The Sooners watched their season come to an end Thursday night as OU was knocked out of the College World Series with a 12-inning 3-2 loss to South Carolina at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
The Sooners ended their season with a 50-18 record, culminating in their first trip to Omaha since 1995.
Zach Neal delivered a stellar performance as a starter after 11 days off the mound, allowing only five hits, one walk and adding seven strikeouts in seven innings. Neal retired 14 consecutive batters during the outing, a record for pitchers in the 2010 College World Series.
Caleb Bushyhead hit an RBI single into right center field to score Tyler Ogle to get things started for the Sooners in the top of the second. Ogle reached first base off of a infield single.
The Gamecocks continued to threaten the Sooners’ one-run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning after South Carolina’s Bobby Haney doubled down the right-field fence, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs in the inning. The Gamecocks would end up loading the bases before Neal got out of the inning on an infield pop fly.
Both teams saw infield errors during Thursday’s game as well, with Garrett Buechele collecting just his first error in 49 games off a bunt to third base. The error allowed the runner to advance to third to put runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom of the eighth.
The Gamecocks would go on to tie up the game at 1-1 off of Christian Walker’s single through the left side to score Evan Marzilli.
South Carolina registered its first error in the of the tournament with a dropped pop-up in the infield by first baseman 13 in the top of the ninth. Cameron Seitzer would eventually hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.
The teams remained tied at 1-1 until the 12th inning. After several pitching changes throughout the extra innings by the Gamecocks and with one quick swing of the bat on the first pitch, Ogle slammed a home run over the center field fence to give the Sooners a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the 12th.
When the game looked secure for the Sooners, Golloway brought in Ryan Duke to close out the inning. Duke tied OU’s record of career saves with his 28th during Sunday’s win over South Carolina.
But this time the Gamecocks would not go down without a fight.
The Gamecocks tied up the game as Jackie Bradley Jr. got his first hit of the night, an RBI single to score Robert Beary.
Bradley then advanced to second after Duke issued a walk to Jeffery Jones. Brady Thomas stepped up and delivered his first hit of the night, the game winning RBI single to center field to score Bradley and end the Sooners’ season and hopes of winning their third national title.