Sooners take series over TCU
NORMAN — Clutching the Rally Baby in his right hand, Austin O’Brien knew it was coming.
He wasn’t about to try to avoid it.
O’Brien delivered in a big way in his final regular-season game at L. Dale Mitchell Park — and the senior from Owasso was going to enjoy every bit of it — even the icecold water and Gatorade that he was about to get showered with.
O’Brien’s final contribution was a walk-off single to left-center to score Kyler Murray and give the Sooners a 10-9 win over TCU that gave Oklahoma the series win.
“I love every single second of it,” O’Brien said just before getting drenched with a pair of water coolers.
“That felt great. That’s the first time I’ve ever got that. That felt awesome.”
O’Brien was 3 for 5 with five RBIs, playing a big role in Oklahoma building a 7-0 lead with a three-run homer and an RBI single early and then ending it with the one-out line drive in the ninth that sent his teammates streaming out of
the dugout for a raucous celebration between first and second bases.
With three regularseason games remaining — the Bedlam series beginning Thursday in Tulsa — Sooners coach Pete Hughes said the win puts his team in position to host an NCAA Regional.
“We’ve got to host a regional — we have to,” Hughes said. “That’s where we’re at right now. We’ve got some baseball left to play, but if they’re going to talk about it every week, you’ve got to put Oklahoma in the discussion.”
The Sooners (34-18, 12-9 Big 12) have now won series over top-10 Texas Tech and TCU as well as Long Beach State.
The Rally Baby was a remnant of a planned Halloween costume by Steele Walker. He changed his costume at the last minute but kept the baby in his locker, bringing it out in the midst of a stretch where the Sooners lost nine of 10 in April, to try to bring the team luck.
“It’s going to be with us until the end,” O’Brien said.
The Sooners are 6-3 since breaking a sevengame losing streak April 23.
The ninth was all about the seniors.
First in the top half, JB Olson threw his second consecutive shutout inning to maintain the tie after Oklahoma battled back to tie the game at 9 after trailing 9-8.
“I just try to come in and live pitch to pitch,” Olson said. “If I can do that, I like my odds against anybody in the country.”
Then in the bottom of the inning, Ben Hollas led off with a double into the left-center field gap. Renae Martinez then moved the runner over with a sacrifice bunt before O’Brien ended it after an intentional walk.
“You can’t script it any better than that,” O’Brien said.
About 30 minutes after the game, several of the players — including Walker and Olson — ran around the bases with their mothers for Mother’s Day.
OU kept alive its streak of winning Big 12 rubber games.
The Sooners haven’t lost a game when going into the finale of a conference series tied since 2014, winning 13 consecutive times.
The Sooners close the regular season with next weekend’s Bedlam series.
The teams will play Thursday in Tulsa and Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma City with all three games starting at 7:05 p.m.