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OU baseball rally falls short, rubber game ahead against Georgia

Eddie On3by:Eddie Radosevich•04/25/25
Syndication: The Oklahoman
Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson sits in the dugout before a college Bedlam baseball game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) at O'Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Tuesday, April 15, 2025.

You knew there would be a response Georgia response against OU baseball. Oklahoma starter Cade Crossland just happened to be on the wrong end of it. 

The No. 10 Bulldogs bounced back on Friday at Foley Field holding off a late-inning Sooners rally to even the series with a 10-9 win, forcing a rubber game Saturday morning. 

A five-run Georgia second marked as the difference that Oklahoma couldn’t make up despite scoring all nine of its runs after the fifth. 

Georgia’s high-powered offense wasn’t going to be held down for long. But you sure wish Crossland would have made the talented bats work for it a little more. 

Georgia loaded the bases without putting the ball in play in the second. And you know all too well what happens when free passes are handed out against really good offensive clubs. 

Kolby Branch singled in a run. Crossland hit his second batter of the inning, forcing in a run. Then the first big blow of the weekend as Slate Alford cleared the bases with a three-run double. 

Just like that. Georgia had opened a 6-0 lead after two. 

Sooners found a spark in 5th

Skip Johnson’s club learned something about themselves even in a loss. 

After being dealt a blow with the news first baseman Dayton Tockey is expected to be shelved for the rest of the regular season with a hairline fracture in his left ankle, Oklahoma found itself trailing 9-2 in the fifth. 

As Phelps stood at home plate admiring his three–run moonshot that extended the Bulldogs lead to seven runs, Easton Carmichael took exception. Jaxon Willits shared words of wisdom with Phelps as he trotted around the bases. 

It felt like the game and perhaps even the series was starting to slip away in just the second inning of game No. 2. Much to Oklahoma fans’ delight, it went the opposite way. Oklahoma battled back. 

The Sooners scored three runs in the sixth on a Kyle Branch RBI single. Dawson Willis delivered a two-run double. 

They added two more runs in the seventh after loading the bases with no outs. Georgia got a run back in the bottom half.

Jason Walk responded in the eighth with a two-out single, cutting the Georgia lead to a single run. 

In each the seventh and the eighth. Oklahoma had the tying run aboard and in scoring position. 

Dawson Willis led Oklahoma with a career-high four hits. Kyle Branch and Jason Walk each contributed two hits apiece.

OU bullpen kept them in the game 

Oklahoma’s bullpen gave its offense a chance to rally. 

Crossland’s final line of four innings, seven runs, three walks (two hit batters) and four strikeouts was ugly. Reid Hensley allowed two runs in just a 0.1 inning.

But the foursome of Beau Sampson (1.1 innings), Michael Catalano (1.0), Jaden Barfield (0.1) and Jason Bodin (1.0) combined to hurl the final 3.2 innings, allowing just three hits and one run. 

Malachi Witherspoon will get his turn on Saturday in the rubber game. First pitch set for 11 a.m. 

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