Caleb Horton had 11 strikeouts in six innings, while Peyton Graham reached five times with four hits and a walk, as OU defeated ND to remain undefeated in bracket play.
“I thought Cade really set the tone early and took the momentum from the first inning,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said, “had a really solid first inning. Played really good defense. Had competitive bats offensively, just a team full of Davids.”
Horton (5-2) gave up five hits, one walk and two runs.
After stranding two in each of the first two innings, the Sooners (44-22) broke through in the bottom of the third. Graham singled, stole second and scored on a base hit by Tanner Tredaway (3 for 4). With two away, Tredaway moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Wallace Clark to make it 2-0.
The Sooners had a chance to add to their lead in the fourth. Sebastian Orduno doubled down the left field line but was thrown out at third. With two away, John Spikerman struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. Graham singled to right and Spikerman attempted to take third. The throw beat Spikerman, but the ball was dislodged on the slide. It ricocheted off the third base coach, but the ND third baseman grabbed the ball and tagged Sipkerman before he could return to third.
OU put up another crooked number in the fifth. Tredaway had a one-out single and advanced to third on a base hit by Jimmy Crooks. Clark laid down a sacrifice bunt that brought home Tredaway. The errant throw to first on the bunt allowed Crooks to move all the way around the bases to make it 4-0. A single by Jackson Nicklaus brought in Clark to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Irish (41-16) got on the board in the sixth as Carter Putz (4 for 4) had a leadoff single and David LaManna homered to left to make it a 5-2 contest.
The Sooners responded in the bottom of the sixth. Spikerman drew a one-out walk, went to third on a base hit by Graham and scored on a two-out single by Tredaway to make it 6-2.
“They outplayed us in essentially every phase of the game,” ND head coach Link Jarrett said. “I thought Horton was outstanding.”
The Irish will face Texas A&M in an elimination game on Tuesday.