OU Baseball: Oklahoma Earns Hard Fought Win Over Texas Southern

NORMAN — It was a cloudy, breezy day at L. Dale Mitchell Park for game two of Oklahoma's midweek series against Texas Southern. But the sun continues to shine on the Sooners.

A day after OU put up 15 runs in just seven innings against the Tigers' pitching staff, the runs were a little more difficult to get from the Sooners bats on Wednesday, but it was coach Skip Johnson's pitching staff that led the Sooners to a 5-4 victory.

Freshman Landon Victorian got the start for No. 16 Oklahoma (8-0). The right-handed pitcher out of Barbe High School in Lake Charles, LA, made his first appearance of the season and went two innings, allowing three hits with one walk and one strikeout.

“He was a highly touted pitcher out of high school and he gets here and he gets an injury," Johnson said of Victorian. "He’s really still building back up and you may really not see his real self until end of March, April, end of April or May.”

The Oklahoma offense got going in the bottom of the second. Sam Christiansen led off the inning by beating out a single down the first base line. That was followed by two more singles by Dayton Tockey and Drew Dickerson to load the bases. The Sooners pushed a run across on an RBI fielder's choice by Dawson Willis, driving in Christiansen from third to give OU the early 1-0 lead.

Sophomore lefty Beau Simpson entered the game for Victorian in the third inning and kept the Tigers' bats from getting any offensive momentum as he held them to one hit but allowed two walks and managed to escape a jam with a runner on third in both the third and fourth inning.

Oklahoma to its lead in the bottom of the fifth after Kyle Branch kept an infield single just inside the third-base and drove in Jaxon Willits to take a 2-0 lead.

The Sooners added another insurance run in the bottom of the seventh after a lead-off walk and a wild pitch moved Trey Gambill to second base. Two batters later, a single into right by Sam Christiansen gave Oklahoma a 3-0 lead.

“It was a tough day to hit," Johnson said. "Wind's blowing in 25 miles an hour, we put some really good at-bats together early."

They added another run after Dayton Tockey launched an RBI double to center field to make it a 4-0 ballgame. Tockey scored on a passed ball just one pitch later, making it a 5-0 cushion for the Sooners.

Texas Southern (1-8) started a rally in the eighth after a single and a walk against Jason Bodin put two runners on with nobody out. Evan Joubert roped a liner into left field that scored Jadon Jones to cut the lead to 5-1.

Jesse Herrera III was hit by a pitch two batters later, and a double by Miguel Morales brought him in to make it a 5-2 lead.

Carl Sullivan scored on a single to left by Elijah Rodriguez to cut the lead to 5-3 and force the Sooners to their sixth different pitcher of the game.

Texas Southern kept the pressure on as they led off the ninth with two straight singles by Bryce Hughes and Jones, putting two runners on with no outs. A third single by Joubert drove in Hughes to make it a 5-4 game and force Sooner closer Dylan Crooks into the game for a save opportunity.

Crooks locked down the final two outs to clinch the 5-4 victory for OU.

Oklahoma continues a five-game homestand as the Sooners begin their three-game series against the Cal State Northridge Matadors. First pitch on Friday is set for 4 p.m.