Skip to main content
Oklahoma
Join Now

OU baseball drops finale to Gonzaga, 7-1, takes two of three vs. Zags

Eddie On3by: Eddie Radosevich03/01/26

OU baseball dropped the series finale on Sunday to Gonzaga, 7-1, at Kimrey Family Stadium. 

A quiet afternoon offensively for Oklahoma with the lone tally coming on Brendan Brock’s team-leading fourth home run in the sixth. 

Gonzaga starter Karsten Sweum was excellent over six innings, striking out seven and retiring 12 straight batters before Brock’s two-out bomb. Landon Hood pitched the final three frames, not allowing a hit and striking out seven as well. 

In total, it was a season-high 14 strikeouts for Oklahoma with every player but Jaxon Willits striking out at least once. 

“I saw 93, 96 with a three-pitch mix. That was a good arm. A really good arm,” said Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson following Sunday’s finale. “Just cause you look at the scoreboard the first two nights. Separating balls from strikes, taking it one pitch at a time.” 

RAGER SOLID START

Oklahoma starter Cord Rager takes his first loss of the season after going five innings and allowing two runs on three hits and striking out four.  

The lone mistake in the top of the third that Gonzaga third baseman Mikey Bell blasted over the left field wall. 

“You do that with the wind blowing out 30 miles per hour and that’s going to happen. I thought it was probably his best stuff of the year today,” Johnson said. “I told him that in the locker room in front of the whole team. You can’t lose any confidence over that because that start was really good. If we can go out and get five innings from him, two runs or less? That’s pretty good. Going through the lineup like he did was really good.” 

MOMENTS OF MOMENTUM LOST

There were a couple moments in the late innings that led you to believe Oklahoma was climbing back into the ballgame. 

Trailing by a run in the seventh, Trey Gambill led off the inning being hit on the hip by a 3-1 pitch. Landon Hood struck out the next three batters to retire the side. 

OU pitcher Jackson Cleveland inherited a pair of runners in scoring position in the eighth and was able to get himself out of the jam with a strike out and a fly ball to centerfield. 

Two innings prior, in the sixth, Kyle Branch led off the frame with a competitive 12-pitch at-bat that ended with a strikeout. Dayton Tockey pinch hit in the eighth and looked at a called third strike to open the frame. 

Missed opportunities up and down the lineup that added up as Gonzaga put the game away with a five run ninth, lowlighted by a sloppy error in left. 

“Offensively I think that we ran into a big arm. It’s no different than Kyle Branch’s last at bat. I think it was a 12-pitch at-bat. That’s how you play offense. You have quality at-bats, you don’t give. You want them to get a hit every time but they’re not going to do that, fighting for quality at bats. Six- or seven-pitch at bats. That didn’t happen today. We were swinging at balls we don’t normally swing at because we were trying really hard. When you try, you fail in this game. It’s just the way it is,” said Johnson. 

NEXT UP

OU (10-2) welcomes Dallas Baptist to Kimrey Family Stadium on Tuesday night before hosting Santa Clara for a four-game series, starting Thursday. 

You may also like