Sooners blank Cowboys, even Bedlam series

NORMAN – Oklahoma State had its three-game winning streak snapped Friday night as Oklahoma evened the Bedlam Series with a 5-0 victory at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

With the loss, the 10th-ranked Cowboys fell to 36-16 overall and are now tied for second in the Big 12 standings with Texas at 14-9, one game behind West Virginia heading into Saturday’s regular season finale, which is scheduled for a 4 p.m. first pitch.

The Mountaineers clinched at least a share of the league title with OSU’s loss. For the Cowboys to claim a championship, they would need to beat OU Saturday and have WVU lose to Texas – in that scenario, OSU, West Virginia and Texas would all share the conference crown.

OU (30-23, 11-12) rode the left arm of Braden Carmichael to the win as he allowed just four hits in a complete game effort and shut out the Cowboys for only the second time this season. In doing so, he improved to 7-0 on the year.

Juaron Watts-Brown took the loss as the right-hander allowed four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out nine and issued five walks.

Watts-Brown did become the 16th Cowboy pitcher to record 100 strikeouts in a season, a feat that has been achieved just 20 times in program history; he now has 108 strikeouts on the year, the 13th most in a season in OSU history.

After 3 ½ scoreless innings, OU got on the scoreboard in the fourth. Following a one-out single by Dakota Harris, Watts-Brown struck out Kendall Pettis. But the next batter walked, and Easton Carmichael then stepped to the plate and delivered a two-RBI double down the left-field line.

The Sooners added to their lead in the fifth when a triple by Anthony Mackenzie brought home a run to make the score 3-0 before a wild pitch plated another to push the advantage to four.

OSU had chances in the middle innings, getting back-to-back singles with two outs in the fifth before a fielder’s choice ended the threat. In the sixth, the first two Cowboys reached safely on a base hit and a hit by pitch, but a fielder’s choice and a double play kept them off the scoreboard.

OU’s final run came in the seventh on an infield single.