OU baseball rallies, Jaxon Willits walks off Arizona State, 4-3

If there were any questions about how Skip Johnson’s club would respond following its first loss of the season, look no further than Wednesday’s come from behind 4-3 walk-off win for OU. 

Jaxon Willits delivered the game-winner with a double down the left field line. The Sooners’ three hits in the final frame all went for extra bases en route to the walk-off winner.  

And while it’s just a single game in what is a marathon of a season, Wednesday’s final could speak volumes of things to come this season at Kimrey Family Stadium. 

Oklahoma improves to 8-1 on the season with the win. 

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER 

It seemed to be one of those days. Every time Oklahoma put the ball in play it seemed to find a glove. 

Dayton Tockey was the Sooners first base runner since the third inning when he drew a pinch-hit walk in the eighth. A slow burn of sorts before the burn turned into an inferno in the ninth. 

Camden Johnson started the rally with a triple to left-centerfield. Deiten Lachance followed with a game-tying RBI double just inside the third base bag. Leading the way to Sooners captain, Willits, who came through with the swing of the day, lacing the game-winning hit into left field. 

“First things first, I probably need to get the bunt down but I felt comfortable in the box all night,” Willits said. “I felt like I was in a good position to go out there and do a job. My whole approach with two strikes was just to hit a ground ball to second base and get him over to third and I ended up staying on the ball and down the left field line and getting the job done, helping the team win.”

A statement of sorts in that Oklahoma did what their head coach preached just 24 hours prior after his squad’s first loss of the season. 

“What’d you ask me yesterday? Would I be looking forward to how they respond? You got your answer,” Johnson said. “I thought the bullpen was outstanding.

“We got some big hits in that game. I thought (Brendan) Brock got a big hit. Of course in the ninth inning, it was really good. We really didn’t start playing offense until the ninth inning. Our two-strike approach changed. Two of the three hits were with two strikes. That’s how we played really good last weekend. We scored a lot of runs hitting with two strikes. That was huge.” 

SOONERS BULLPEN OUTSTANDING  

In between, it was the Oklahoma pitching staff that kept them in the game allowing the Sooners bats to get the job done in the final frame.  

Kadyn Leon worked three innings of relief. Jason Bodin went 2.2 innings, striking out four. Jackson Cleveland earned his first victory since joining the program, going 1.1 innings, working around a pair of two-out singles in the top half of the ninth. 

In total, the Oklahoma bullpen worked seven innings of relief, allowing just five hits, one walk and eight strikeouts. That’ll do any day of the week moving forward.

“They were rolling. They took it pitch to pitch,” Johnson said. “Didn’t try to overthrow. 

“I thought the bullpen was outstanding, even the plays in the first inning. There were two or three plays that could have been outs. Gavyn (Jones) was trying really hard just to put a goose egg up. Then he got settled in and that’s kind of how we played it out. Was going to try and throw those guys a couple innings apiece.” 

Gavyn Jones was charged with three runs in the opening frame.. 

NEWS & NOTES

*Brendan Brock opened the scoring for Oklahoma with a solo home run to left in the second inning. His second bomb of the year. 

*Deiten Lachance has a hit in seven of the eight games he’s played. 

*Jaxon Wilits walk-off double was his second career walk-off hit (Nebraska 2024) 

*Oklahoma improves to 4-1 on the season versus Big 12 opponents with wins over Texas Tech, TCU, Oklahoma State and Arizona State. 

NEXT UP

Oklahoma continues a 17-game homestand at Kimrey Family Stadium on Friday when they welcome Gonzaga to Norman for a three-game series. First pitch at 4 p.m.