NORMAN, Okla. – Oklahoma's Levi Prater struck out 15 Missouri State hitters over 7.0 dominant innings to lift the Sooners to a 6-1 victory in the deciding contest of the two clubs' three-game set Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Prater (4-0) allowed just one Missouri State hit—a
Logan Geha home run leading off the fourth inning—and one walk, while registering a career-best for strikeouts. Combined with relievers Zack Matthews and Jason Ruffcorn, Sooner pitching fanned a total of 17 Bears hitters to lock up their second-straight win over MSU.
The Sooners' No. 3 through No. 5 hitters, including Brylie Ware, Tyler Hardman and Cade Cavalli, combined for six hits, three RBIs and three runs scored to power OU's 11-hit attack. Cavalli delivered a key home run for the second day in a row, launching a two-run shot in the seventh that turned a two-run OU lead into a 5-1 margin.
Oklahoma (16-4) took advantage of three consecutive one-out hits in the second to plate the game's first run, after Brady Lindsly doubled to spark the rally. Conor McKenna followed with a single up the middle and Brady Harlan's base hit brought in Lindsly to make it a 1-0 Sooner lead.
Bears starter
Logan Wiley (0-4) was able to avoid a big inning, however, inducing a fly ball to right and an inning-ending grounder to third to strand a pair of Sooners in scoring position.
Prater, who fanned six of nine MSU batters the first time through the order, cruised throughout his seven innings, facing just three hitters over the minimum. Geha registered the lone blemish on the OU lefty's afternoon, belting a 2-1 offering over the wall in left-center for a game-tying home run—his fourth in his last six contests.
But Geha's blast only served to fuel Prater's fire, with the sophomore responding by striking out the next four MSU hitters, before ending his outing with five consecutive punchouts in the sixth and seventh innings.
MSU (5-13) threatened with back-to-back hits by
Dakota Kotowski and
Ben Whetstone to open the eighth against Matthews. But the right-hander adeptly worked his way out of harm's way, inducing fly balls off the bats of
Jack Duffy and
Logan Geha and retiring
John Privitera on a bouncer to first.
Ruffcorn closed out the victory with a scoreless ninth, despite a leadoff double from
Drew Millas.
Wiley held OU in check for most of his 4.2 innings, permitting single tallies in the second, fourth and fifth frames. The junior scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out one, before yielding to
Jake Lochner.
Cavalli, who hit a key three-run blast in Saturday's 11-2 OU victory, followed a Hardman single to start the seventh with his third homer of the season, giving his bullpen even more room to work. The Sooners added a run in the eighth on Ware's two-out double.
Up next, the Bears conclude their 11-game road swing with a three-game series at UC Santa Barbara, beginning with a 5 p.m. (CDT) contest Friday (March 22) at Caesar Uyeska Stadium in Santa Barbara, Calif.
