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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Serves Notice With Victory Over No. 7 Oregon State

The Sooners were better in all phases en route to an 8-4 win that keeps them unbeaten on young season.
Guerin Emig|
Oklahoma catcher Scott Mudler
Oklahoma catcher Scott Mudler | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

Oregon State entered Saturday’s Round Rock Classic game against Oklahoma ranked No. 7, with a 5-0 record and 55-11 scoring differential, plus a day removed from beating No. 2 Virginia.

The Beavers left Dell Diamond with their first welt of the season, and fully aware of OU’s 2025 potential.

The Sooners’ 8-4 victory made them 2-0 in Round Rock and 5-0 on the season, but this felt different. This result came at the expense of a program with three national championships since 2006. 

“A really good club,” OU coach Skip Johnson called Oregon State in pregame comments on the Sooner Radio Network. 

Johnson’s club was the better one Saturday. 

OU was more powerful.

Scott Mudler sent a go-ahead two-run homer into the Sooners’ bullpen beyond the right-field wall in the top of the fourth inning.

Easton Carmichael blasted his third homer of the year well beyond the left-field fence in the sixth.

OU was more balanced.

Eight Sooners reached base. Seven scored runs. Their eight hits were spread among six batters.

Oregon State got a two-run homer from No. 2 hitter Aiva Arquette in the bottom of the first for a 2-0 lead, and a two-run single from 9-hole AJ Singer in the eighth to pull within 8-4.

Otherwise, the Beavers squandered bases-loaded-with-two-outs opportunities in the second and fifth innings. OU starting pitcher Malachi Witherspoon escaped the first jam by getting Gavin Turley on a liner back to the mound, and reliever escaped the second by inducing a fly-out to center fielder Jason Walk.

Sooner pitchers were more poised. 

Withersoon rebounded from Arquette’s early blast by allowing no runs and one hit over his next 19 Oregon State batters. Crossland, eventually the winning pitcher, relieved in the bottom of the fifth with a 5-2 lead, and took the ball into the bottom of the eighth up 8-2.

Jason Bodin entered in the eighth and allowed Singer’s two-run single to make it 8-4, but then picked Singer off first base to send it to the ninth. Bodin issued a one-out walk in the ninth, then struck out both Turley and Dallas Macias looking to close.

Oregon State used six pitchers to no great effect. 

Touted freshman Dax Whitney started well, with six strikeouts over OU’s first 13 hitters, but fell apart in the top of the fourth. That’s when Kyle Branch dropped a two-run single into short right field to score Carmichael and Trey Gambill for a 2-2 score, and Mulder followed with his first home run of the season. 

“Freshman vs. freshman in this high-leverage situation,” the DIBaseball.com live stream narrated as Branch dug in against Whitney.

The Sooners won that matchup and all others Saturday.

“It’s a big win,” Johnson acknowledged on the Sooner Network postgame. 

OU goes after another to conclude the weekend Sunday at 4 p.m. against Virginia. The Cavaliers bounced back from their 7-2 loss to Oregon State Friday at Round Rock with a 4-2 win over Minnesota Saturday.

Published | Modified
Guerin Emig
GUERIN EMIG

Guerin is a 25-year Oklahoma sports journalist. He spent the bulk of that time with the Tulsa World, where he partnered with Sooners On SI publisher John Hoover on the OU beat before eventually becoming a columnist. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Christy, his sweetheart from Booker T. Washington's Class of ‘86.

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