Norman Regional Update: Sooners Eliminate Cougars

After getting hammered, 17-6, to Arkansas last night the Sooners now have to take the long road to a regional championship. They took the first step this afternoon with a 7-2 win over Washington State in which Aaron Baker was the hero. With the game tied 2-2 going into the 7^th, Oklahoma accounted for five runs to blow the game open. Four of OU’s runs came on a single shot when Baker hit his first career grand slam homerun.

Oklahoma finally got an effort from a starting pitcher in the regional that’s worth writing about. After seeing Sooner hurlers bounced in early innings both on Friday and Saturday, Garrett Richards went the distance for Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon. Richards struck out 10 batters and allowed only 5 hits in his complete game performance, earning his 9^th win of the season.

Now all Oklahoma has to do is beat Arkansas twice in order to advance on to the Super Regional. This is a pretty tall order considering the Sooners are 0-2 against the Hogs this year, including last night’s embarrassing loss. Hopefully the home field advantage will come in to play here and we’ll all be witnesses to some Sooner Magic on the baseball diamond.

The first pitch in tonight’s game is at 7:00. If OU wins tonight then the two teams will square off again tomorrow night at 7:00 as well. Boomer Sooner!!!