Oklahoma was back in action on the diamond Tuesday evening as they made another trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. This weekend, the Sooners took two of three games in Arlington. They beat a top 10-ranked Tennessee team on Saturday night and followed that up with a walk-off 7-6 win against their old Big 12 foes, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, on Sunday afternoon.
On Tuesday, they traveled to Dallas to take on the preseason Conference USA team to beat, the Dallas Baptist Patriots.
Nick Wilson started for the Patriots, while redshirt senior Grant Stevens started the contest on the mound for the Sooners. After four seasons at the University of the Pacific, Stevens transferred to OU.
A walk by centerfielder John Spikerman and a wild pitch immediately moved him into scoring position to start the game. Bryce Madron knocked him in with an opposite-field single, and the Sooners were off and running.
Dallas Baptist was not impressed and responded with two runs of their own by way of a Miguel Santos two-run home run. Jackson Nicklaus immediately led the top half of the second off with his first home run of the season—one of two homers on the night.
Things would remain tied until the bottom of the fourth when DBU broke through with three runs on four hits to make the score 5-2. The inning would prove to be Stevens’ last. In his first start as a Sooner, Stevens pitched four innings and gave up five earned runs on seven hits and two walks, while recording five strikeouts.
Will Carsten would take over the fifth for Oklahoma, and the Patriots tacked on another run to make the score 6-2. The Sooners would finally respond with a few runs in the top of the sixth. After Michael Snyder reached third on a triple, he scored on a wild pitch to the deficit to three runs. The Sooners then loaded the bases on a walk, single, and a hit by pitch, but John Spikerman struck out on a 3-2 count.
DBU left fielder Ethan Mann hit a solo home run to push the Patriots’ lead to 7-4.
In the Sooners half of the inning, Easton Carmichael singled to right field with one out in the top of the 7th. After a Rocco Garza-Gongora groundout moved Carmichael to second, Michael Snyder hit a towering home run to bring the Sooners within one run. Jackson Nicklaus hit his second homer of the night two pitches later to tie the game at seven.
From there, things went downhill as Jace Miner recorded two outs and allowing just one walk in the bottom of the seventh. However, Skip Johnson pulled Miner in favor of Jacob Gholston, who couldn’t find the strike zone. A wild pitch advanced the runner from first to second, and then Gholston walked the batter.
Johnson would replace Gholston with righty Dylan Crooks, who gave up an infield single to load the bases. DBU’s Nathan Humphreys drove a 1-0 fastball from Crooks deep into the Dallas night for a grand slam to put DBU up for good, 11-7.
The Sooners couldn’t mount a comeback, as DBU remained undefeated at 4-0, and the Sooners fell to 2-2.
Bryce Madron led the way with three hits in five at-bats, while Michael Snyder’s three RBIs led the way for the Sooners. Humphreys’ five runs batted in led the way for the Patriots.
Oklahoma will head back to Norman for their first home series of the season as they host Wright State for a four-game series this weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
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