Walk-off win sends Sooners baseball to Big 12 title game

Relentless. Persistent. Resilient. 

Oklahoma overcame a six-run deficit Friday afternoon to advance to the Big 12 Tournament championship game on a Jackson Nicklaus walk-off two run home run.

It will be the Sooners’ final athletic competition in a conference they’ve called home to for the last 29 years following the come-from-behind 8-6 victory against Kansas. 

“Our pitching staff came in there and pitched their guts off. Grant (Stevens) came in there and pitched with his heart on his sleeve. I just wanted to do something. You never want to try to hit home runs, but I was just trying to compete and pass the baton. He just happened to leave that pitch up in the zone. Being able to help my team win is what I’m excited about,” said Jackson Nicklaus, who finished the semifinal going 2-for-5 with four RBIs. 

Every play mattered. Every player mattered. 

But to understand how and why Oklahoma rallied for its 11th win in 12 games, you’d have to understand the mindset of Skip Johnson’s club. 

“They’ve been really good at picking each other up and being good teammates. At the end of the day, you can win championships. But when you’re a part of something and you’re selfless, when you don’t care who gets the credit, that’s really what life is about. That’s a life lesson and that’s what baseball teaches you. It’s hard sport at times, but it’s really about being selfless and going out there and picking each other up,” said Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson. 

And that’s exactly what Oklahoma did on Friday to send the Sooners to the Big 12 tournament championship game for the second time in three years. 

THE COMEBACK 

Oklahoma dug itself a hole. A major hole. A six-run deficit after two innings kind of hole. But once again came the rally. 

Grant Stevens played a big part in maintaining the six-run deficit after taking over for starter Brendan Girton. Coming out of the Sooners bullpen, Stevens was a stopper of sorts. He threw 5.1 innings, scattering seven hits and not allowing a run. It came at a critical juncture of the game as Kansas starter J’Briel Easley carved the high-powered Sooners lineup for 11 strikeouts in 4.2 innings. 

“I knew I was hot today. I knew at some point, hopefully, I was getting in. Just pick up (Brendan Girton). (Carson) Atwood, Jamie (Hitt), Jett (Lodes) and Ryan (Lambert). They were all a part of it. Not just me. On top of our defense as well because I’m a ground ball and fly ball guy. Every possible out was made. It just shows how resilient this team is,” said Grant Stevens. 

THEN A SPARK

And once again it was freshman shortstop Jaxon Willits who jacked a two-run home run to get Oklahoma on the board. And all of the sudden, a six-run deficit was cut to 6-2. 

“I think he was really present today. That was one thing that I really saw moreso than anything. We talked about it when Jackson (Nicklaus) and (John) Spikerman were freshmen. We talked about being present and being in that moment and being in control of yourself in that moment. It was really awesome to see,” said Johnson. 

Following the Willits two-run shot, Oklahoma kept adding runs with two outs. Easton Carmichael singled. Michael Snyder and Anthony Mackenzie walked. Jackson Nicklaus’ two-run double cut the lead to 6-4. A Kendall Pettis RBI single made it 6-5. There was life in the Oklahoma dugout. And perhaps most importantly? A belief that this game was far from over. 

One inning later it was Willits (again) who came up with an RBI single to tie the game 6-6. 

“The two run home run was huge, but to make it 6-5 was even bigger. At that moment, (Willits) wasn’t sped up. He took his breathe. He had a quality at-bat and that was all he was trying to do was hit the ball back up the middle,” said Johnson of his freshman shortstop.

BULLPEN AND DEFENSE TO THE RESCUE 

As Carson Atwood trotted in from the Sooners bullpen, he inherited quite the sticky situation with the go-ahead runner at third and less than two outs in the seventh. Atwood struck out Chase Diggins. Michael Snyder saved a run with a diving stop at first, toe-tapping the bag to end the inning. 

If your heart wasn’t beating out of your chest then. Try one inning later. 

Kansas loaded the bases with two outs after Jamie Hitt hit Lenny Asbhy in the helmet with the first and only pitch he’d throw in the game. Skip Johnson called upon senior right-hander Jett Lodes from the Sooners bullpen. 

Collier Cranford sent a ball out to right field to Rocco Garza-Gongora, who had entered in the eighth as a defensive replacement. At first, it didn’t look like he was going to be able to track in the fly ball, ranging to his left and Garza-Gongora made an acrobatic grab ending the threat.  

One of a countless number of big moments that an Oklahoma player delivered with the game on the line. A different player each time making the most of the opportunity on the big stage that is Globe Life Field. 

In the ninth? It was junior reliever Ryan Lambert. 

After Lodes issued a pair of walks to Chase Diggins and Mike Koszewksi, Lambert came in and shut the door on the Jayhawk rally with a pair of strikeouts. The final out coming on a 3-2 pitch against Jayhawk first baseman Ben Hartl, who reached base in all five of his previous at-bats. 

A momentum changer leading to Nicklaus walk-off heroics in a game full of momentum swings. 

NEXT UP

Oklahoma advances to the Big 12 Tournament title game on Saturday night at Globe Life Field. First pitch set for 6 p.m. with their opponent undecided. It will be Oklahoma State or Central Florida.