Oklahoma Sooners Baseball: OU drops Saturday game, loses series to Texas Tech

For the second time in as many days, the Oklahoma Sooners (30-17, 8-9) got off to a promising start only to relinquish a mid-game lead to the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders (32-14, 13-7). The 7-3 Saturday loss is OU’s fifth consecutive Saturday defeat in Big 12 play.

Starter Levi Prater had another solid day on the mound for the Sooners, going 6.0 innings and allowing three hits and one earned run while striking out six batters. In relief, Wyatt Olds (0.1, ER), Ledgend Smith (0.1, 2 H, 2 ER, L), Zach Matthews (1.0, 4 H, 2 ER) and Ryan Madden (1.1, H) took OU the rest of the way.

At the plate, OU ended with 10 hits on the day, including three from Tanner Tredaway. Brady Lindsly (HR, 2 RBI), Justin Mitchell and Brendan Zaragoza also contributed a pair of hits apiece.

Things were relatively quiet in this one until Texas Tech’s Braxton Fulford walked to the plate with two out in the top of the fifth, when the nine-hole hitter took one deep to the wall in right. After OU’s Brady Harlan crashed into the wall, second baseman Conor McKenna raced out to right field to retrieve the ball. McKenna was then able to make a perfect throw to the plate to prevent an inside-the-park home run. The runner was originally ruled safe, but the ruling was overturned following a replay review.

In the bottom half, Tredaway led off with a single to right before Lindsly cleared the bases with his second home run of the series and fourth of the season.

Texas Tech got on the board in the top of the sixth with a bases-loaded walk, but Levi Prater was able to stay strong and strike out the next batter to end the threat and keep OU out in front for the time being. After the K, Prater gave an emphatic fist-pump and gave the Texas Tech dugout a bit of a stare-down.

With Prater relieved in the top of the seventh, Tech put four runs on the board – two on a Josh Jung two-run blast -- to take a 5-2 lead. Tech then went on to grab a run in each of the final two frames before OU tried to mount a ninth-inning rally, which ended up producing one run on a McKenna sacrifice fly.

Oklahoma will look to get back to .500 in Big 12 play in Sunday’s game, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. CT. on ESPNU.