Photo Courtesy of Big 12
Arlington, Texas – In the second game of day two at Globe Life Field of the 2024 Big 12 Conference Tournament, the No. 1 seed University of Oklahoma Sooners shut out the No. 9 seed Texas Christian University Horned Frogs 4-0 thanks to a complete game from junior left-handed starting pitcher Braden Davis.
Davis gemmed the whole nine, allowing four hits, no walks, nine strikeouts, 12 flyouts, seven ground outs, and three extra-base hits.
Davis faced 32 batters and threw 120 pitches with 89 strikes.
His slider was effective between 80-82 mph and his fastball between 90-92 mph, and he did not dip down after reaching the 100-pitch mark.
“Everything didn’t rely on breaking pitches; it was getting ahead and having the mentality to be better than the hitter and just having a lot of confidence and conviction”, Davis told World Baseball Network about how he felt on the mound after his start on Wednesday.
Davis joined former Sooner Jon Gray as the only two pitchers in program history to throw a complete game shutout in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Seven complete games have been thrown in the history of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
TCU left five men on base during their Wednesday loss.
Oklahoma is ranked No. 8 in the country in the Top 25 in the final week of the 2024 regular season.
In the top of the first inning, Oklahoma got a huge defensive spark from left fielder Kendall Petis making a diving play across his body against TCU catcher Kurtis Byrne to save a run with center fielder Sam Myers on second from his first at-bat double.
Oklahoma‘s offense did not get the first hit of the game until the bottom of the fourth inning when senior third baseman Anthony Mackenzie rocked a single into center field.
The next batter, Oklahoma junior second baseman Jackson Nicklaus launched a double off the center field wall, scoring first baseman Michael Snyder for the game’s first run.