• Clemson 6, Oklahoma 4

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Clemson’s baseball team continues to reap the rewards for keeping the faith.

Seven weeks ago, the Tigers were scuffling. A May 1 loss to Florida Gulf Coast was their 15th in a span of 22 games and left them 25-17. Their chances of reaching their goal of ending the season in Omaha were iffy at best.

“We knew we weren’t playing as well as we could or as well as we should,’’ Clemson third baseman John Hinson said. “But the whole time, we knew we had what it takes to play in Omaha and to play for a national championship.’’

The Tigers stepped closer on Wednesday to getting an opportunity to do the latter, finishing off a 6-4 College World Series win over Oklahoma in the completion of a game suspended after five innings by Tuesday night’s rain.

The win, Clemon’s 20th in its last 26 games, improved the Tigers to 45-23 and them 2-0 in Bracket Two play. They moved into Friday night’s 8 p.m. bracket championship game against the winner of Thursday’s game between Oklahoma and South Carolina.

A win Friday would move Clemson into next week’s best-of-three championship series. The Tigers would have to lose twice to be denied a trip to the final.

Clemson coach Jack Leggtt found his 2002 team in the same situation. The Tigers beat Nebraska and Georgia Tech in the first two rounds only to lose two straight to South Carolina.

“I’m not thinking about that,’’ the flinty Leggett said. “I don’t want our players to think about it. That’s history. This is a new team. None of those guys were here, so they had no idea except where we’re at right now and what we have to do to try to win on Friday.’’

Leggett said he never lost faith in those players, even when the losses were mounting and season was dwindling.

“It was frustrating there for awhile,’’ he said. “But that’s behind us. I’m just focused on how we’re playing here at the end.’’

Clemson left Rosenblatt with a 6-1 lead after lightning and heavy rain stopped play. The Tigers’ final two runs had come in the fifth as a result of a fielding error by Oklahoma left field Max White.

White had dropped Brad Miller’s two-out fly ball to left field, allowing Kyle Parker, who had tripled, to score. Miller wound up on second on the play and came home on Hinson’s RBI single.

“I knew those were going to be two big runs for us when we left the ballpark yesterday,’’ Leggett said.

They ultimately decided the game. Oklahoma got a run back in the seventh on Cameron Seitzer’s homer off Will Lamb, the first of three relievers Clemson used Wednesday.

Tyler Ogle made it 6-3 in the eighth when he hit his 10th homer. The Sooners wound up loading the bases later in the inning before Dominic Leone got pinch-hitter Casey Johnson to pop out.

Chris Ellison led off the Oklahoma ninth with a single, bringing reliever Alex Frederick into the game. He got two quick outs before Ogle doubled, scoring Ellison to make it 6-4. Frederick recovered to retire Cody Reine on a fly ball to pick up his second save in Omaha.

Oklahoma (50-17) must now regroup quickly as the Sooners face South Carolina, a team they beat 4-3 on Sunday, with the season on the line.

“Obviously, no one wants to stop playing right now,’’ Ogle said. “We have to stop trying to do too much and just play like we have been. Last year, we caught a hot team. This year, we’re hoping to be that hot team in Rosenblatt.’’

Arkansas ended Oklahoma’s 2009 season in regional play, and the Razorbacks wound up making it all the way to the CWS bracket championship round. The same place Clemson now finds itself.

“We stayed confident during that tough spell we had in the middle of the season,’’ Hinson said. “You just have to take one game at a time. That’s what we’ve been doing as of late and we’re playing well like that.’’

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