Oklahoma completes sweep of Texas Tech behind a trio of homers
After impressive wins on Friday and Saturday, the No. 22 Sooners entered Sunday in line to be the first team to sweep Texas Tech in Lubbock since 2011.
Game 3 would be a much faster start for the Sooners than the first two contests. Michael Snyder launched a two-out, two-run homer into right to stake Oklahoma to an early lead.
After Oklahoma's pitching shone in Games 1 and 2, Carson Atwood led the team onto the mound on Sunday afternoon but the Red Raiders' offense was able to strike early. Atwood allowed the leadoff batter to triple and eventually score, but kept the Red Raiders off the board otherwise.
OU's offense put together back-to-back two-run innings in the third and fourth. In the third, Spikerman sent a two-run homer into center that pushed OU's lead to 4-1. In the fourth, an RBI single by Bryce Madron and an Easton Carmichael sacrifice fly stretched the lead. Oklahoma found themselves in front 6-1 after four.
Lefty James Hitt replaced Atwood on the mound but had a disastrous fifth. Tech capitalized off of three Oklahoma errors to cut the lead to 6-4 and forced another pitching change for Oklahoma. Brendan Girton relieved Hitt on the mound, but faced struggles of his own. Hitt and Girton would combine for two innings of work, allowing a total of three runs.
As Tech made their comeback effort, the Oklahoma bats responded. Easton Carmichael hit a two-run homer into left, giving him three RBI's on the day as OU padded the margin. In the bottom of the sixth, Skip Johnson made his fourth change on the mound, bringing in Carter Campbell.
Campbell and Dylan Crooks got Oklahoma to the ninth, but after Ryan Lambert entered and quickly lost the handle, Malachi Witherspoon came on to try and close the game out. With runners on second and third and no outs, Witherspoon came up clutch and sealed the victory as he struck out one batter and forced the other two into a groundout and flyout. The Red Raiders got one across, but the potential tying run died on third as the Sooners preserved the victory.
Behind the strong offensive performance and an all-hands-on-deck pitching effort, OU closed this one out 8-7 and became the first team to sweep Texas Tech in Lubbock since 2011.
Oklahoma now sits alone at the top of the Big 12 with an 18-6 record as the final six games of conference play approach.
Next up for OU is a series against Baylor that will start at 6:30 p.m. CST on Friday from L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
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