OU Baseball: Oklahoma Rallies in Eighth Inning to Beat No. 3 Texas

NORMAN — One inning got away from Oklahoma and nearly cost the Sooners on Friday.

Thankfully for them, an inning got away from Texas at a more costly time.

After allowing No. 3 Texas to score five runs and take the lead in the fifth inning, the Sooners plated three runs in the eighth to reclaim the lead and eventually win 8-6 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The win breaks a five-game losing streak that dated back to May 4. An OU home record crowd of 5,177 witnessed the drama.

OU’s bats were hot early.

Brayden Horton started things off with a solo home run in the second inning — the first of his careeer. Though Texas answered that with a run in the third, OU combined for four runs in the third and fourth innings.

At that point the Sooners held a 5-1 lead and seemed to have the game in control. But then the Longhorns’ offense woke up.

Texas scored five runs on four hits and two walks. The Sooners made two pitching changes that inning, as starter Cade Crossland allowed all five earned runs before Jamie Hitt and Reid Hensley tried to neutralize the damage.

After finally getting out of the top of the fifth, OU went hitless for three innings in a row. But the drought ended in the eighth.

Scott Mudler opened the frame with a leadoff double, and one at-bat later, he moved to second base, thanks to a Kyle Branch sacrifice fly. Horton then got Mudler across on a single, tying the game.

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Then Dawson Willis called game: the junior third baseman homered, giving Oklahoma a two-run lead, its first since the fifth inning. Willis had been hitless in his last 23 at-bats. It was his fifth home run of the season and his first since April 12.

Texas loaded the bases in the eighth against Hensley, but he ended that rally with a strikeout. The Longhorns loaded the bases again in the top of the ninth, but closer Dylan Crooks forced a flyout to end the game for his 13th save of the year — fourth-most in program history and the most since 2009.

Hensley, who finished out the fifth inning and pitched through the eighth, earned the win with three scoreless innings and giving up just one hit and two walks in 3 ⅓ innings. His ERA improved to 2.73.

Oklahoma desperately needed Friday’s win.

The Sooners won the first two games of their home series against Ole Miss earlier this month before losing Game 3, which started the losing streak. They were then swept at Kentucky last weekend before dropping the first game of the Texas series.

OU now has a chance to win the series on Saturday after the Longhorns took Game 1, 8-5, on Thursday. It's Oklahoma’s final series of the regular season, with the SEC Tournament — in Hoover, AL — set to begin Tuesday.

First pitch of Sunday’s game against Texas is scheduled for 2 p.m.