OU ends first day of Norman Regional with 14-0 rout of Oral Roberts

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — John Spikerman, Bryce Madron, and Easton Carmichael combined for nine hits and eight RBIs from the top of Oklahoma’s lineup and the top-seeded Sooners rolled to a 14-0 victory over No. 4 seed Oral Roberts on Friday night at the Norman Regional.

Oklahoma (38-19) will play third-seeded Connecticut in the winners’ bracket on Saturday, while Oral Roberts (27-31-1) will square off against Duke in an elimination game. The Blue Devils lost 4-1 to the Huskies to begin the regional.

Spikerman led off the bottom of the first with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Madron to give Oklahoma a 1-0 lead. Sooners starter Kyson Witherspoon worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the inning, striking out Sam Thompson looking to end it.

Witherspoon allowed two more baserunners in the second, but Elijah Rodriguez looked at a called third strike on a full-count pitch to end the inning. Witherspoon walked two more in the third before striking out Cameron LaLiberte on a full-count swing to end the threat. He set down the side in order in the fourth and fifth, retiring seven straight.

Madron homered in the third after Spikerman reached with a two-out single to make it 3-0.

The Sooners took a 6-0 lead in the fifth after Spikerman led off with a walk. Madron doubled and Carmichael followed with a three-run shot over the fence in right field on the next pitch.

Scott Mudler ended the day for Golden Eagles starter Jakob Hall when he led off the sixth with a homer to right to put the Sooners up 7-0. Hall (10-3) allowed eight hits and two walks, striking out five.

Spikerman’s two-run single capped a three-run seventh for the Sooners.

Witherspoon (8-3) yielded five walks but just one hit in six innings, striking out nine. Carter Campbell went the final three for his first save. He gave up two hits and struck out two. Mudler had a two-run single to finish off a four-run eighth.

Oklahoma outhit Oral Roberts 17-3.