NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Starter Gabe Van Emon did not allow a run in 7 1/3 innings and Korey Morton and Maddix Dalena both hit home runs with a runner on base in the fourth to help Connecticut eliminate No. 9 national seed Oklahoma with a 7-1 victory on Monday night in the championship game of the Norman Regional.
UConn (35-24) advances to play Florida State in a best-of-three super regional with a berth in the College World Series on the line. The Huskies have not played in the CWS since 1979 when they made their fifth appearance.
UConn grabbed a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Paul Tammaro led off with his second single off Oklahoma starter Carson Atwood. Luke Broadhurst struck out swinging, but Morton hit the next pitch over the fence in left-center field.
Atwood was replaced by Carter Campbell after Tyler Minick struck out on a wild pitch but wound up at third base on catcher Scott Mudler's throwing error. Maddix Dalena hit Campbell's third pitch out to right for his first hit of the tournament.
No. 9 hitter T.C. Simmons walked on a full-count pitch to begin the fifth, took second on a groundout and third on a balk by reliever Ryan Lambert. Tammaro worked the count full before drawing a walk to put runners on the corners and Broadhurst sent the second pitch he saw back up the middle to plate Simmons. Morton singled in Tammaro for a 6-0 lead.
Bryan Padillo led off the eighth with a single and scored on a two-out base hit by Simmons to cap the scoring for the Huskies, who did not make an error until the final inning of their fourth game.
Oklahoma loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth against Huskies reliever Stepen Quigley. The Sooners' scored their lone run on a double play.
Van Emon (3-5), a graduate transfer who began his 10th start of the season with an earned-run average of 6.71 in 52 1/3 innings this season, settled down after escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first. He gave up five hits and two walks with two strikeouts, retiring eight Sooners in a row at one point.
Van Emon, who left after throwing 109 pitches, was the Division III pitcher of the year last season for Endicott College. He lowered his ERA to 5.88 with his effort against the Sooners (40-21).
Atwood (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs — two earned — on three hits in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four.
UConn beat Oklahoma 4-1 on Saturday. The Sooners forced a deciding game with a 6-4 victory on Sunday. Dallas Baptist was the only team to shut out the Sooners this season, a 6-0 victory in Norman.
Oklahoma has been to the College World Series 11 times, most recently in 2022 when the Sooners lost 4-2 to Mississippi in the championship game. Oklahoma won the event in 1951 and 1994.
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