If you like dramatic baseball and haven't caught any of the series between Oklahoma and BYU then you've absolutely missed out. On Thursday night junior Alex Wise scored in the eighth inning, as a pinch runner, to give OU a 7-6 come from behind win. Friday afternoon it was BYU's Derrick Whitney who delivered a ninth inning home run that allowed the Cougars to snap Oklahoma's four-game winning streak by a final of 4-3.
On Friday evening it was Wise again, in the eight inning, who scored as a pinch runner to lead the Sooners to a 3-2 win. Three games. Three one-run victories. One game left on Saturday afternoon with Oklahoma having a 2-1 advantage in the series.
For the third consecutive game, BYU struck first when Brennon Lund scored off a Parker Starr single. Oklahoma got one back in the second when Hunter Haley came home on a double-play ball hit by Austin O'Brien. The Sooners took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a called balk that allowed Craig Aikin to score from third. Aikin led off the inning with a double and then advanced to third on a Taylor Alspaugh sacrifice bunt.
In the top of the eighth BYU looked to take control of the game again by scoring Andy Isom but an incredible play by right fielder Taylor Alspaugh and the appearance of Jacob Evans on the mound prevented the Cougars from doing any further damage. Alspaugh threw out Lund at home plate, on what would have been the go ahead run, and Evans pitched out of the eighth inning jam and finished the ninth to record his second win of the season.
With the Cougars having scored to tie the game in the top half of the eighth, Wise was now set once again to be the hero in the bottom half. Suffering a broken hand last weekend, Oklahoma's junior utility guy has been relegated to a pinch runner's role. All he needed was someone to get on for him and that guy was Robert Tasin who doubled to lead off Oklahoma's half of the inning. Wise moved from second to third on a sacrifice bunt by Josh Ake and then scored the winning run when Alspaugh reached on a throwing error.
Oklahoma and BYU will play the fourth and final game of their series against BYU on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
Notables
* Senior pitcher Jeffrey Curran set career-highs in innings pitched (7.1) and strikeouts (5).
* Junior outfielder Craig Aiken is streaking again. Since seeing his 17-game hitting streak come to an end last weekend, he has responded by recording a hit in each of Oklahoma's last seven games.
* Friday night's game was Oklahoma's fourth consecutive in which they've recorded two or more doubles.
* The Sooners have split all three doubleheaders they've played this season.