OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jaxon Willits and Brendan Brock homered to help Oklahoma get out to an early lead, and closer Jackson Cleveland worked out of trouble late as the Sooners held on to beat Georgia 4-3 in the College World Series on Monday night.
Oklahoma (40-22) took control of Bracket 2 and will play Wednesday against the winner of a Tuesday elimination game between Georgia and Texas. The Bulldogs (52-13) lost for the first time in 10 games and had won 20 of their previous 21.
Daniel Jackson's 32nd homer of the season off OU starter Xander Mercurius (1-2) pulled Georgia within 4-3 in the eighth inning. Jackson, who had come to the plate hitless in eight CWS at-bats with three strikeouts, hammered Mercurius' 92 mph fastball 447 feet over left field to end the freshman's night.
Rylan Lujo greeted Cleveland with a single and Kenny Ishikawa walked with two outs before Ryan Wynn flew out. OU coach Skip Johnson said he needed to take a deep breath after he saw the ball carry to the warning track.
“I had no clue if it would go that far,” he said. ”All I knew was the ball was jumping out. I don’t know if the wind was blowing out when it started or they put new baseballs or we had new bats. The balls were jumping out of there today. I’ve only been here three times but I’ve never seen it play like that. It was a pretty surreal moment."
Georgia threatened again in the ninth when Brennan Hudson singled leading off and his pinch runner, Ty Peeples, moved to second when pinch hitter Cole Johnson was hit by a pitch with one out. Cleveland struck out Tre Phelps to bring up Jackson, who flew out to end the game.
The Sooners went right to work against Georgia starter Caden Aoki (9-2). Leadoff man Jason Walk doubled off the wall and later scored, and Willits barely cleared the wall in right for a two-run homer to make it 3-0.
“I thought Caden was awesome tonight,” Bulldogs coach Wes Johnson said. “We had a hiccup there in the first, and for him to finish the game for us was massive, as you look forward and saving your bullpen.”
Mercurius retired 11 of the first 13 batters he faced before Ishikawa got Georgia on the board in the fourth.
“I just kept pitching with conviction and just trusted all my stuff,” he said.
The teams traded solo homers in the fourth, with Ishikawa going deep and Brendan Brock replying for the Sooners. Hudson's 21st homer of the season pulled the Bulldogs within 4-2 in the fifth.
“The good thing about this series is we still get to compete tomorrow,” Ishikawa said. “So just stay loose, play how we’ve been playing, and just get after it.”
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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
Eric Olson, The Associated Press
