No. 25 Oklahoma returned to action on Thursday afternoon after a few days off for the first of four games as part of the Frisco College Baseball Classic at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas. The Sooners open the event with two games against No. 17/22/24 Arizona before closing with Missouri and No. 30 Dallas Baptist on the weekend.
The first meeting between Oklahoma and the Wildcats in over 40 years was one that’ll be remembered for awhile as an absolute slugfest with a ridiculous 33 combined runs between the two teams. Needless to say, pitching was optional on Thursday afternoon.
The Sooners got off to a good start scoring two runs in the opening inning to take a quick lead, but Arizona immediately responded with three of their own in the top of the second to take a 3-2 advantage. Oklahoma would then score the next seven runs unanswered over the course of the next two innings highlighted by a home run from second baseman Conor McKenna and a 2-RBI double by designated hitter Jimmy Crooks.
The Wildcats would come right back with eight unanswered runs of their own in the fourth and fifth innings to take an 11-9 lead at the midway point of the game. After trading 2-run innings in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth, Arizona would put the finishing touches on things with another big inning scoring six more runs in the seventh.
Despite a huge offensive day for the Sooners overall, the game wasn’t even close at the end with the Wildcats bringing it home 20-13. The loss sinks Oklahoma back to .500 at 4-4 on the young season.
Consistency continues to allude Oklahoma so far in 2021, with all facets of the game having big days and bad ones. On Thursday, the offense had a big day – but the pitching was obviously extremely ineffective. Right now, you don’t know what Sooners team you are getting on a day-to-day basis.
Oklahoma and Arizona will run it back tomorrow in Frisco at noon CT.
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