Sooners knock off Aggies

By Hunter Cornejo

The Oklahoma Sooners started off hot in Game 1 of the College World Series. In the top of the first inning, Oklahoma first baseman Blake Robertson grounds out, scoring John Spikerman to put the Sooners up 1-0. In the top of the second inning, the game started to get ugly for Texas A&M after pitcher Nathan Dettmer walked in a run with 2 outs. After the walk, the Sooners’ bats got hot when Robertson singles, knocking in two runs. Centerfielder Tanner Tredaway added to the damage when he singled to score another run. Sooner catcher Jimmy Crooks lives up to the nickname “Jimmy Jacks” when he jacks one out to right field making the score 8-0. In the bottom of the second inning, Texas A&M answers back with Jordan Thompson’s 3 run home run. In the top of the fourth inning, Sooner freshman Jackson Nicklaus hits a grand slam to put the Sooners up 12-3. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Texas A&M answers back with Austin Bost’s solo shot. Sooner lefty Jake Bennett put the College Baseball world on notice pitching 6 innings, while only giving up 4 runs to the #5 ranked Texas A&M Aggies, in Bennett’s CWS debut. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Aggies start to make Sooner fans sweat when Kole Kahler gets the Aggies’ bats rolling with an RBI single. In the next at bat, Trevor Werner singles to score another run, forcing the Sooners to turn to their closer Trevin Michael earlier than manager Skip Johnson would’ve hoped for. Sooner closer Trevin Michael gave up two more runs off of the bats of Jack Moss and Dylan Rock putting the score to 12-8, and giving the fans in Omaha an interesting ballgame heading into the 8th inning. In the top of the eighth inning, Texas A&M pitcher Chris Cortez gets out of the inning leaving two Sooners on base. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Trevin Michael answered back with a 1,2,3 inning, striking out one. In the top of the ninth inning, John Spikerman singles, scoring another run for the Sooners. Texas A&M pitcher Will Johnston intentionally walks Peyton Graham to load the bases with no outs. Although at the time it looked like a bad move by Aggie pitching coach Nate Yeskie, Johnston strikes out Blake Robertson and forces Tanner Tredaway into a lineout forcing a double play to get the Aggies into the bottom of the ninth with a score of 13-8. In the bottom of the ninth, Trevin Michael walks a batter and then precedes to strike out two more. Down to the Aggies’ final out, Michael forces Jack Moss to fly out, sending the Sooners to the winner’s bracket. Jake Bennett picks up his 10th win of the year for the Sooners. Nathan Dettmer suffered his 3rd loss of the year for the Aggies.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ only worry following the 13-8 win over Texas A&M is their DH Brett Squires’ hand after taking a pitch in the hand. On the live broadcast ESPN reported that Squires suffered a broken hand and later showed Squires in the dugout with his hand wrapped up. The unexpected loss of Brett Squires will force the Sooners’ bench to step up to replace Squires after his impressive performance in the Super Regionals. Texas A&M faces rival Texas at 1:00 CT in a win or go home matchup. Oklahoma will face the red hot Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 6:00 CT.