No. 2 seed OU baseball (33-21) won 8-3 against No. 3 seed The Citadel (35-25) in the Atlanta Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
The game began at 9 a.m. Saturday because of several delays due to weather after its original start time of 4 p.m. Friday. The regional appearance marked OU’s 43rd in program history and sixth under head coach Skip Johnson in his nine years leading the Sooners, including five consecutive. The win meant 300 career Division 1 victories for Johnson.
Here are takeaways:
Pivotal 4th inning
The Sooners went into the fourth inning tied 1-1 and got out to a slow start but ultimately came out leading.
Bulldogs senior utility player Michael Gibson started the inning hot with a solo home run at the top of the fourth to help The Citadel start the inning 3-1. However, in the bottom of the fourth, OU senior outfielder Trey Gambill blasted a two-run homer, and junior catcher Brendan Brock scored a run on a double play ball to give OU its first lead of the game.
Gambill’s home run in the fourth inning marked just his seventh in the season and, along with Brock, won the Sooners momentum that they never lost.
Pitching promise
The Sooners’ pitching showed promise to start regionals.
Freshman left-hander Cord Rager recorded a 5.74 earned run average, lower than his season average of 5.88, in six innings of work. He also recorded eight strikeouts and allowed seven hits, including pitching a scoreless first inning.
Junior right-hander LJ Mercurius finished with a 5.37 ERA, lower than his 5.64 season average, in three innings of work. He also finished with four strikeouts and allowed two hits.
Pitching was an area the Sooners looked to grow in going into the NCAA tournament.
“I think we've got to continue to try to get better and throw strikes,” Johnson said on Tuesday. “I think going into it, early in the year, we were really good, went through a little low there, and then at the end of the year, we weren't very good at all.”
The Sooners will look to have strong pitching as they continue in the NCAA Tournament.
Hitting depth
OU displayed great hitting depth against The Citadel.
Five Sooners recorded at least one run, and six finished with two hits or more. OU had only two players with one run, and the Sooners did not have any players with at least two hits when they lost to LSU (30-28) 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Junior outfielder Dasan Harris led the Sooners in hits against The Citadel with three, while Gambill, junior infielder Jaxon Willits and senior infielder Dayton Tockey each finished with two runs.
Next, the Sooners are scheduled to play No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (49-9) at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
