NORMAN – Four players notched two hits and
Blake Robertson tallied three RBIs to lead the Oklahoma baseball team to a 7-3 win over Pacific Thursday evening at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Robertson's bases-clearing double in the sixth inning gave the Sooners (20-12) a 7-1 lead.
Jackson Nicklaus,
Peyton Graham,
Jimmy Crooks and
John Spikerman recorded two hits. Graham and Spikerman, who made his first start and registered his first career hits, each scored twice.
Redshirt freshman
Cade Horton (2-1) allowed one hit, struck out two and walked two over 4.0 scoreless innings in his first career start on the mound.
Chazz Martinez struck out three batters in 1.2 relief innings,
Aaron Calhoun tossed a scoreless frame and
Jaret Godman got the final two outs of the game.
"Cade walked out and was a little out of his element, you could tell, but he settled in which was really good," Oklahoma head coach
Skip Johnson said. "Chazz was what we expected. We kind of thought his velo was better coming out of the bullpen. It was good watching Calhoun get back in there. Blake got a big hit with bases loaded to separate the game. That was what was the difference in the game for me."
Horton walked two batters to start the game, then rolled a double play ball, recorded nine straight outs and faced the minimum over the next three innings.
The Sooners and Tigers (11-21) were scoreless through the early innings, but OU quickly broke it open with seven runs in the middle frames.
Crooks, who ended the top of the fourth inning with his fifth caught stealing of the season, singled home Graham to put Oklahoma on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Robertson walked and later scored on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Spikerman singled for his first collegiate hit and scored on a sacrifice fly by Graham.
OU broke it open with four runs in the sixth inning.
Wallace Clark brought in pinch runner
Kendall Pettis with a sacrifice fly and Robertson drove a base-clearing three-run double into the left field corner to make it 7-1.
Pacific catcher Jeremy Lea drove in all three runs with a solo home run in the sixth inning and a two-run single in the ninth. Starter Marv Guarin (0-3) took the loss for the Tigers.
Oklahoma will play Lamar at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Mitchell Park, following a 2 p.m. contest between Pacific and Lamar.