Martinez Fans 14 in Win over Demons

Sunday, February 27

Arlington, Texas

5:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

5-2

Northwestern State

3-3

Northwestern State

Oklahoma

Photo by: Alexis Martinez

February 27, 2022 | Baseball

Box Score Highlights Box Score

ARLINGTON, Texas – Chazz Martinez concluded a weekend of excellent Oklahoma starting pitching by striking out 14 batters over 7.0 shutout innings to lead the Sooners to a 5-1 win over Northwestern State Sunday evening at Globe Life Field.

Martinez (1-0) struck out six straight across the second and third innings and later punched out four in row. OU's starting rotation of Martinez, Jake Bennett and David Sandlin totaled 33 strikeouts and only three walks, 10 hits and one run allowed over 19.1 combined innings this weekend.

Freshman second baseman Jackson Nicklaus gave the Sooners (5-2) a 2-0 lead in the second inning with his first career home run. Shortstop Peyton Graham also homered, and third baseman Cade Horton and right fielder Sebastian Orduno drove home the other two runs.

"Chazz set the tone, and with the two-run homer it made it a little bit easier for him to go out and keep competing pitch to pitch," Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson said. "I thought he was really competitive today. It was really good to get some runs early for him, instead of just grinding it out. We're going to keep playing offense and keep practicing at it, and it should come around."

Nicklaus launched a two-run homer into the OU bullpen in deep right center field in the second inning to put the Sooners on the board. After a leadoff double by first baseman Blake Robertson in the third, Horton drove him home with a base hit to left field.

Graham, who also homered at Globe Life Field against Auburn on opening day, smashed a solo shot to left field on the first pitch of the fifth inning. OU extended its lead to 5-0 in the seventh inning when Horton brought home Robertson on a sacrifice fly.

Martinez, meanwhile, continued mowing down the Demons. A leadoff single in the first inning was erased by a double play, and a leadoff single in the second was followed by six straight strikeouts. He retired nine in a row following a one-out double in the fourth inning

Martinez's 14 strikeouts were the most by an OU pitcher since Levi Prater had 15 against Missouri State in 2019. It was also the first time a Sooner pitcher struck out six consecutive batters since Jake Irvin against Oklahoma State in 2018.

Northwestern State (3-3) scored their lone run in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Gray Rowlett. The unearned run was scored by Gabe Colaianni, who reached on an error. NSU starter Drayton Brown (0-1) took the loss.

The Sooners play next weekend at the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston. OU faces LSU at 3 p.m. Friday, UCLA at 11 a.m. Saturday and Tennessee at 11 a.m. Sunday.