OU Baseball: No. 13 Oklahoma Follows Familiar Formula to Beat Sam Houston Again

It’s become a familiar formula for Oklahoma — and a successful one.

The No. 13-ranked Sooners got another strong start on the mound, more solid relief pitching from the bullpen and enough clutch hits from a dynamic batting order.

The result was much the same: a 7-3 OU victory over Sam Houston on a sunny Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

In the first game of a weather-altered doubleheader, OU improved to 13-1 on the season while Sam Houston fell to 3-11.

Game 3 of the series will be just seven innings and is scheduled for around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The Sooners opened the series Friday with a 6-5 win over the Bearkats on the strength of a career-high 12 strikeouts by ace Kyson Witherspoon.

After taking Saturday off due to expected inclement weather in Norman, OU starter Cam Johnson continued the vibe in Sunday’s first game.

Johnson (2-0), a left-handed sophomore transfer from LSU, threw five complete innings and allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, but also struck out eight Sam Houston batters and didn’t allow an extra base hit. Johnson tends to battle control issues, but of his 84 pitches on Sunday, 46 were thrown for strikes.

Michael Catalano came in to relieve Johnson and pitched a scoreless sixth, but gave up a costly bunt single to open the seventh

Left-hander Jaden Barfield relieved Catalano, and lefty Jamie Hitt and right-hander Reid Hensley came to finish up.

OU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jason Walk got things going at the top of the order with a full-count walk. Trey Gamble beat out an infield single, and Walk then came home on a passed ball.

After Sam Houston got that run back in the top of the third on a pair of singles off Johnson, Jaxon Willits hit a solo home run with one out to make it 2-1.

Gambill walked, then scored on Easton Carmichael’s double to left field. After Carmichael advanced to third on an outfield error, Sam Christiansen’s fly ball to left field was deep enough to score Carmichael for a 4-1 OU lead.

The Sooners added to it with three hits in the sixth. Kyle Branch singled to center field and stole second, then came home on Dayton Tockey’s double to right-center field. Branch then scored on Dawson Willis’ double to left for a 6-2 lead.

The Bearkats faced three OU pitchers in the seventh and engineered a run from a bunt single, a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Parker Blackman to make it 6-3.

Sam Houston got back-to-back singles off Hitt to start the eighth. After Hitt got two outs with a popped up bunt and a slick grab at first base by Tockey, Hensley shut off the rally with a ground ball back to the mound.

In the bottom of the eighth, Willis hammered a two-out, solo home run, his first as a Sooner, deep over the left field wall, giving OU a 7-3 lead.

The Bearkats tried to rally again in the ninth, but Dasan Harris chased down Addison Smith’s blast to into the gap right center field and caught it at the wall for the first out. Hensley survived a couple of walks thanks to a a pair of ninth-inning strikeouts.