Well, Texas A&M jumped all over Lucas Gordon in the early game and was able to get to the Texas bullpen after just 1.2 innings. Meanwhile, Micah Dallas weathered a couple of early Longhorn runs and managed to stretch his outing to five innings. From there, the Aggie bullpen allowed just a single hit as the Longhorn offense was thoroughly shut down again as Texas is packing up shop and heading home to Austin after going “O and two and a barbecue” for the first exit of this year’s College World Series.
The predictions have now fallen to 3-2, but it is time to get back on track with the night game:
Notre Dame vs. Oklahoma
Tonight, the winners of the first day’s games face off. Oklahoma is coming off a strong win 13-8 win over Texas A&M on Friday. The Sooners jumped on the Aggies quickly and managed to keep Schlossnagle’s squad at arm’s length like a prize fighter effectively using a jab on the way to a comfortable win in Oklahoma’s 2022 Omaha debut. Later that night, Notre Dame thoroughly smothered a talented Texas offense with good pitching and high-level defense on the way to a 7-3 victory.
We saw a little bit of everything from these offenses. We saw runs scored off singles. We saw runs scored off sacrifices. We saw a couple of homers by each squad.
Notre Dame’s starter will be veteran senior Austin Temple. Temple has a 4-1 record with a 3.57 ERA and 87 strikeouts to 34 walks in 68 innings pitched. Temple will attack with his low 90s fastball and his slider and curveball. In his last outing, Temple gave the Irish a strong outing against a really potent Tennessee lineup, only allowing two runs on three hits in six innings. Notre Dame will be hoping that Temple can give them some length, so Temple can hand it over to their strong bullpen late in the game.
Oklahoma will start freshman Cade Horton. Horton is 4-2 this year with a 5.58 ERA with 40 strikeouts to 14 walks in 40.1 innings pitched. Last weekend, Horton handled himself well at Virginia Tech allowing just two hits and two runs in six innings. How will the young freshman handle it when the lights are even brighter? Will he turn in a strong performance as he did a week ago? Or will the lack of experience get to the young righty?
If I had to make a call on this game, I think I would pick Notre Dame. The bullpen has already shown its value in their first game. The defense was extremely strong on Friday as well. Both offenses in this game have shown what they can do, but in the end, I cannot ignore the experience factor that Temple has over Horton. I think that will carry some weight when it is all said and done.