Seventh Inning Rally Leads Sooners To Third Consecutive Win

Sunday was a special day for Oklahoma junior Kolby Carpenter. As the Sooners were trying to closeout a winning week of baseball in Arizona it was Carpenter who literally provided the punch OU desperately needed.

Trailing 3-1 going into the seventh inning, the Sooners were on the verge of a rally. A one-out single (and then advancing to second on a throwing error) by Anthony Hermelyn give Oklahoma momentum. Austin O'Brien then knocked him home to cut the Utes lead to a single run at 3-2. Finally it was Carpenter's time to shine and that's exactly what he did. The 6-0/175 native of Waco, TX sent a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left-center to push the Sooners out front by what would ultimately be the final score of 4-3.

It was Carpenter's second long ball of the day and third in the last four games. He also tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second with a shot that was pretty much placed in the exact same spot as his seventh inning bomb.

"Carpenter has been our most consistent player since day one and offensively he was awesome today," Oklahoma head coach Pete Hughes said after the game.

Not lost in the heroics of Carpenter was another solid outing from the mound by Oklahoma's pitching staff. Starter Corey Copping was responsible for all three of Utah's runs. The Utes scored one run in the first and the other two in the third. Copping gave way in the fourth to Robert Tasin who pitched five innings of shutout ball and allowed just two hits while fanning six batters. Jacob Evans closed the game out by pitching the ninth.

Oklahoma's ends with a 3-1 record in the Big 12/Pac 12 Challenge and a 3-2 overall record in Arizona. The also wrap up a brutal stretch of the season where they've played ten games in ten days. Recording a 6-4 record during that time, the Sooners are currently riding a three-game winning streak.

OU may be done in the desert but they still have one more stop before completing the trip home. The Sooners are scheduled to play at Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night before hosting BYU for a four-game series that is set to begin on Thursday.

Notables

* Sunday was Oklahoma's ninth different lineup in ten games.

* An error on starting pitcher Corey Copping (pick-off attempt) snapped a four-game error free streak for the Sooners.