After a wild week that saw their season-opening opponent change three separate times, Oklahoma baseball finally took the field for the first time on Sunday. But, the long week of uncertainty and winter weather may have taken its toll as the Sooners committed four defensive errors on their way to a 6-3 defeat at the hand of the Omaha Mavericks (1-0).
Oklahoma gave the ball to their ace Wyatt Olds, who performed well over his four innings. He only allowed one hit and struck out seven, but defensive miscues allowed two runs to cross under his watch – one of them unearned. He then handed things off to Dalton Fowler, who picked up the loss after allowing two runs over his 2 2/3 innings pitched.
The Sooners bats remained mostly cold all the way until the sixth inning when they suddenly came to life. With two men on base, Diego Muniz came through with a pinch-hit RBI single to get them their first run of the year. Second baseman Conor McKenna and catcher Justin Mitchell then followed that up with run-scoring hits of their own to push Oklahoma ahead 3-2.
But, the defensive issues reared their ugly head again as a throwing error allowed the tying to run to score the very next inning. A Mavericks triple by center fielder Garrett Kennedy then put them ahead 4-3 and they wouldn’t relinquish the lead again – even tacking on two more runs in the ninth to sow up the 6-3 win.
Omaha managed to have twice as many runs (6) as hits (3) on the day due to the unusual defensive struggles throughout the game. Skip Johnson mentioned postgame the week of having to practice indoors due to the weather may have played a part in the bad defensive play.
The Sooners would threaten in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and second with nobody out, but a double play and a strikeout silenced the rally and got Oklahoma off to an 0-1 start to the season.
All in all, it was a day of shaking off rust in general for the team that hadn’t played a competitive baseball game in a whopping 348 days. The hectic schedule and weather throughout the week certainly didn’t help things either, as the poor play in the field was largely out of character from what we saw a year ago. Especially from shortstop Brandon Zaragoza, who is as sure-handed as they come, who had an error in the ninth inning that helped the Mavericks push their lead out.
It seems ridiculous to put too much importance on a game in February, but Monday’s series finale feels like a bounce back performance could really be useful to shake this one off before heading to Texas for several games against quality opponents in professional ballparks.
Game two of the series will be Monday at noon CT back at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.
