Monday afternoon proved to be an eventful one at the College World Series. Alabama got sent home, and the unstoppable force of Georgia met what is now an apparently immovable object in Oklahoma.
Bama gets blown out
It played out exactly how anybody that’s watched these two teams thought it would. Actually it may have been a little worse. Or, a lot worse.
Texas blew out Alabama 14-2 in front of a Monday afternoon crowd. For the second consecutive game, Alabama gave up what would be the game winning run in the very first inning. Texas jumped all over Zane Adams and chased him out of the game after just 1.2 innings and seven earned runs.
Texas’ starting pitcher looked very different. Ruger Riojas went six innings and gave up just two earned runs while striking out seven.
It seemed like everyone in the Longhorns lineup hit on Monday. They tallied 14 runs on 13 hits. But, SS Adrian Rodriguez stole the show. Rodriguez went 5-for-5 with seven RBIs and hit for the cycle. He became just the third player in MCWS history to hit for the cycle and continued one of the most torrid runs in NCAA tournament history. Since the beginning of regionals Rodriguez is 18-for-27. Not only is he hitting .667 when the lights are brightest, but it was also his seventh consecutive game with at least two hits.
Texas will now face Georgia on Tuesday night in an elimination game.
Oklahoma shocks the world
Oklahoma should’ve never even been here. That’s what everyone not wearing crimson and cream has thought for the last several weeks. They shouldn’t have made it out of the Atlanta regional. They definitely shouldn’t have beaten Kansas in Lawrence to get to Omaha. And, then beat an Alabama team they already lost two of three to earlier this season in game one? No chance.
It’s not that they did all of that. It’s that they did it while outscoring their last three by a 30-3 run differential. Either way that train was supposed to come to a screeching halt against Georgia who had won 20 of their last 21 games and just beat Texas like a drum in game one.
No one told that to Oklahoma.
The Sooners jumped on Georgia early scoring three runs in the first. They did it the same way they have the last several weeks, the long ball. Over 25 percent of their home runs this season have come in the last two weeks alone.
Oklahoma hit a home run in game one against Alabama, and they doubled that in game two against Georgia. That was enough for Xander Mercurius. The freshman went 7.1 innings and struck out nine and got his first career win. That’s right, his first career win came in Omaha to get Oklahoma to the winner’s bracket against the best offense in America.
