Oklahoma baseball entered Tuesday night on a bit of a rough stretch in the past week having dropped three of four games south of the Red River falling to Texas State on Wednesday and then dropping two of three against Texas over the weekend. Things hardly ever get much easier on the Big 12 schedule, as awaiting them next was Bedlam-foe No. 11/16/17 Oklahoma State in Stillwater, with the Sooners once again falling in a close one 5-4.
Oklahoma continued to struggle with runners in scoring position, missing a plethora of opportunities throughout the night to seize control. Eventually the missed chances caught up to them, with Cowboys center fielder Caeden Trenkle coming through with a walk-off RBI single to end the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Getting the ball for Skip Johnson was right-hander Javier Ramos, who did not have his best command and really struggled to find the zone. He allowed two runs to cross in the first inning and failed to record an out in the second before being pulled in favor of Ben Abram.
While the Sooners mightily struggled to pick up the big hits necessary throughout the evening, they were able to get runs early to build a lead through sacrifices and small ball. Four Oklahoma runs were plated in the second, fourth and fifth innings all by way of either a sacrifice fly or a run in on a fielder’s choice to give them a 4-2 advantage at the halfway point of the game.
Abram would do a fantastic job settling things down over the next few innings after he replaced Ramos, absolutely cruising through the fourth frame before running into some trouble in the fifth. He would be taken out with runners on first and second and nobody out in favor of Carson Carter, who would proceed to hit a batter before serving up a two-run knock to tie the game at 4-4.
But, Carter managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat and keep the game all square at the end of the inning. He would proceed to absolutely dominate the next three innings, but time and time again the Sooners missed golden opportunities to get the lead. Twice they had a man on third with nobody out and failed to bring him around, something you absolutely can’t do if you want to beat good teams consistently.
In the bottom of the ninth, Skip Johnson turned to right-hander Luke Taggart who wasn’t as bad as the box score may display given he didn’t record an out, but still certainly struggled. After a leadoff single, some high-quality bunting on the part of the Cowboys loaded the bases up with nobody out before Trenkle ripped a ball through the right side of the brought-in infield to bring home the game-winning run.
The loss drops Oklahoma to 13-11 on the year and is their fourth loss in their last five games after their best stretch of the season having won six in a row previously. Similar to the two losses to Texas in Austin, this was a game that was absolutely winnable and could haunt the Sooners down the line given the large amount of missed chances to get the big hit late in the game.
Given how streaky the sport of baseball can be in the long winding road of a season, it seems premature to put any kind of panic out at this point. But, this is yet another frustrating loss if you are Oklahoma, obviously, They have to find a way to take advantage when the chances are there late in the game. This has cost them multiple times recently in spots where they could have gotten very big resume-building wins.
These two teams have far from seen the last of each other, of course, as they will meet four more times throughout the year with the next coming a month from now back in Stillwater. As for this week’s slate, the Sooners will take a couple of needed days off to reset before hosting TCU for a weekend series beginning Friday night.