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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Falls to Oregon in Season Opener

Left-hander Braden Davis delivered a quality start, but the Ducks put across runs in timely situations as the Sooners fell to 0-1 in Arlington.
John E. Hoover|
OU Baseball: Oklahoma Falls to Oregon in Season Opener
OU Baseball: Oklahoma Falls to Oregon in Season Opener

Oregon scored twice in the top of the eighth and Oklahoma’s late rally attempts came up short as the Sooners fell 4-2 in the 2024 season opener Friday at the Shriners College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX.

OU tied it at 2-2 in the third inning, but never led.

Left-hander Braden Davis got the start for Oklahoma allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks in five innings pitched. He struck out seven.

Malachi Witherspoon relieved Davis to open the sixth and he was effective his first two innings, including back to back strikeouts with a runner on third base to end the seventh.

But the Ducks loaded the bases with nobody out to start the eighth. Carson Atwood got a ground ball for a double play, but Oregon took a 3-2 lead on the groundout, then plated another run on a wild pitch by Atwood.

Witherspoon finished two innings by yielding two earned runs on two hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

Easton Carmichael reached on an error with one out in the eighth, but was picked off, and Kendall Pettis struck out swinging.

OU went quietly in the ninth as well against Oregon closer Michael Freund, who struck out two in a perfect frame.

It was Carmichael and Pettis who keyed the Sooners’ two runs in the third.

OU pitchers struck out 13 but also walked five and threw seven wild pitches. Witherspoon (0-1) took the loss on the mound.

Oregon led 1-0 after the first and 2-0 after the third, but John Spikerman scored to make it 2-1 on Carmichael’s sacrifice fly to center field, and Bryce Madron scored on Pettis’ sac fly to center to knot it up at 2-2.

The Sooners take on No. 9-ranked Tennessee at 7 p.m. Saturday before closing the weekend with a 10:30 a.m. matchup against Nebraska.

OU returns 13 letter winners to 26 newcomers from last season’s 32-28 squad.

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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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