Oklahoma stalled third-seeded Appalachian State's potential march to an NCAA regional championship in Charlottesville, Va., with a convincing 14-6 win, forcing a second game between the same two teams Monday night to decide who moves out of this regional and on to the super-regional round of 16 next weekend in South Carolina.
With their backs to the wall, facing elimination with a loss, the Sooners' bats came alive for the first real time in four games in the NCAA regional tournament, pounding out 13 hits and producing four innings of three runs or more, in a 14-6 win over Appalachian State (41-17), which had won its previous two games including a 5-4 win over No, 2 seed Oklahoma on Saturday..
Oklahoma (41-23) fell behind early 3-0, but came back to tie the game in the top half of the fourth inning and followed that with four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings and three more in the eighth. Oklahoma DH Max Oberste went four-for-four with four runs batted in the afternoon game, and right-fielder Cody Reine had two hits and six RBI, including a home run. Third-baseman Garrett Carey also hit one out of the park for the Sooners.
OU advanced to the championship series with Appalachian State by knocking out the top-seed and host team in the Charlottesville Regional, Virginia, 5-4 Sunday night It was the second time in the last three years that Oklahoma has eliminated Virginia from the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners won two out three against the Cavaliers in the Charlottesville super regional in 2010 to advance to the College World Series.
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