OU Baseball: Oklahoma Wins Battle With No. 14 Texas in Austin

Braxton Douthit turned in another tremendous outing on the mound, giving his offense time to jump in front late.

A big time win to start the weekend.

After losing big in Bedlam on Tuesday, Oklahoma shifted their focus to another major rivalry on Friday as they began a three-game set with No. 14 Texas at Disch-Falk Field in Austin, TX.

Behind a stellar effort from starting pitcher Braxton Douthit, the Sooners (20-19, 5-8) found a way to come through with the big win and take the low-scoring affair over the Longhorns (27-13, 8-5) by the miniscule final count of 2-1.

Getting the ball on Friday after a rocky showing last weekend against Texas Tech, Douthit was simply tremendous in his first taste of the Red River Showdown.

The right-hander worked six innings allowing just one run and four hits while striking out a pair - and the Sooners needed every bit of his excellence.

Matching him pitch-for-pitch was UT left-hander Lucas Gordon, who would turn in seven spectacular innings of his own in what was a bonafide pitchers duel to start the weekend.

After Texas shortstop Mitchell Daly drew a bases loaded walk to get the Horns on the board in the second, the game stood at 1-0 in favor of Texas into the fifth inning.

That was when ninth-place hitting designated hitter Caden Powell came up huge for Oklahoma, drilling an RBI double to even the game at 1-1.

That remained the mark until the eighth, when two of last season’s heroes would come up clutch for the Sooners.

With runners on second and third base with two outs, John Spikerman battled to draw a walk to load the bases for Jackson Nicklaus.

Nicklaus, in front of a massive crowd in Austin, then managed to keep his composure and do the same - drawing a walk by laying off of a low 3-2 pitch to push across the leading run.

OU would go on to win the game from there thanks in large part to the exploits of left-hander Carter Campbell out of the bullpen. 

After Douthit exited working six strong, Campbell recorded the final nine outs of the game without allowing a run to seal the victory. 

The win is arguably the strongest of Oklahoma’s season to this point and gives them now two chances to find a way to get a road series win.

Game 2 of the series is set for 2:30 p.m. on Saturday back in Austin.