Sooners Edge Tigers in Come from Behind Extra Inning Victory

The #17 Auburn Tigers took on the #25 Oklahoma Sooners in the opening game of the 2021 Round Rock Classic. The Classic is a four-team round robin tournament of some of the top schools in NCAA Division 1 Baseball. Oklahoma topped Auburn 4-3 in ten innings after falling behind 0-3. 

The Tigers entered the tournament after setting a school record of scoring 33 runs against Alabama A&M on Wednesday. Auburn (5-0) is undefeated on the season and has out-scored their opponents 73-7. 

The Sooner (2-2) are midway through a season opening 7 games in 8 days, with all the games played in professional ballparks.  Oklahoma leads the all-time series against Auburn 4-1, but the team haven’t met since 1998. 

Auburn jumped to an early lead with 3 runs in the opening 3 innings.  Most of the Tiger offense came from solo long balls by Ryan Bliss and Steven Williams. The Tigers held scoreless for the remainder of the game.  

The Oklahoma bats were quiet until the fifth inning when Tyler Hardman drove in Brandon Zaragoza on a single to left.  Hardman accounted for 3 of the 4 Sooner runs, including the game winning walk-off single in the tenth inning.  Hardman was 2-for-4 on the day.  A single up the middle by Diego Muniz score the fourth run of the game for Oklahoma. 

Auburn starting pitcher Cody Greenhill went 4.1 innings, yielding 1 run on 3 hits for no decision.  Relief pitcher Seb Thomas (1-0) suffered the loss, allowing 1 run on 1 hit in 2/3rds of an inning. 

Relief pitcher Jason Ruffcorn earned the victory for OU, allowing no runs nor hits in 1 inning.  Jaret Godman carried the game for the Oklahoma hurlers, allowing no runs nor hits in 6 innings.  Oklahoma starter Wyatt Olds gave up 3 runs on 7 hits in 3 innings.