Oklahoma Pitchers Overpowering in 10-Inning Classic over No. 7 Texas Tech
Oklahoma pitchers struck out a season-high 18 Texas Tech batters on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman as the Sooners walked off with a 9-8 win in 10 innings.
Justin Mitchell led off the 10th with a triple, then after a strikeout, Mitchell scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Tech pitcher Ryan Sublette.
“Oh, that was awesome,” Mitchell said afterward. “I mean — uh, I don’t know if I can describe it. I mean, does anyone expect a passed-ball walk-off right there? Probably not. But that’s the game of baseball. You never know what’s gonna happen, and you gotta take what you can.”
OU closer-turned-starter Jason Ruffcorn went six innings and struck out nine, Luke Taggart pitched the seventh inning and struck out the side, and starter-turned-closer Wyatt Olds struck out six over his three innings of relief as the Sooners took Game 1 of their series.
Jimmy Crooks homered and drove in three runs, Mitchell had three hits, and Jace Bohrofen and Brandon Zaragoza each collected two hits for the Sooners (25-23 overall, 9-10 Big 12 Conference).
The No. 7-ranked Red Raiders (31-12, 10-9) didn’t make much contact, but banged four home runs among their six hits.
“Just locating itches and trying to keep those guys off balance,” OU coach Skip Johnson said. “They’re an aggressive ball club and they swing hard, and when the wind’s blowing like it’s blowing tonight, you can get a ball up and it’ll leave the yard.”
Tech beat OU 14-4 last week in a midweek non-conference game in Amarillo, TX.
Mitchell said in the 10th, he was just "trying to be on time for the fastball" because that's what Sublette had relied on in the ninth.
“That was awesome for our team,” Mitchell said. “Our team’s been fighting that hump the entire year, trying to get over it, and hopefully this win fully brings us over that to get going.”
The Sooners have won two of three in back-to-back Big 12 series and now have a shot to win three straight series by winning one of the next two.
The Sooners hope the emotion with which they finished Friday can carry over.
“I think for the kids, that’s what we practice,” Johnson said. “The emotions that we go through, it gives them confidence to know they’ve really accomplished something.”
The teams meet in Game 2 of their three-game conference series on Saturday at 2 p.m.