Oklahoma Baseball tops Arkansas, 6-3, to open Shriners Classic

The No. 15 Oklahoma Sooners (8-2) came down to the Shriners Classic in Houston searching for some early resumé wins against SEC competition. Right off the bat, they got a great one as they topped the No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks (7-1) by a score of 6-3 on Friday night at Minute Made Park.

Cade Cavalli got the start for the Sooners, going 5.0 innings while allowing three earned runs on six hits while recording 11 strikeouts. However, the story of the day on the mound was sophomore Wyatt Olds, whose three shutout innings of relief allowed Oklahoma to stem the tide and seize control of the game.

At the plate, the Sooners got two hits apiece from Tyler Hardman, Tanner Tredaway and Justin Mitchell, with Hardman recording an RBI. As a whole, the team recorded 10 hits on the day.

After Brady Harlan recorded the game’s first hit with one out in the bottom of the second, Justin Mitchell ripped a double down the left-field line to set the plate for the Sooners. On the next at-bat, Trent Brown just deep enough center field for a sac fly, giving OU a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, a one-out double from Tanner Tredaway was followed by a passed ball, allowing Brady Lindsly to bring him home with a groundout.

Arkansas came out swinging in the top of the fifth, as the Hogs finally got to Cavalli with a two-run homer and a solo shot to take a 3-2 lead.

After Olds was able to prevent further damage in the top of the sixth, Brady Lindsly sent a solo shot to the Crawford boxes to tie the game at 3-3. Hardman then ripped a single on the next at-bat, chasing Noland out of the game.

A pair of fielding errors set things up nicely for the Sooners in the bottom of the seventh, as Zaragoza came to the plate with runners at the corners and nobody out. Sure enough, the senior came up big, ripping a single to left to bring home Brown and give the Sooners a 4-3 lead. Hardman later came to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, and his single combined with a throwing error gave the Sooners two more runs, making it 6-3.

Oklahoma will be back in action on Saturday against the Missouri Tigers at 11 a.m. before finishing out against the LSU Tigers at the same time on Sunday.

For fans trying to catch this weekend’s action on TV, all games will be televised by AT&T SportsNet, the television home of the Houston Astros, and streamed on the AT&T SportsNet app. Fans are asked to check local listings for more information. However, the chances of having this as a option in your cable package are somewhat slim, so the streaming option if probably going to be the way to go.

The games will be streamed on MLB.com, Astros.com and the MLB At Bat app. Additionally, the games will be available live on the Astros YouTube channel and the official social media accounts of the Astros, including Facebook Live and Twitter.

Fast-forward to the five-minute mark of the video below to hear the postgame interview with Skip Johnson: