Skip Johnson's resilient baseball squad lives to fight another day... or perhaps more accurately, they live to fight another few hours.
The Sooners will have to win another game before the end of the evening to keep their 2024 season alive. But for the moment, they're still kicking in their regional, and second-seeded Duke is going home.
Behind a masterful outing from left-hander Grant Stevens, Johnson's crew weathered the storm — both literally and metaphorically — to knock off the Blue Devils 4-3. An afternoon rainstorm blew in and postponed the start of the action, but when the skies cleared, Oklahoma played the nine innings of inspired baseball that they needed in order to maintain a fighting chance at a second College World Series berth in three years.
After the lengthy delay, the Sooners and Blue Devils finally took the field at 4 p.m. CT, some two hours after the game had originally been scheduled to start. Duke struck first, as second baseman Zac Morris led off the game with a double and came around to score on a one-out single from AJ Gracia. It wasn't an ideal start, but in the Sooners' half of the frame, true disaster nearly struck.
Star center fielder John Spikerman drew a leadoff walk and promptly attempted to steal second, beating the throw rather easily. But he overslid the base and snagged the toe of his cleat on the bag. Duke shortstop Wallace Clark, who was a member of the Sooners' 2022 College World Series runner-up team before transferring, tagged Spikerman out as he sprawled off the base in pain. Spikerman walked gingerly off the field under his own power, and his availability for the remainder of the game immediately became the preeminent concern for the L. Dale Mitchell Park crowd. But he re-emerged from the dugout and jogged out to center field come the top of the second inning.
The Sooners struck back in the bottom of the second, as Jaxon Willits and Jackson Nicklaus worked walks off Duke starter Fran Oschell. Willits advanced to third on a Kendall Pettis flyout, and Rocco Garza-Gongora delivered a two-out RBI single up the middle to plate the Sooners' first run. The next man to the plate was Jason Walk, batting ninth in the order and known more for his outstanding foot speed than his power at the plate. But the freshman squared up a 1-2 pitch from Oschell and laced it to the right-center gap for a triple, scoring Nicklaus and Garza-Gongora to stake Oklahoma to a 3-1 lead. Spikerman followed with a blast to right field that cleared the fence, but Gracia scaled the wall with an acrobatic leap and robbed what would have been a two-run homer.
Though Gracia's wondrous defensive play kept the Blue Devils within striking distance, Pettis answered with a web gem of his own in the top of the third. With two outs and a runner on second base, Gracia stepped to the plate and ripped a drive to deep left. Pettis retreated in a dead sprint and snagged the ball over his shoulder, just a fraction of a second before crashing into the left-field wall. The Blue Devils challenged the play, contending that the ball hit the wall before finding its way into Pettis' glove. But to the immense delight of the L. Dale Mitchell Park crowd, the catch was upheld upon review.
Meanwhile, as Duke employed a cavalcade of relievers to navigate the middle innings, Stevens settled into a groove for Oklahoma. It soon became apparent that the Blue Devils had no answer for his precise control — or his hammer of a curveball, which befuddled hitters all afternoon. The stubby left-hander worked seven superb innings, scattering six hits and notching seven strikeouts. He issued just two walks, and didn't allow an extra-base hit after Morris' first-inning double.
In desperation, Duke turned to closer Charlie Beilenson midway through the sixth inning. The Oklahoma bats got to him in the bottom of the seventh, as Easton Carmichael and Willits each delivered one-out singles. Michael Snyder followed with a missile off the left-field wall that plated Carmichael, and although Beilenson escaped the jam without any further scoring, the Sooners had secured an insurance run that proved quite necessary come the top of the eighth.
Right-hander Carson Atwood took over for Stevens, and allowed a leadoff double to Morris. After a groundout from Ben Miller, Atwood left a letter-high fastball to Gracia right over the middle of the plate, and the freshman outfielder smoked it over the wall in right center for a two-run homer to cut the lead to 4-3. Next at the dish was Duke cleanup hitter Alex Stone, who floated a single into right field, and Johnson bolted from the Oklahoma dugout to remove Atwood. In from the bullpen trotted closer Malachi Witherspoon, who quashed the rally by inducing a pair of flyouts.
Beilenson worked a scoreless eighth for Duke, and Witherspoon took the hill in the ninth to try and preserve victory for Oklahoma. He whiffed Devin Obee to open the frame, then retired Clark on a groundout to second. Pinch-hitter Jimmy Evans was the last hope for the Blue Devils and barreled up the first pitch from Witherspoon, but Bryce Madron snagged the liner to right, and the Sooners could exhale.
Stevens earned the win, his sixth of the year, while Oschell took the loss for Duke. In recording the final five outs for Oklahoma, Witherspoon picked up his fifth save.
The Sooners will now have less than an hour to regroup and prepare for a rematch with UConn, the regional's No. 3 seed. The Huskies put the Sooners' memorable season on life support with a Saturday night upset, as right-hander Stephen Quigley spun eight brilliant innings in a 4-1 triumph. UConn will clinch a super regional berth with a victory tonight. But should the Sooners win the nightcap, they'll face UConn a third time in a winner-take-all matchup on Monday.
It's not immediately clear who will start on the mound for Oklahoma later tonight. Candidates include right-hander Brendan Girton (0-1, 6.75 ERA), who has made nine starts this season, and southpaw Jamie Hitt (2-4, 8.49 ERA), who has seven starts on the year. Neither Girton nor Hitt has been particularly effective of late, and relievers Ryan Lambert (4-0, 2.55 ERA) and Reid Hensley (0-0, 3.21 ERA) have yet to see action in the regional, so it's perhaps a more likely possibility that Johnson tries to get extended innings from one of his high-leverage bullpen arms.
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