OU Baseball: Ole Miss Salvages Series Split With Oklahoma

Oklahoma’s winning formula against Ole Miss didn’t hold up Sunday in the series finale against the Rebels.

OU took the first two games of their first-ever SEC meeting with Mississippi with excellent starting pitching, good bullpen work, timely hitting and reliable defense.

But in losing 7-3 on Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park, the Sooners didn’t get enough of either one.

Starting pitcher Malachi Witherspoon threw just 4 2/3 innings and gave up five earned runs (six total) on seven hits and a walk. 

Witherspoon (3-6) took the loss as he struck out seven and left throwing just 88 pitches.

Witherspoon left trailing 6-2 in the fifth, and the Rebels added just one run the rest of the way against the OU bullpen.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma scrapped together just seven hits — three from leadoff man Jason Walk, two of which were triples.

The Rebels used starter Mason Nichols for just 1 2/3 innings — he allowed three hits and three walks among the 11 batters he faced — before Mason Morris came in and twirled 3 2/3 innings of one-run ball.

The Oklahoma defense also committed two errors on the infield on the day.

No. 21-ranked Oklahoma fell to 32-14 overall and 13-11 in SEC play, while the No. 18 Rebels improved to 33-15 and 13-11.

OU opened the scoring by getting to Nichols early in the first inning.

Walk tripled to lead off the game, then scored on Easton Carmichael’s RBI single up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

Ole Miss tied it with a run of their own in the second as Austin Fawley hit his seventh home run of the season with a leadoff shot to left field.

The Rebels then took control with two runs in the third, one in the fourth and two in the fifth.

Luke Cheng opened the third with a double down the right field line, and Mitchell Sanford reached on an error by Kyle Branch at second. Luke Hill followed that with an RBI single to right that scored Cheng for a 2-1 lead. After Witherspoon recorded back-to-back strikeouts, Isaac Humphrey reached on a throwing error by Mason Hamlin at first base that allowed Sanford to come home and make it 3-1.

After Witherspoon got another strikeout to start the fourth, Ole Miss tacked on another run when Campbell Smithwick opened with a single to center field. Cheng’s groundout moved Smithwick 90 feet, and Sanford’s RBI single to center sent him home for a 4-1 lead.

OU made it 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Hamlin led off with a single up the middle. After Dasan Harris and Dawson Willis struck out, Hamlin stole second, and Walk brought him home with a single through the right side.

Walk, however, was caught in a rundown for the third out.

The Rebels added two more when Humphrey tripled with one out and Judd Utermark’s grounder scored him. After a pitching change sent Witherspoon to the showers, Hayden Federico singled to left to bring Utermark home for a 6-2 lead. 

Both teams scored a single run in the seventh.

Fawley greeted OU reliever Michael Catalano with a double down the left field line, and he came home on Humphrey’s single to right.

In the bottom of the inning, Walk hit his second triple of the day with one out, and Trey Gambill’s flyout to center was deep enough to easily score Walk and make it 7-3.

The Sooners have just six games left in the regular season — three next weekend at Kentucky, and three the following weekend against Texas — before SEC Tournament play begins May 21.