The Sooners clinched a series victory over the Northwestern State Demons with a 7-2 game two victory Saturday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Again, unsurprisingly, first baseman Matt Oberste got things going when he jumpstarted a four-run third with his two-out RBI single to left and extended his hitting streak to the program’s third best 23 games.
Designated hitter Kolbey Carpenter followed suit with an RBI single to center, and second baseman Hector Lorenzana blasted one back through the box for two more to make it 4-0.
The Sooners added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth on third baseman Garrett Carey’s solo shot to left, second baseman Jack Mayfield’s RBI double and center fielder Craig Aikin’s ensuing run-scoring single to lead 7-0.
”Just an inside pitch that I could handle and here we are,” Carey said of his homer. “Got it over the wall.”
Meanwhile, lefty Dillon Overton mostly cruised until the eighth when the Demons roughed him up for a pair of runs.
First, left fielder Cort Brinson broke a scoreless weekend for Northwestern State with his RBI groundout, then first baseman Nick Purdy singled to center to bring in another off reliever Ralph Garza Jr.
Still, Overton, who was moved from Friday to Saturday starter in favor of Jonathan Gray, finished with a solid line of 7 1/3 innings with just two earned on six hits and a walk.
He struck out five.
”It felt great, especially big Jon through the way he did yesterday,” Overton said. “We’re both best friends. We’re both very competitive, and I didn’t care at all about switching from Friday to Saturday. None of that matters to either of us, but I was just more competitive about trying to match how he threw yesterday than the days we through on.
”And to come out here today and to throw as well as I did for my team, it was just unbelievable.”
The Demons’ A.J. Funk received the loss after giving up four earned runs on five hits and a walk in four innings.
Carey, Carpenter, Lorenzana and Oberste all finished with multiple-hit days for the Sooners, while no one accomplished such a feat for Northwestern State.
OU looks to sweep the series when the two meet for the third and final time at 1 p.m. CT Sunday.
”We can’t overlook tomorrow,” Carey said. “We gotta get another win tomorrow, go ahead and get the sweep out of the way.”
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