The Sooners are still alive.
No. 2 seed OU baseball (35-22) defeated No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (50-10) 15-8 in the first game of the Atlanta Regional final. The Sooners would have been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament if they lost but are now one win away from their first regional championship since 2022, the year they last made the College World Series. The Yellow Jackets are fighting for their first regional championship since 2006 and sixth in program history.
OU got out to a rough start with Georgia Tech junior outfielder Drew Burress scoring a two-run homer in the first inning. Starting pitcher Cameron Johnson gave up the home run, along with throwing only two strikes, in his first 12 pitches, and head coach Skip Johnson decided to take out the junior left hander early.
Senior pitcher Jackson Cleveland came in for Cameron Johnson and ended up throwing for three innings, finishing with three strikeouts and giving up five hits and six runs. Junior pitcher Gavyn Jones followed with three strikeouts and gave up one hit and zero runs in two innings of work. The Sooners’ last pitcher of the night, junior LJ Mercurius, recorded three strikeouts and gave up one hit and zero runs in four innings of work.
“Everybody’s available when you get to this point,” Skip Johnson said on the ESPN+ broadcast after the second inning. “And we throw Cam out there. If he’s got it, he’s got it; if he doesn’t got it, he doesn’t have it. And sun’s going to come up tomorrow. Throw Cleveland out there, throw the rest of them out there, see how it goes.”
OU went into the bottom of the fourth inning down 8-2 between Georgia Tech’s power at the plate getting the best of Cameron Johnson and Cleveland and the Sooners not being able to respond at bat. However, in the bottom of the fourth, OU put together an eight-run inning, led by junior catcher Deiten Lachance’s grand slam. Lachance shifted momentum with his play, giving the Sooners their first lead of the game.
Junior catcher Brendan Brock and senior outfielder Trey Gambill each recorded a home run in the fourth as well, and the Sooners attributed their power at the plate while down to confidence.
“We just kept saying we got to believe,” Brock said on the ESPN+ broadcast after the game. “With our offense, there’s nobody that can beat us. We just believed it, and we did it.”
OU did not take its foot off the gas after the strong fourth inning, with five more runs.
Brock finished the night with four runs batted in and two home runs to add to an already strong day. The junior catcher finished the Sooners’ previous game Sunday with three runs batted in during a 15-5 win over No. 3 seed The Citadel (36-26). Junior outfielder Jason Walk was close behind with three runs batted in against Georgia Tech after a leadoff solo home run to start the win over the Bulldogs earlier in the day.
OU will look to maintain its power at the plate in its next matchup with the No. 2 overall team in the NCAA Tournament.
The Sooners will play the Yellow Jackets in game seven of the Atlanta Regional at 2 p.m. Monday at Russ Chandler Stadium with the channel to be announced.
