Oklahoma Baseball defeats Texas A&M, 5-1, advances to MCWS Final

The Oklahoma Sooners walked into today’s game in the Men’s College World Series needing only a singular win against the Texas A&M Aggies in order to advance to the National Title Series. Skip Johnson’s crew has lost only two games during this postseason (once in Gainesville, once in Blacksburg) and the pitching guru went with David Sandlin to start the game while being dubbed the home team. Early, and often, Sandlin was dealing from the mound — stranding base runners and striking Aggies out.

Meanwhile, the Sooners’ bats were hot to start the game, getting off to an early 3-0 lead by way of a Crooks home run that plated Peyton Graham and Blake Robertson.

Sandlin, living up to his nickname, “The Sandman”, was wheeling and dealing from the mound. Through three innings, he had already dealt the Aggies six strikeouts and a goose egg on the scoreboard prior to Oklahoma scoring another run to go up 4-0 on a fielding error at first base during the 3rd inning.

At the bottom of the fifth inning, Oklahoma got an insurance run to make it 5-0 off of the bat of Tredaway, who continues to remain hot in the postseason. Also, Sandlin kept up his career day for the Sooners to strike out ten Aggie batters through just five innings.

At the top of the sixth, the Aggies blasted a solo homer to pull back within four runs of Oklahoma at 5-1. However, it didn’t faze Sandlin, as the Sooner’s pitcher continued to handle Aggie batters with routine pop-ups and another strikeout through the top of the 7th inning. He would top his career high of strikeouts with 12, tying the most by any other Big 12 pitcher in MCWS history. Most importantly, he surrendered only one run on five hits.

To start the 8th inning, Johnson called in his closer, Trevin Michael, with the score still 5-1 in favor of Skip Johnson’s Sooners. Michael immediately took his spot on the mound and closed out the Aggies after a Spikerman’s impressive grab in right field for an out and then a 6-4-3 double play to end the top of the 8th inning.

After going down in order at the bottom of the 8th inning, it left the Sooners only three more outs away from playing in the National Title Series. Michael started the top of the 9th inning facing the bulk of the Aggie order with a leadoff single up the middle. After a fielder’s choice for an out and a routine groundout at shortstop, TREVIN MICHAEL DELIVERED A STRIKEOUT TO PUNCH THEIR TICKET TO THE NATIONAL TITLE SERIES IN OMAHA.

For the first time since 1994, the Oklahoma Sooners Baseball Team will be playing for the National Title in Omaha, Nebraska. They’ll play the winner of future SEC foes, Ole Miss and Arkansas Razorbacks, this coming Saturday. This team has been has been ascending for two months and is peaking at the right time. This group is approaching things as if it’s playing with house money, and it’s been fun to watch.

You can find the Sooners in the National Title Series at 6pm CT this Saturday on ESPN.