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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Takes Down No. 9 Georgia

The Sooners got another big night from ace Kyson Witherspoon and a career performance from Dayton Tockey, but still had to survive some late bullpen drama.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma pitcher Kyson Witherspoon
Oklahoma pitcher Kyson Witherspoon | OU Baseball via Twitter/X

Kyson Witherspoon was a maestro on the mound, and Dayton Tockey was a bully at the plate as Oklahoma bagged another SEC road victory.

The No. 13-ranked Sooners took down No. 9 Georgia 8-6 on Thursday night in the opening game of their three-game series at  Foley Field in Athens.

OU improved to 30-11 overall and 11-8 in SEC play while the Bulldogs fell to 33-11 and 10-9.

Tockey was 4-for-4 with a pair of two-run home runs — his sixth and seventh of the season — and added his fifth RBI on an eighth-inning infield single, which was more than enough run support for Witherspoon, although the Sooners also survived some shaky moments late from the bullpen.

Witherspoon (8-2) finished seven innings and was just spectacular. He scattered just five hits, walked two, allowed one run earned and struck out eight. Of his 106 total pitches, 69 were strikes, and he had both pinpoint command of his off-speed pitches and overpowering velocity on his fastball.

He induced two inning-ending double play ground balls in the first and second, and he ended the fifth by striking out Devin Obee looking with runners on second and third. He also struck out two in the fourth, two in the sixth and two in the seventh.

Oklahoma Sooners

The Sooners jumped on top early with two runs in the second inning.

Kyle Branch delivered a two-out single to left to start the rally, which Tockey finished with a two-run home run to right.

The Bulldogs got half that back in the bottom of the third when Tre Phillips slammed a leadoff home run to left — Witherspoon’s only big mistake of the night.

It was 2-1 through the fifth, but the Sooners changed that with a big sixth inning.

Easton Carmichael led off with a first-pitch double to the gap in right-center field. Sam Christiansen reached on an error at first, allowing Carmichael to get to third. Jason Walk’s fielder’s choice forced Christian at second but scored Carmichael for a 3-1 lead.

After Branch grounded out to send Walk to second, Tockey homered again, this time a two-run blast over the scoreboard in right that pushed the Sooner lead to 5-1.

Tockey made it 6-1 in the eighth. The speedy Walk, a Georgia native, led off with a single to center, took second on a wild pitch and stole third on a ball in front of the plate. Tockey then shot a tricky grounder deep in the hole at second base, bringing Walk home for the five-run lead.

But the Sooners weren’t finished scoring.

After Tockey sustained an undisclosed lower-body injury sliding into second base on Dasan Harris’ groundout (Tockey was helped off the field), pinch runner Brandon Cain watched Dawson Willis take a walk, then raced home on Trey Gambill’s single to right field. The throw home, however, was wild and ricocheted up the third base line, allowing Willis to come home from first for a 8-1 lead. 

The Bulldogs’ bats finally came to life in the eighth — after OU coach Skip Johnson decided Witherspoon was done and turned things over to thee Sooner bullpen.

Left hander Jamie Hitt got the first look and immediately gave up three runs. 

Henry Hunter reached on an error by Willis at third, and Obee followed with a single to right. Slate Alford hit a hot grounder to Jaxon Willits at short, but Willits couldn’t gather it and his flip to second base was late. That loaded the bases for Georgia, and Ryland Zaborowski came through with a three-run double to left-center that cut the Sooners’ lead to 8-4.

Willits caught a line drive for the second out, but then Zaborowski scored easily on Nolan McCarthy’s single to right-center field to make it 8-5.

Jason Bodin relieved Hitt and ended the rally by inducing a groundout.

In the top of the ninth, Christiansen hit a one-out double off the top of the wall in center field and went to third on Walk’s groundout to first base, but Branch couldn’t get him home.

OU closer Dylan Crooks, who came in ranked second in the SEC and sixth nationally with nine saves, pitched the ninth. 

Crooks struck out Tre Phelps and got Hunter to fly out to center, but Obee came through with a two-out double down the right field line, and Branch singled him home to make it 8-6.

Alford nearly tied it up with a long ball that drifted beyond the left field foul pole, but after starting the count 0-2, Alford worked the count full before Crooks struck him out with a fastball — Crooks’ 28th pitch of the inning.

Friday’s game two starts at 5 p.m. CT, and Sunday’s begins at 11 a.m.

Published | Modified
John E. Hoover
JOHN 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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