UConn upsets Oklahoma 7-1, clinches Super Regional berth
The Connecticut Huskies defeated Oklahoma 7-1 on Monday night, ending the NCAA Tournament’s No. 9 seed’s season at the Norman Regional.
The game was scoreless heading into the fourth before Korey Morton launched a two-run home run to left-center to get the Huskies on the board first. Later that inning, UConn blasted the game open with another two-RBI home run, this time by Maddix Dalena to give the Huskies a quick 4-0 lead. From there the Huskies never looked back despite OU’s best efforts.
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Two RBI singles from Morton and Luke Broadhurst in the fifth inning pushed UConn’s lead to six runs as the Sooners’ season appeared to be coming to an early end at their own regional. UConn added an insurance run in the eighth inning with another RBI single, this time from T.C. Simmons to put the game out of reach.
Huskies pitcher Gabe Van Emon was masterful on the mound, throwing over 100 pitches on the night as he allowed just five hits and no runs over 7.1 innings pitched. The left-handed pitcher stayed on the mound for 109 total pitchers as he kept 22 of his 27 batters faced off base. Stephen Quigley relieved Van Emon in the eighth.
UConn had to defeat Oklahoma twice in three days to make it to the Super Regional, where they’ll now face No. 8 seed Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional. The Seminoles went 3-0 in their regional tournament, defeating Stetson and UCF twice to sweep their competition and enter the Supers undefeated in tournament play.
The Huskies started their stay in the regional tournament with a 4-1 victory over the Duke Blue Devils before facing Oklahoma in the semifinals. They shocked the Sooners UConn’s second 4-1 win of the Norman Regional and sent the host into elimination rounds. OU had to battle back and defeat Duke to advance back into the championship game, where they were tasked with having to beat the Huskies twice to keep their season alive.
Oklahoma did manage to win 6-4 in the first of the two finals matchups on Sunday, but the Huskies bats were too much for the Sooners’ pitching staff to handle, thus ending their season before the Super Regional.
UConn will head down to Tallahassee to take on the Seminoles in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday with the winner advancing to the field of eight at the Men’s College World Series. Game 1’s first pitch is TBD.