The Sooners may have gone down, but at least they went down swinging. In what had unfortunately became a staple for OU baseball this season, inconsistent pitching and fielding errors cost Oklahoma dearly in their Friday night elimination game against Oklahoma State.
Both teams swapped two runs in the first inning to set the tone for the evening. Knotted at 2-2 going into the fourth, Oklahoma State took the lead on an error by Kolby Carpenter that allowed Bryan Case to score. The Sooners would respond in the bottom half of the inning by plating Carpenter, Colt Bickerstaff, Craig Aikin, and Niko Buentello to go up 6-3.
Staving off elimination, the Cowboys responded by scoring eight runs over the sixth (4), seventh (1), and eighth (3) innings. Every time Oklahoma was able to come back, Oklahoma State responded by putting more distance between the two rivals. The final blow came in the eighth inning when Aaron Cornell hit a three-run blast over the left field wall to break an 8-8 tie.
The Sooners outhit the Cowboys 13-10 but they also committed three errors which caused them to lose where it mattered most, under the runs category on the scoreboard.
Adam Choplick struck out eight Oklahoma State batters but also surrendered seven of OSU's runs off seven hits to get the loss. Trying his best to keep the Sooners in the game, Sheldon Neuse went 4-for-5 from the plate with two runs scored and two RBI.
Oklahoma State's Bryan Case went 2-for-3 and also drew two walks allowing him to score three times in the game, including a seventh inning home run.
The Cowboys will play Texas on Saturday afternoon (12:30) and must beat the Longhorns twice in order to advance to Sunday's championship game.
For the Sooners, it draws a close to their 2014 baseball season with a 29-29 record.