OKLAHOMA CITY — Pistol Pete returned to Bricktown Ballpark Saturday, but he had little to dance about.
The postseason edition of Bedlam was Oklahoma’s party.
The third-seeded Sooners exploded out of a hitting slump with 18 hits and set a Big 12 tournament record for runs in their 21-6 victory over Oklahoma State.
The victory kicked a lot of offensive demons out of OU’s closet. In its first two tournament games — both losses — it had scored just two runs.
That doesn’t factor in the sweep OU (40-19) suffered at the hands of their Bedlam rival two weeks earlier. In that series, the Sooners were outscored 15-2 and shut out twice.
OSU starter Brae Wright tossed a complete-game shutout at the Sooners on May 13. But a lot changed in 14 days. He took the loss and fell to 8-3.
“I thought our guys came out today and took the fight to Wright, who has been very good against us,” OU coach Sunny Golloway said. “Our guys really took the fight to him.”
OU did something it hadn’t in its previous games against OSU (39-18) or in the tournament.
It claimed the early lead and blew the lid off its offensive struggles.
Ryan Rohlinger went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs and Kevin Smith went 3-for-5 with four RBIs. Both also homered and were among eight OU starters to drive in at least one run.
Daniel McCutchen (8-7) picked up the win for OU. He only threw five innings and allowed five runs. But for about the only time this season, run support wasn’t an issue for the senior from Norman.
In his seven losses, OU averaged 1.87 runs.
OU leadoff hitter Chuckie Caufield singled to lead off the game, setting in motion one of the most lopsided routs in Bedlam history.
He eventually scored when Aaron Reza was hit by an 0-2 pitch with the bases loaded.
“I was just trying to play my game,” Caufield said. “I know when I’m going good I’m getting on base. I was not going to be denied getting on base. I noticed the past two games, my uniform has been pretty clean. I’m a dirty ballplayer. I should always be dirty.”
His gray uniform was caked with dirt Saturday night. He ended up scoring four runs and also went 4-for-5.
McCutchen took care of the rest. He didn’t give up a hit in the first three innings. By the time he took the mound in the bottom of the third, he had an 11-run lead.
“It’s pretty easy to pitch when you put up 21 runs,” McCutchen said. “It lets you concentrate on filling up the zone with strikes.”
His biggest problem was staying loose while the Sooners hit. They batted around in both the third and sixth innings.
“I’ll take that problem any day of the week,” McCutchen said. “If they want to do that every time I’m on the bump, I won’t complain.”
It was the Cowboys who had the complaints.
They went 0-3 in the tournament and bore little resemblance to the team that won 17 of its last 19 regular-season games.
“They got us right off the bat,” OSU first baseman Rebel Ridling said. “They kept putting it on us, and didn’t give us a chance to get something going. If we made a mistake, they capitalized. They kept fighting and tried to bury us. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you play somebody. You get them down and you’ve got to keep on keeping them down. That’s what they did.”
Ridling hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning to put OSU on the board, but the Sooners answered with three more runs in the fifth and six more in the sixth.
The game ended without the postgame theatrics that marred the regular-season series. Golloway and OSU coach Frank Anderson shook hands after the game, but the players stayed away from each other.
“We decided before the game,” Anderson said. “I asked Sunny if that would be all right … Do I think anything would have happened? No. But why take that chance?
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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