Oklahoma baseball concluded a highly-entertaining Bedlam series on Sunday against rival Oklahoma State in Norman after taking each of the first two games to open up the three-game set.
Going into the weekend it was well-established that this series meant a whole lot for both teams with both coming off of rough patches. Sunday’s game was a big one for both with the Sooners looking for the huge sweep and the Cowboys desperately trying to salvage the series – and the emotion was high from the start in this one.
Getting the start for Oklahoma was left-hander Braden Carmichael who didn’t have his best stuff only working into the fourth inning and allowing four earned runs against him. Right-hander Luke Taggart would relieve him in the fourth and do an incredible job working 4 1/3 shutout innings.
Unlike the first two games of the series, the Cowboys would be the first ones to score getting on the board right away in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly from first baseman Jake Thompson. The Pokes led 1-0 after the opening inning.
The second would be the Sooners big inning of the day striking for four runs on a solo home run from third baseman Brett Squires and a three-run shot from second baseman Conor McKenna. That made it a perfect three-for-three on the weekend for Squires going yard in every game of the series.
Oklahoma State would get one of those runs right back in the third on a home run of their own by second baseman Max Hewitt. They would then jump into the lead the following inning on a three-run home run by center fielder Caeden Trenkle to make the score 5-4 Cowboys.
In the bottom of the fifth, Oklahoma would strike back to knot things back up on a clutch two-out single up the middle from catcher Jimmy Crooks to score right fielder Breydon Daniel. The game was all square at 5-5 through five frames and would remain that way all the way into the eighth.
The bottom of the eighth would see a sequence of events that will be remembered in Bedlam history for quite some time. With the bases loaded and two outs, super senior shortstop Brandon Zaragoza stood at the plate with a 3-1 count. After taking strike two inside, which he thought was ball four, the throw back to the pitcher would get away and allow Crooks to scramble home from third to take the lead. After a lengthy review of the play at the plate, the play stood as called.
Zaragoza would then promptly single to left field to add a monster insurance run and make the Sooners lead 7-5 heading to the ninth inning. There, right-hander Carson Carter would come in to attempt to shut the door, but would immediately walk the first two batters he faced. Skip Johnson would then turn to No. 1 starter Wyatt Olds to have him try and get the final three outs.
But, unfortunately for Oklahoma, he was unsuccessful as after some bad defense allowed one run to score – left fielder Carson McCusker singled through the right side the tie the game up at 7-7. Olds would then force a huge double play to keep the game tied moving to the bottom of the inning.
Crooks would pick up a two-out single up the middle to attempt to generate a rally, but first baseman Tyler Hardman struck out to end the inning and send it into extra innings.
The game would remain 7-7 all the way into the 12th inning when Oklahoma State would put together a rally with catcher Brock Mathis coming through with a two-out bloop single to score a run and put the Pokes in front 8-7. The Sooners would then be retired in order to fall by that score and go to 22-20 overall and 6-9 in Big 12 play.
This was a very impressive series overall for Oklahoma, but losing the finale in this fashion will certainly be a heartbreaker. This game was there for the taking, but at the end of the day, Oklahoma State was the team to get the big hate they needed late.
After a day off tomorrow, the Sooners will head to Amarillo next for a non-conference collision with Texas Tech.