OU Baseball: Oklahoma Rallies but Falls Late at Alabama

For a moment, Oklahoma took control.

But it was Alabama that delivered in the clutch, and the Crimson Tide came away with an 8-6 victory over the Sooners in their SEC opener on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa.

Bama batted 6-of-13 with two out, while OU was just 2-of-12. With runners on base, the Tide hit 8-of-18, while OU was just 4-of-21. With runners in scoring position, Alabama was 5-of-10 while OU was just 2-of-8.

The Sooners fell behind 4-0 but then rallied with two in the seventh and two in the eighth to take a late lead.

But the Crimson Tide answered with three in the bottom of the eighth to win it.

No. 9 Oklahoma fell to 21-4 overall and 4-3 in Southeastern Conference play, while No. 11 Alabama improved to 24-3 and 5-2.

OU starter Kyson Witherspoon lasted just four innings, his shortest outing of his seven starts this season.

Witherspoon gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a season-high three walks while striking out a season-low six batters.

Jamie Hitt relieved Witherspoon in the fifth and immediately struck out the side. Hitt struck out five of the first 10 batters he faced, but also allowed a key run on a pair of hits in the sixth inning.

After sandwiching a double between two strikeouts in the first inning, Bama got to Witherspoon in the second when Jason Torres hit a one-out single and Bryce Fowler drew a walk. Garrett Staton then slapped a double to left-center field to score Torres for a 1-0 lead, and Richie Bonomolo’s sacrifice fly to left plated Fowler to make it 2-0.

In the third, national player of the year candidate Justin Lebron led off with a home run off an 0-2 offering from Witherspoon, putting the Crimson Tide up 3-0.

Will Plattner then reached on a throwing error by shortstop Jaxon Willits, and moved up on a single by Torres and a walk to Fowler to load the bases. Witherspoon then plunked Staton with a pitch to make it 4-0.

OU cut the Bama lead in half in the top of the fourth when Kyle Branch led off with a single and Drew Dickerson blasted an opposite-field, two-run homer to right — his first collegiate home run — making the score 4-2.

In the sixth, however, the Tide added to its lead when LeBron hammered a two-out double off Hitt down the left field line and Kade Snell delivered an RBI single up the middle to extend the Alabama lead to 5-2.

OU bats came to life in the seventh. Dawson Willis led off with a sharp single to left, and

Jason Walk reached on a fielder’s choice to second on which Staton slipped while trying to tag out Willis.

Willits then scorched an RBI single to right to bring home Willis to make it 5-3, and Easton Carmichael grounded into a 6-4-3 double play that brought home Walk from third to cut Bama’s lead to 5-4.

Jason Bodin relieved Hitt and got two strikeouts and a groundout around a walk in the seventh.

That’s when the Sooners took their first lead as Trey Gambill started the eighth with single and Dayton Tockey smashed a hanging curveball from Carson Ozmer into the bullpen beyond the right-center field wall, putting Oklahoma up 6-5.

But Alabama rocked Bodin to start the bottom of the eighth as Brennen Norton led off with a walk and Lebron and Snell singled up the middle to tie it at 6-6.

After Skip Johnson brought in closer Dylan Crooks to try to hold the Tide lineup in check, Plattner crushed a double off the left-center fence to score Lebron and put Bama back on top 7-6.

Crooks induced a double play, but then Torres hit a 1-0 pitch from Crooks into left to bring home Plattner for an 8-6 Tide lead.

The Sooners loaded the bases against Ozmer with two out in the ninth, but Ozmer got Dasan Harris to ground out to Lebron to end it.

The Tide leads the all-time series with OU 6-2, although the Sooners won their non-conference best-of-3 series in Norman back in 2018. This was their first meeting as members of the same conference.

The series continues Saturday and Sunday with starts of noon and 1 p.m. respectively.