Oklahoma sweeps two  from Texas Southern

Oklahoma swept its seven-inning doubleheader with Texas Southern 6-0 and 5-1 Wednesday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Sooners (18-15) and Tigers (9-22) were forced to play two games on Wednesday after Tuesday's scheduled contest was washed out by lightning and heavy rain. The teams began the twin bill at 11 a.m. to beat incoming weather.

Oklahoma jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second inning of game one, then added a run in the fourth and two runs in the sixth. In game two, OU broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fourth inning and pulled away with two more in the sixth on a two-run home run by true freshman catcher Hudson Polk.

Javier Ramos (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings to start the opener and true freshman Carson Atwood (1-0) earned his first career victory with three innings in relief in the second game. TSU starter and Norman native Bryson Armstrong (3-4) pitched two innings in the first game, and Adolf Castillo (1-1) went five innings in his game two start.

"I thought Javier (Ramos) was really good. He threw the ball to the target and he set the tone," Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson said. "We got the early runs in the first game and kind of set it up. Ben (Abram) came in and did really well and Christian Ruebeck was outstanding.

"The second game was a little bit of a tighter game. I thought Dalton Fowler was probably the best he's been all year. We really found some things that we worked on this week and that's a good sign moving forward. Carson Atwood was really good, and Aaron Brooks and Luke Taggart were really good. We separated that game late, in the sixth inning. That was the first game Hudson (Polk) has caught since he's been here except for a couple of innings here or there. We're really proud of him because he works extremely hard."

Polk, making his first career start, put a bow on the day with a two-run home run on his first career hit in the sixth inning of game two. Shortstop Brandon Zaragoza tallied three hits and scored three runs, and right fielder Brett Squires notched three hits, an RBI and a run in the doubleheader.

Oklahoma 6, Texas Southern 0

Third baseman Peyton Graham tripled to the right center field alley to bring home Oklahoma's first run of the day in the third inning. Zaragoza singled home Graham and scored on an RBI groundout by second baseman Logan Kohler. First baseman Tyler Hardman hit a one-out double in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to extend OU's lead to 4-0.

The Sooners added two more runs in the sixth inning on bases-loaded walks drawn by catcher Jimmy Crooks and Hardman to reach the 6-0 final tally.

Ramos stranded leadoff runners in each of his two innings and Ben Abram retired the last six batters he faced, striking out the final five hitters. Jett Lodes tossed 1 2/3 innings, and Christian Ruebeck closed out the game with a perfect seventh inning, ending it with a strikeout.

The 6-0 win was Oklahoma's first shutout victory of the season.

Oklahoma 5, Texas Southern 1

Squires tied the game in the bottom of the first inning with a double to left field that scored center fielder Kendall Pettis, who reached on a single. The Tigers scored in the top of the first inning on a groundout by first baseman Oscar Ponce after consecutive singles by shortstop Justin Cooper and third baseman Nic Garza.

Left fielder Breydon Daniel put the Sooners on top in the fourth inning when he ripped an RBI triple down the right field line. He later scored on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Brady Harlan, making it a 3-1 game.

OU extended its lead to 5-1 in the sixth inning when Polk notched his first career hit and home run on the same swing.

Fowler retired six of the last seven batters he faced after the two leadoff singles. Atwood struck out six batters and allowed only a walk in his three relief innings. Brooks and Taggart, pitching under a light rain, closed out the sixth and seventh innings to preserve the win.

Oklahoma travels to Manhattan, KS, this weekend for a three-game Big 12 series at Kansas State. Game times are 6 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.