are back on the diamond Tuesday when they host Wichita State at 6:30 p.m. Next weekend OU is back home for a three-game series against Ole Miss.