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Oklahoma holds off Kentucky for SEC Tournament opening-round win
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Oklahoma picked up a win in its first-ever SEC Tournament game. The No. 12 seed Sooners took care of business against 13-seed Kentucky with a 5-1 win in Hoover.
The Wildcats broke the scoring ice in the top of the 3rd inning, but it was UK’s only run of the day. Kentucky’s inability to cash in with bases loaded and 1 out in the top of the 1st loomed large. The Bat Cats left 6 on base in the 4-run loss.
Kentucky’s 1-0 lead did not last a full inning. In the bottom of the 3rd, Oklahoma went up 2-1 on a 2-run home run from Jason Walk.
go-ahead blast for our first homer in Hoover
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) May 20, 2025
B3 | OU 2, UK 1 // SECN pic.twitter.com/2S9FEhOBF1
By the end of the inning, it was 3-1, and the Sooners never looked back. OU added insurance runs in the 6th and 8th innings to make it 5-1, the game’s final score.
On the mound, Jaden Barfield and Jason Hitt each gave the Sooners 4 innings. Barfield allowed 1 unearned run, while Hitt went 4 scoreless and picked up the win. Dylan Crooks logged 18 pitches in the top of the 9th to close it out.
Oklahoma will face 5-seed Georgia on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET. UGA won the season series 2-1 in Athens in April.
The Wildcats go into wait-and-see mode. UK is now 29-24 overall with an RPI of 36. Kentucky was 13-17 against conference teams in the regular season, and 13 SEC wins have often been enough to make the NCAA Tournament, but the Cats would have felt much better about their postseason chances with a win in Hoover. The field of 64 will be revealed on Monday.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
