The contestants in championship game of the Big 12 baseball tournament have been determined which reduces Saturday's final day of pool play nothing more than a bunch of glorified scrimmages. The Baylor Bears avenged their early conference season loss to Oklahoma by eliminating the Sooners and punching their ticket to take on Texas A&M in conference championship game. If you're keeping track of the seeding that would be a #6 seed taking on a #4 seed.
Division 1 | |
#4 Texas A&M | 2-0 |
#5 Texas Tech | 1-1 |
#8 Missouri | 1-1 |
#1 Texas | 0-2 |
Division 2 | |
#6 Baylor | 2-0 |
#2 Oklahoma | 1-1 |
#3 Kansas State | 1-1 |
#7 Kansas | 0-2 |
The Kansas State Wildcats did their part in trying to stay alive in the conference championship race by taking down in-state rival Kansas 10-5. The Wildcats had three separate innings innings in which they scored three runs to boost their offense but unfortunately when you lose a game in pool play your place your fate in someone else's hands. Kansas State needed Oklahoma to beat Baylor on Friday night in order to have the opportunity to play for the championship game on Sunday but the Sooners couldn't get the job done.
Score by Innings R H E
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Oklahoma............ 001 020 000 - 3 9 1
Baylor.............. 005 001 20X - 8 9 0
Ironically, Kansas State's loss to Baylor on Wednesday night had sealed the Sooners' fate after they fell to Baylor on Friday. Now, Oklahoma is playing K-State on Saturday afternoon in a game that means absolutely nothing. Oklahoma's effort fell apart on Friday night in the third inning when the Bears responded to OU's one run in the top half of the inning by scoring five of their own in the bottom half of the inning. The Sooners wouldn't be able to recover from the meltdown and Baylor controlled the game from there on out.
The loss marked a disappointing in to what was a conference season full of promise for the Sooners. The hope remains that OU will be able to host a regional in the NCAA baseball tournament. I guess that perhaps they do have something to play for on Saturday after all.