Sooners To The World Series Semis: Oklahoma Survives Against No. 3 Georgia

OMAHA, Neb.- The Cardiac Sooners strike again in the postseason. Oklahoma may not have scored eight or more runs like it did the past six games, but the four Sooner runs were enough for the defense to hold on. Before the contest against Georgia, Oklahoma tied the second longest streak in NCAA tournament history for consecutive games with eight or more runs. 

The Sooners handed Georgia graduate pitcher Caden Aoki just his second loss out of 11 starts for the season. Aoki pitched a full eight innings, allowing eight hits and four runs with two of them coming off of home runs. Oklahoma freshman pitcher Xander Mercurius had a career day on the mound. He pitched his longest game with 7 1/3 innings, threw a career-high 104 pitches and threw a career-best nine strikeouts against the hottest home run-hitting team in the country.

While Mercurius did give up three homeruns to the Bulldogs, he only gave up six hits and Jackson Cleveland had to come in for only the final 1 2/3 innings. Including this matchup against Oklahoma, Georgia leads the nation with 178 homeruns for the season. Many thought that Xander's older brother would enter in the game to relieve him, but Skip Johnson turned to Jackson Cleveland. Cleveland came in to relieve in the regional championship against No. 2 Georgia Tech and the super regional win against No. 15 Kansas. 

Like most of the postseason, the Sooners once again got off to hot start. With Oklahoma being the assigned home team, Mercurius was able to get things going with the defense. He struck out Daniel Jackson as part of the 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first. 

In the bottom of the first, three of the four Sooner runs were scored. Jason Walk's leadoff double was his ninth double of the season and his 19th straight game reaching base. Then, thanks to Camden Johnson getting hit by a pitch, Oklahoma immediately had two on base with no outs. After a throwing error by Aoki during LaChance's at-bat, Walk was able to advance to third and Johnson to second. LaChance's ground out resulted in Walk scoring the first run of the game. The next at-bat, Willits smoked a two-run shot towards right field. 

Brock would add another solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, making the Oklahoma lead 4-1 after Georgia hit one of its own in the top of the fourth. 

The Sooners have now hit 21 home runs out of their 86 in the NCAA Tournament, which is almost a quarter of their total. 

The Bulldogs would make it 4-3 after a pair of home runs in the fifth and eighth innings. The Sooners' defense would ultimately hold on in the top of the ninth. While Jackson Cleveland would allow a single and hit-by-pitch, he struck out Kolby Branch and Tre Phelps for the first two outs. 

With runners on first and second with two outs, in came the award-winning Bulldog. Daniel Jackson, who had a home run earlier in the contest, won the Dick Howser Trophy, the Buster Posey Award and the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award. He was also named SEC player of the year. On a 2-1 pitch from Cleveland, Jackson flied out deep to center to end the game. 

UP NEXT: Georgia now moves to the losers bracket and will face Texas once again on Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00 p.m. CT on ESPN. Georgia defeated Texas in Saturday's opening-round matchup 7-1. Texas blew out Alabama in last Saturday's losers-bracket game 14-2. 

The winner of Georgia-Texas will face Oklahoma in the semifinals and will have to defeat Oklahoma twice in order to advance to the finals. The semifinal game is set for Wednesday, June 17 at 6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN with the if necessary game being on Thursday, June 18.

West Virginia faces Troy in an elimination game on Tuesday, June 16 at 1:00 p.m. CT on ESPN with the winner facing North Carolina in the semifinals. That game will be on Wednesday, June 17 at 1:00 p.m. CT on ESPN