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The Sooners jumped out to an early lead by plating two runs in the bottom of the first when Jack Mayfield scored on a throwing error and then Max White crossed home on a Matt Oberste sacrifice. Hofstra would answer in the top of the second when Matt Reistetter's single brought in Brian Verbitsky to cut the lead to 2-1.
Garrett Carey would score for Oklahoma in the bottom of the fourth and then Craig Aikin in the seventh to make it a comfortable 4-1 lead for OU. As in the previous two games of the weekend, Hofstra wasn't going down easy and mounted an eighth inning rally when they rocked Jake Fisher for three runs to tie the score at 4-4.
Sophomore Robert Tasin replaced Fisher on the mound in the top of the ninth, He did quick work of the Hofstra lineup by retiring the side in just eight pitches, leaving Oklahoma just one swing of the bat away from a series sweep. That swing would come by way of Oberste but not before a couple of Sooners reached base first.
Jack Mayfield reached base on a single to left field and then advanced to second when the next batter, Max White, walked, bringing Oberste to the plate. Oklahoma's clean up hitter jumped on the second pitch in the count, sending the ball over the right field fence and the team into a furious home plate celebration.
Just the night before the Sooners won in extra innings when Craig Aikin scored on a Jack Mayfield blooper to center. In the game before that Oklahoma had to hang on for a one-run win despite Hofstra's attempted rally. In all it made for a dramatic opening weekend in which we saw Sunny Golloway's team pushed to the brink but rise victorious.
We learned a bit about the new kids on the roster. We learned that Aikin is fast. We learned that just about anyone in the lineup can put the ball into play. We also learned that the established leadership of this team are going to contribute in key areas. The best example of the latter goes back to Oberste who batted .429 on the weekend with 9 RBI on 6 hits.