OU baseball rallies past Kansas into Big 12 Tournament final on Jackson Nicklaus homer

OU baseball keeps finding ways to win.

On Thursday, the Sooners used a three-run fourth inning to rally back from a one-run deficit. It was a four-run fifth inning Friday down six runs to Kansas that brought them within one run.

A Jaxon Willits double to right-center field that scored Jason Walk tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. And in the bottom of the ninth inning, Jackson Nicklaus crushed his 10th home run of the season to walk it off.

OU defeated Kansas 8-6 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, to advance to the Big 12 tournament final. The Sooners will face the winner of UCF and Oklahoma State/Texas Tech in the championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU.

“I missed the fastball, he’s a great pitcher. He got me with the changeup yesterday, had a good idea it was coming and was able to get my swing on it,” Nicklaus told ESPN+ postgame.

OU (37-18) has likely secured a regional host spot in the NCAA tournament and continues to add to its resume, furthering their case for a national top-eight seed. D1 Baseball latest top eight national seeds released Friday projected the Sooners as a No. 7 overall seed.

OU entered Friday’s contest with the sixth toughest strength of schedule nationally and ranked 13th in RPI, a statistic based on a team's wins and losses and its strength of schedule.

“How about that? I mean, that was pretty exciting,” OU head coach Skip Johnson told OU’s in-house radio postgame.

Nicklaus was 2 for 4 with a home run and four RBIs. Willits finished 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs.

Six Sooners recorded a multi-hit game Friday. For the second consecutive day, Kansas failed to capitalize on chances, leaving 14 on base.

“We all believe in each other and we know at the end of the day we’re going to come through,” Nicklaus said. “We’ve been tested all year.”

Here are more takeaways from the Sooners’ win:

More: How OU baseball could secure top-eight NCAA seed with a Big 12 Tournament title

Search for third starter continues for Sooners

Entering the week, the biggest question mark surrounding OU was if it could find consistent starting pitching after Braden Davis and Kyson Witherspoon.

Davis took care of business Wednesday against TCU in dominant fashion, finishing with nine strikeouts in his first career complete game. Despite some ups and downs, Witherspoon looked solid and struck out six with no earned runs across four innings.

Sooners head coach Skip Johnson went with Brendan Girton on Friday and he lasted one inning. Girton allowed six earned runs on five hits and two walks.

“We started Girton, gave him the opportunity, he goes out there and the guys picked him up,” Johnson said. “They kept battling and battling and we finally got some momentum.”

Grant Stevens, someone Johnson has tried as the third starter throughout the season, pitched 5 ⅓ scoreless innings of relief and struck out six.

Ryan Lambert (4-0) earned the win after punching out two Jayhawks and leaving two stranded on base in the top of the ninth.

“All the credit goes to our bullpen,” Nicklaus told OU’s in-house radio postgame.

More: OU baseball vs TCU takeaways: Braden Davis tosses complete game shutout in Big 12 opener

Jaxon Willits' tear

Jaxon Willits is swinging one of the hottest bats in the country.

Willits has four hits, two home runs and five RBIs in the Big 12 Tournament this week. He’s been clutch when the Sooners have needed him, including his go-ahead home run Thursday.

“I thought he was really good today,” Johnson said. “Really impressive in the moment for him, it was really great. He’s been maturing throughout the year and doing a great job.”

Willits, the son of OU associate head coach Reggie Willits, has started at shortstop all season as a true freshman. He was named to the All-Big 12 Freshman team earlier this week.

He’s hitting .277 with 10 home runs and 39 RBIs in 169 at bats this season.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU baseball rallies past Kansas into Big 12 Tournament championship