The Kansas Jayhawks jumped on Oklahoma early on Saturday afternoon and then rallied late to give the Sooners their first setback in conference play. With starter Adam Choplick unavailable due to tenderness in his shoulder, freshman Corey Copping drew the start and struggled mightily. He only faced five batters and four of them reached base, two of them off doubles and two of them from being hit by a pitch.
Ethan Carnes came in to relieve Copping and got off to a good start by getting the first batter he faced to ground out. However, he then gave up back-to-back RBI singles causing Sunny Golloway to go to his third pitcher of the first inning in Billy Waltrip. Facing just two batters, Waltrip got the Sooners out of the top half of the inning but the damage had been done as the Jayhawks had built a 7-0 lead.
Saturday's Big 12 Baseball Scores
|
West Virginia |
5 |
New Orleans |
1 |
Morgantown, W. Va. |
|
West Virginia |
4 |
New Orleans |
3 |
Morgantown, W. Va. |
|
Oklahoma State |
8 |
Texas |
3 |
Stillwater, Okla. |
|
Baylor |
7 |
Kansas State |
6 |
Waco, Texas |
|
Oklahoma |
8 |
Kansas |
10 |
Norman, Okla. |
|
Oklahoma State |
5 |
Texas |
4 |
Stillwater, Okla. |
|
Texas Tech |
3 |
TCU |
7 |
Lubbock, Texas |
The Sooners plated one run in the bottom of the first when Matt Oberste's double to right field scored Max White. With Waltrip keeping Kansas at bay from the mound the score would remain 7-1 until the bottom of the fifth when the Sooners produced their own seven-run inning. Starting with a lead off walk by Hunter Haley, Oklahoma's first four batters reached bases safely and the highlight of the inning came when Max White send a three-run blast over the left field fence. Oklahoma would bat through the order in the fifth and Haley, who had started off the inning with a walk, drilled a three-RBI triple into right field, putting the Sooners on top 8-7.
Unfortunately that would be the end of the scoring for Oklahoma while Kansas still had a rally left in them. Plating two runs in the seventh, and then one more in the eighth, the Jayhawks pulled out to a 10-8 lead which would end up being the final.
There was controversy in the bottom of the ninth that appeared to have ended one last rally attempt by Oklahoma. Freshman Anthony Hermelyn led off with a single and then was replaced at first base by pinch runner Justin Burba. Sophomore Colt Bickerstaff then came in to pinch hit, for Garrett Carey, and drilled the ball right at Kansas second baseman Justin Protacio who was interfered with by Burba while on his way to second. Burba was called for runner interference and, assuming there would have been a double-play, the umpires called Bickerstaff out at first as well. The Sooners wen't from potentially having two runners on with no outs to a bases empty, two out situation. Hunter Haley grounded out to Protacio in the next at bat ending the game.
Controversial as it may have been, the game wasn't lost in the ninth inning. You'd need to go back to the horrendous start to the first by Oklahoma's pitching staff to find the culprit for Oklahoma's first conference setback. OU still took two of three games from Kansas, earning their second consecutive conference series win.
The loss put's Oklahoma's season record at 25-5 and 5-1 in conference. They host Oklahoma State, in a non-conference game, on Tuesday night before playing six games in a row on the road against conference opponents Texas (April 5-7) and Baylor (April 12-14).