The Sooners’ star left-hander, who has been on a hot streak recently, delivered an outstanding performance as No. 8-ranked OU defeated TCU 4-0 in the Big 12 Tournament at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX.
The Sooners, the regular-season champions and the top seed with a 23-7 conference record, improved to 35-18, while ninth-seed TCU fell to 32-20.
Braden Davis, who went 7-1 in Big 12 play this season, has now secured seven consecutive victories. He earned first-team All-Big 12 honors this year and dominated the Horned Frogs’ lineup on Wednesday.
In his first career complete game, Davis allowed only four hits, struck out nine, and walked none. Out of his career-high 120 pitches, 86 were strikes, and his ability to get ahead in the count kept TCU off balance, ensuring his team’s advancement.
Davis’s longest previous outing this season was seven innings against West Virginia and Texas Tech, where he threw a then-career-high 108 pitches. He has only walked no batters once before this year.
Anthony Mackenzie and Jackson Nicklaus each had two hits for the Sooners, with Nicklaus scoring twice and driving in two runs.
The Sooners led 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth when Mackenzie and Nicklaus hit back-to-back solo home runs into the bullpens in left and right field, respectively.
This was enough to take out TCU ace Payton Tolle.
Tolle was largely in control through three innings as the game appeared to be shaping up as a pitchers’ duel. However, the Sooners scored twice in the fourth and added two more runs with long balls in the sixth.
Michael Snyder led off the third with a four-pitch walk and advanced to second on Mackenzie’s line drive to shallow left. Nicklaus followed with a double off the center field wall, scoring Snyder. After Mackenzie was called out at home on a ground ball to first, Nicklaus came home on Kendall Pettis’ RBI single up the middle, giving OU a 2-0 lead.
OU returns to Globe Life on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. to face Kansas. The Sooners and Jayhawks did not meet during the regular season. KU is the No. 7 seed in the tournament.
OU aims for its second Big 12 tournament title in three years and fourth overall, having previously won the Big 12 tourney in 1997, 2013, and 2022.
