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Oklahoma baseball: Sooners can’t escape 1st inning in season-ending loss to Xavier

By Chip Rouse

Jun 27, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; A B-2 Bomber flies over TD Ameritrade Park before the game between the Arizona Wildcats and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in game one of the College World Series championship series. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 27, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; A B-2 Bomber flies over TD Ameritrade Park before the game between the Arizona Wildcats and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in game one of the College World Series championship series. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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In a win-or-go-home game against Xavier on Sunday in the NCAA Louisville Regional, the Oklahoma baseball season came crashing down in the opening inning.

In a strange twist of fate, the Musketeers, sent 13 men to the plate in the bottom half of the first inning and scored eight times to jump out to an 8-0 advantage right out of the gate. In the game between these same two teams on Friday, its was Oklahoma that had the big inning, a seven-run eruption in the seventh inning that erased a 3-0 Xavier lead and fueled the Sooners to a come-from-behind opening-game victory.

OU starter Kyle Tyler recorded just one out. He got the first Musketeer he faced to fly out to right field, but after that it was like riding a roller coaster downhill for the Sooners. Five singles, a couple of hit batters and two fielding errors led to an eight-run inning that Oklahoma could not recover from.

Tyler was followed on the mound by four other Sooner pitchers, but it didn’t really matter because Xavier starter Trent Astle threw eight innings of shutout ball, allowing just seven Oklahoma hits and striking out four.

Xavier third baseman Rylan Bannon had a perfect day at the plate, going four-for-four and adding a walk. His four hits included a two-run home run in the third inning that increased the Musketeer lead to 10-0.

The top of the Oklahoma lineup provided what little damage the Sooners could muster offensively. Left fielder Cade Harris, third baseman Jack Flansburg, catcher Renae Martinez and center fielder Steele Walker, the one through four hitters in the Sooner lineup, accounted for all seven OU hits. Harris, Flansburg and Walker delivered two hits apiece.

The Sooners were able to get good wood on the ball all day long, but many were right at someone. When they did get baserunners they were able to move them, leaving nine runners stranded.

Oklahoma ends the 2017 baseball season with a 35-24 record, a five-game improvement over the previous campaign. The disturbing part is, the Sooners were 26-7 in early April, but went 9-17 over their final 26 games, including losing six of their final seven games.

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