NCAA baseball: OU Sooners beat Florida Gators, advance to first super regional since 2013

Peyton Graham and Kendall Pettis homered and the Oklahoma Sooners weathered a lengthy delay to rally past host Florida with a 5-4 win Monday night in the NCAA baseball Gainesville Regional final.

With the win, the Sooners advanced to their first super regional since 2013. OU will travel to fourth-seeded Virginia Tech for a best-of-three series that starts Friday in Blacksburg, Va.

After a weather delay lasting 5 hours and 33 minutes, Florida (42-24) saw its narrow lead turn into a 5-3 deficit following a four-run eighth inning by Oklahoma, stunning those who had stayed through the lengthy hiatus in play in Gainesville.

The Gators would get one run back in the ninth inning in historic fashion, but BT Riopelle would strike out for the final out, sending the Sooners (40-21) to Super Regionals with a 5-4 win and spelling the end of Florida’s season.

"Just the selflessness of the kids was really special I thought," OU coach Skip Johnson said. "During the rain delay, Reggie's dad got a text, and he talked about David and Goliath, and this team's really full of Davids."

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Wyatt Langford’s 26th home run tied the most in a single season in Florida program history, but the Gators couldn’t add any more to their total in the final frame.

Jac Caglianone’s home run in the second inning opened the scoring for the Gators, and the freshman Caglianone had a chance to add to Florida’s total in the third inning, but Caglianone couldn’t score the runners on the corners, keeping it a one-run game.

Pettis’ home run – his second of the regional – got the Sooners on the scoreboard in the fifth inning.

Brandon Neely didn’t return to the mound after the weather delay, with the Gators opting to go with the team’s best closer in Ryan Slater for the final innings.

Slater allowed four runs on as many hits in his one inning of action, and UF found itself in a two-run hole by the time Fisher Jameson replaced Slater on the mound.

The Sooners went with Trevin Michael, who transferred to the program prior to the season from Lamar University. Michael tied his longest outing of the season while allowing two runs off of six hits. He tossed 91 pitches across 6.0 innings before exiting at the top of the seventh, just prior to the delay.

“Trevin started the game and he was outstanding early,” Johnson said. “Just really proud of the kids and how they responded, they just kept getting after it and getting after it.”

More: Examining Oklahoma Sooners' foes in the NCAA baseball Gainesville Regional

Kendall Pettis stays hot for Sooners

In 99 at-bats heading into the NCAA Regional, Oklahoma redshirt sophomore Kendall Pettis had just two home runs to his name on the season, but the Chicago native was one of the team’s most impressive hitters in the stretch leading up to the Gainesville Regional. Throughout Oklahoma’s four games at Condron Ballpark, Pettis managed to maintain his form rather than feel the weight of the pressure at the plate.

Pettis hit 5-of-13 with two home runs during the regional round, doubling his total on the season and improving his batting average from .253 to .268. With the Sooners’ season on the line, Pettis said he was simply focused on trying to help Oklahoma however he could – it just happened to result in runs coming across the plate for the Sooners.

“It was very special. You know, coming into the regional I was really just trying to find my way,” Pettis said. “I know I had been hot, but I was just trying to do anything I could to help my team, whether that was offensively or defensively.”

Blacksburg Super Regional

OU vs. Virginia Tech (best-of-3 series):

Game 1: 2 p.m. Friday (ESPN2)

Game 2: 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPNU)

x-Game 3: TBD (if necessary)

More: Here is the 2022 Oklahoma Sooners baseball roster breakdown and schedule

2022 Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team

C: Jimmy Crooks, Oklahoma

1B: Danny Wuestenfeld, Central Michigan

2B: Sterlin Thompson, Florida

3B: Colby Halter, Florida

SS: Peyton Graham, Oklahoma

OF: Kendall Pettis, Oklahoma

OF: John Spikerman, Oklahoma

OF: Tanner Tredaway, Oklahoma

DH: Jac Caglianone, Florida

SP: Brandon Sproat, Florida

SP: David Sandlin, Oklahoma

RP: Carsten Finnvold, Florida

TOURNAMENT MVP: Kendall Pettis, Oklahoma

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU Sooners beat Florida Gators, reach NCAA baseball super regionals