Oklahoma beats North Carolina in NCAA Tournament to set up winner-take-all game Monday
Oklahoma beats North Carolina in NCAA Tournament to set up winner-take-all game Monday
The winner will take all, after all.
The Oklahoma baseball team staved off elimination in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, beating No. 5 national seed North Carolina, 9-5, to force a winner-take-all contest on Monday. The Sooners bounced back after losing to North Carolina on Saturday in a game that sent OU into the loser's bracket. Oklahoma rolled over Nebraska earlier Sunday to set up the night's rematch.
North Carolina loaded the bases with zero outs in the eighth, trailing 8-5, when Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson. But Oklahoma closer Dylan Crooks retired three straight to keep the Sooners' three-run lead going into the ninth. There, Crooks sat down the Tar Heels lineup 1-2-3 to seal Oklahoma's win.
OU won largely on the back of a five-run sixth inning. The Sooners trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the frame, but batted around to take the lead. Drew Dickerson started things with a two-run home run after Dasan Harris began the inning with a single. Five batters later, after two outs, an error and a single back to the pitcher, Jaxon Willits extended Oklahoma's lead with a two-run double. Two batters after that, Kyle Branch knocked him in with a single to set up the late-innings showdown.
After Crooks kept OU's lead at three in the eighth, Harris added a solo homer to make it four in the bottom of the inning. He put a charge into the first pitch he saw and took it over the right field fence, to give Oklahoma even more breathing room.
The Sooners' bats kept the same intensity they had earlier in the day in a 17-1 win over Nebraska. The Sooners collected 11 hits and drew nine walks against the Tar Heels to advance, making the 12 runners left on-base moot.
Crooks picked up the six-out save by allowing retiring six of the seven batters he faced. Harris reached four times with two walks and two hits, while Willits and Dawson each reached three times with a walk and two hits apiece.
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