Oklahoma tops TCU in Big 12 tourney behind a Braden Davis shutout

The No. 1 seeded Sooners came to play in their first postseason matchup of the year.

Oklahoma entered the Big 12 tournament as the regular-season champions and No. 8 team in the nation. Their first tilt in Arlington pitted them against TCU, who they had a perfect 3-0 record against in the regular season.

The Horned Frogs beat West Virginia on Tuesday to advance to the second round, but their success from the previous game would not carry over as Oklahoma summarily blanked them 4-0.

The crimson and cream's ace, Braden Davis, led the Sooners onto the mound for their first game of the tournament and the defense rallied behind him. Davis would pitch arguably his best game of the season, as he threw his first-ever complete game. In the full nine innings of work, Davis allowed only four hits with nine strikeouts on a career-high 120 pitches, 86 of them for strikes.

After being kept off the board through three innings, the Sooners’ bats came alive in the fourth. Jackson Nicklaus drove home the first run of the game, as he blasted an RBI double into center-field that plated Michael Snyder. Two batters later, Kendall Pettis pushed an RBI single into center that allowed Nicklaus to score.

Oklahoma would hold their 2-0 lead until the sixth, when Anthony Mackenzie hit the Sooners’ first homer of the postseason into left. Just one pitch later, Jackson Nicklaus blasted a solo shot as well. The back-to-back homers off of TCU's Payton Tolle would give Oklahoma a 4-0 lead.

With Davis giving the Frogs no quarter from the mound, Sooners would hold onto their 4-0 lead through the remaining three innings and advance to the third round of the Big 12 tournament.

Oklahoma's next matchup will be on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. from Arlington against Kansas.

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