OU BASEBALL
Charlottesville, Va. — The Oklahoma Sooners baseball team may have been one of the last teams in the 64-team field for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, but they could not get out of the Charlottesville Regional.
While the Sooners staved off elimination with a 10-1 win over Army on Saturday afternoon, bookend losses Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon to East Carolina by scores of 14-5 and 8-5, respectively, ended OU’s season at 32-28.
In OU’s win over Army, Braxton Douthit pitched a complete game, Bryce Madron drove in four runs and John Spikerman was an offensive and defensive catalyst.
Douthit (5-6) struck out seven batters while working around four hits and four walks in his first complete game of the season. Wallace Clark and Easton Carmichael both homered for the Sooners.
In the span of two batters in the sixth inning, Spikerman ran forward to catch a pop up behind the second base bag, then ran back to catch a fly ball in front of the warning track in straightaway center field. In the ninth inning, he raced to right center field and caught a ball that, off the bat, seemed destined to land in the alley. He made all three catches without leaving his feet.
Offensively, the sophomore center fielder went 2-for-3 with a walk, three steals and three runs scored. He scored OU’s first two runs of the game. In the first inning, he singled, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and crossed the plate on a double by Madron. In the third, Spikerman bunted for a single, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a Madron sacrifice fly.
Madron, who was 2-for-3 in the game, brought home two more runs with a triple in OU’s five-run fifth inning.
That fifth inning began with a single by Clark and walks to Rocco Garza-Gongora and Spikerman. Kendall Pettis then bounded a tworun single to left field, Madron tripled and Anthony Mackenzie singled in another run to make the score 7-0.
In Friday night’s loss to East Carolina, OU scored all five of its runs in the final four innings. OU plated a run in the sixth inning on an RBI single by Carmichael, then scored two in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Pettis and a wild pitch that brought home Spikerman. Dakota Harris and Madron hit RBI singles in the ninth inning. The Pirates (47-19) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and scored runs in seven consecutive frames.
Braden Carmichael (7-1) started for OU and took his first loss of the season. ECU starter Trey Yesavage (7-1) earned the win.
In Sunday afternoon’s season-ending loss to ECU, OU scored a run in the bottom of the first inning, but the Pirates scored three runs in the third inning and five runs in the fifth to go ahead 8-1.
OU responded with a pair of runs in the fifth, then added single runs in the seventh and ninth innings.
Madron, who was 3-for-4 on Sunday, finished the regional 6-for-11 at the plate with three extra base hits, six runs batted in and five runs scored. Harris also went 3-for-4 on Sunday and scored a run, while Carmichael went 2-for-5, adding a single in the fourth inning. Pettis walked twice and scored both times on base.
James Hitt (6-2) started for the Sooners and went four innings in the loss while ECU reliever Landon Ginn (6-0) earned the win with an inning in relief. Carson Pierce (1.2 innings) and Will Carsten (three innings) held the Pirates scoreless for the final 4.2 frames to allow OU a comeback attempt.
