Oklahoma Baseball Tops Oral Roberts

The No. 24 Oklahoma Sooners cruised to a 5-2 victory over in-state opponent Oral Roberts Tuesday night in Norman.

The Sooners move to 16-10 on the season despite giving up 12 walks against the Golden Eagles (10-13) who only managed three hits on the night.

Oklahoma wasted no time getting started. The Sooners loaded the bases in the bottom of the first and Max White singled to right field to score Caleb Bushyhead and Jack Mayfield and take a 2-0 lead.

Despite its best effort, Oral Roberts was never able to capitalize on opportunity after opportunity. The Golden Eagles not only had opportunities with the 12 walks OU allowed, but also in the 10 runners left on base during the contest.

The Sooners added two more runs in the bottom of the third. White singled to right center, then Hunter Lockwood blasted a ball over the left field wall for a two run homer, giving OU a 4-0 advantage. Lockwood's homerun was his seventh of the season to lead the Big 12 thus far.

OU's Brian Brightwell began the bottom of the fifth with a single. He advanced to second off a single by Bushyhead and on to third off an ORU error. Mayfield then flied out to center, but scored Brightwell to make it 5-0.

Oklahoma's Cale Coshow threw five scoreless innings before walking the leadoff hitter in the sixth. Coshow improved to 2-0 in his second straight start with five innings.

Oral Roberts finally got on the board in the sixth. Tyler Coker walked before OU made a pitching change, bringing in Kindle Ladd. A wild pitch by Ladd advanced Coker to second, and he reached third off a fly out by Cam Schiller. Jose Trevino then grounded out to short stop, scoring Coker and cutting OU's lead to 5-1.

The game would go scoreless the rest of the way until Oral Roberts added another run in the top of the ninth, but it was too little too late and Oklahoma picked up the 5-2 victory.

ORU starter Alec Smith lasted three innings with four runs allowed, three earned and moves to 1-1 on the season.

Oral Roberts next prepares to host a three-game series against Louisiana Tech starting Friday March 30 at 6:30 p.m.

Oklahoma will face Kansas State for a Big 12 series starting Friday at 6:30 p.m.