Big 12 baseball: OU's Matt Oberste takes advantage of opportunity

On Saturday, Sunny Golloway finally pulled the trigger, giving Oberste his first start of this week's Big 12 Baseball Tournament.

And the slugger delivered, mashing two mammoth home runs out of Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark during OU's 7-2 win over Baylor and leading the Sooners into Sunday's championship game.

“Today was his day, based on who was on the mound,” Golloway said. “We felt like it was going to be a good matchup and in this ballpark, a great matchup.”

It started in the second inning, after Jack Mayfield and Caleb Bushyhead hit back-to-back doubles to give OU a 1-0 lead.

Oberste, facing Baylor righty Joey Hainsfurther, launched a hanging slider out of the stadium, bouncing it around in the alley past the left-field bleachers.

Reportedly irked by some chirping from the Baylor dugout, Oberste made it a point to admire his moonshot — complete with a slow walk and stylish bat flip.

“They were offended by some of the stuff they heard out of our dugout (on Thursday),” BU coach Steve Smith said. “And they let him know about it.”

Because of his post-home run antics, Oberste was expecting retaliation during his at-bat in the fourth.

“I felt like he was probably going to hit me,” Oberste said. “But I couldn't dwell on that.”