It’s safe to say the Sooners missed Austin O’Brien.
O’Brien, a senior who missed the last 12 games for OU with a UCL tear, came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded, one out and a tie game. He then hammered one over the right field wall to give the Sooners a 6-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“It’s still kind of unreal,” O’Brien said. “I was just hoping to get out there and get my timing back and square some balls up. I’m on cloud nine. Feels like you’re floating around the bases.”
The win moves the No. 16 ranked Sooners to 26-6 on the season (4-2 Big 12), their best start to a season since 1985, while Oral Roberts falls to 19-9.
The home run was O’Brien’s third of the season and the first grand slam of his career. Coach Pete Hughes said that two and a half weeks ago, after O’Brien’s injury on March 11, he didn’t think O’Brien would ever play baseball for OU again.
“It’s amazing that he’s in our lineup, never mind being that productive,” Hughes said. “You can’t script it any better for O’Brien.”
Sophomore Steele Walker, who went 2-5 with a double, said he was relieved to have O’Brien back in the lineup.
“It’s always good to be able to hit in front of Stoney (O’Brien),” Walker said. “Dude’s an RBI machine. Anytime I’m on base, I’m ready to score for him for sure.”
Sophomore Austin Hansen started on the mound for OU. He gave up one unearned run on two hits, zero walks and a strikeout in three innings. Sophomore Ryan Madden got the save out of the bullpen.
Seven different pitchers saw the mound for ORU. O’Brien said it can be difficult to get in rhythm with so many pitching changes for the opposing team, so the Sooners prepare for that during practice.
“That’s something we talked about that we thought they might do before the game,” he said. “We were ready for it.”
The Sooners will travel to Austin, Texas, this weekend to take on Texas in a three-game series. The first game gets under way Friday at 7 p.m. CT.
