Hokies bounce back, 14-8; deciding game Sunday

BLACKSBURG – Oklahoma attempted a comeback twice, but No. 4 seed Virginia Tech evened the NCAA Blacksburg Super Regional with a 14-8 win Saturday afternoon at English Field.

The Sooners (41-22) and Hokies (45-13) will play a deciding game at 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU. The winner advances to the College World Series.

Oklahoma cut a 5-0 deficit to 5-4 in the fourth inning and then loaded the bases and scored three runs in the eighth inning to pull within 13-8. Blake Robertson and Jimmy crooks each drove in two runs and Jackson Nicklaus notched two hits and scored a run.

Virginia Tech went out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning, scoring on home runs by Nick Biddison, Gavin Cross and Cade Hunter. Oklahoma pulled within 5-4 in the fourth, plating three runs in the third inning.

Robertson put the Sooners on the board with an RBI single and Crooks followed with a two-run hit in the third inning. Squires led off the fourth inning with his seventh home run of the season and Tanner Tredaway hit his seventh homer of the year to lead off the bottom of the fifth to make the score 9-5.

The Hokies hit a solo home run by Tanner Schobel in the top of the fifth and took advantage of miscues to extend their lead to 13-5 with four runs in the fifth, three runs in the sixth and one run in the seventh inning. Biddison homered again in the ninth.

The Sooners mounted one more comeback effort in the eighth inning. Wallace Clark walks and Jackson Nicklaus singled to put runners on the corners before Kendall Pettis hit a single to score Clark. Peyton Graham drew a bases-loaded walk, and Robertson brought home a run with an RBI groundout.

OU starter David Sandlin (8-4) took his first loss since May 14. VT reliever Jonah Hurney (6-1) earned the win.