Oklahoma, like David, into finals

OMAHA, Neb. — Oklahoma’s baseball players came to the College World Series calling themselves “a bunch of Davids,” a nod to their embrace of the underdog identity they adopted after an underwhelming start to the season.

It was one David — David Sandlin — who got most of the credit Wednesday for taking down Texas A&M, the last of the national seeds in the NCAA tournament.

Sandlin held the Aggies to one run and struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings and Jimmy Crooks’ three-run homer in the first held up as Oklahoma advanced to the CWS finals with a 5-1 victory.

Trying to complete a softball-baseball title sweep, the Sooners (45-22) have won three games in a row at Charles Schwab Field by no fewer than four runs and will play for their first national championship since 1994.

Their opponent in the bestof-three finals starting Saturday will be Arkansas or Mississippi.

Texas A& M ( 44- 20) finished 2-2 in the CWS under first-year coach Jim Schlossnagle after going 29-27, winning only nine SEC games and not even qualifying for the league tournament in 2021.

The Sooners didn’t look like an NCAA tournament team after losing two of their first three Big 12 series and starting 18-12. They’ve won 27 of 37, including 12 of 14 since the end of the regular season.

Other game

Arkansas 3, Mississippi 2: Michael Turner had a single to left to score Cayden Wallace in the eighth to extend Arkansas’ lead to 3-1, and it proved to be crucial in the win against Mississippi (42-22). With the win the Razorbacks (48-21) forced a rematch Thursday.