OU Baseball: Oklahoma Tops Mississippi State to Take Series

Two SEC series and two series wins for Oklahoma.

Exactly one week after taking the rubber game in a best-of-3 set at South Carolina, OU beat Mississippi State 7-3 Sunday in the same scenario at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

That allowed the No. 10-ranked Sooners to take the series after dropping Friday night’s opener 2-1 – they outscored Mississippi State 13-11 Saturday – and improve to 20-3 on the season. They are 4-2 in SEC play. 

The Bulldogs fell to 15-9 and 1-5. 

It was a little bit of everything for OU in Sunday’s decisive game, starting with speed.

Jason Walk walked to lead off against Mississippi State starter Karson Ligon. He stole second base – one of six thefts for OU on the day – and scored on Easton Carmichael’s groundout to Bulldogs second baseman Gatlin Sanders.

Scott Mudler walked with two outs in the bottom of the second. He stole second base despite injuring his shoulder on the play, then pinch runner Gavyn Jones came home from there on Dawson Willis’ line drive single to left field. 

Mississippi State took a 3-2 lead against OU starter Malachi Witherspoon with three runs in the top of the third, and Ligon appeared to settle into a groove -- until he made a big mistake to lead off the bottom of the fourth.

Ligon left his first pitch of that inning over the fat part of the plate, and OU right fielder Sam Christiansen deposited it over the fence in left-center to tie the score. Christiansen’s third home run of the year was his first in SEC action.