After OU (9-7) fell down 2-0 early, its bats found their usual spark once again and the Sooners scored eight unanswered runs en route to a 8-5 win over No. 1 Arkansas (12-2) on the road Tuesday.
When the Sooners rolled into Fayetteville for a date against the nation's top-ranked team, they brought with them perhaps the hottest hitter in the country in first baseman Tyler Hardman and were coming off a three-game stretch in which they scored 35 runs. They left with a huge non-conference victory.
Hardman, the Big 12 leader in batting average, on-base percentage and hits, reached base three more times on Monday night and scored a pair of runs. But it was production up and down the lineup that really propelled the offense once again. Six of the nine starters reached base multiple times and scored runs.
The bulk of the team's runs came in a five-run third inning, in which redshirt freshman Kendall Pettis ripped a two-run single and redshirt senior transfer Breydon Daniel knocked a two-run homer. The homer marks Daniel's first extra-base hit as a Sooner.
The pitching win was attributed to redshirt sophomore left-hander Braden Carmichael, who tossed four straight shutout frames after surrendering a pair in the first. The first-year Sooner struck out seven Hogs in his six total innings. And just when it looked like the Razorbacks might rally in the bottom of the ninth, redshirt senior right-hander Jason Ruffcorn quickly shut the door with three straight strikeouts.
Next up, the Sooners head back home for a three-game weekend series against Houston (10-5). The Cougars have won three of their last four games, including a series win against Texas State.
