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Oklahoma baseball: Numbers that matter from tough Red River loss

By Chip Rouse

WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 09: A ball sits on the field as the St. Louis Cardinals take batting practice before a spring training game against the Houston Astros at FITTEAM Ball Park of the Palm Beaches on March 9, 2018 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 09: A ball sits on the field as the St. Louis Cardinals take batting practice before a spring training game against the Houston Astros at FITTEAM Ball Park of the Palm Beaches on March 9, 2018 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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For the first time this Oklahoma baseball season, the Sooner lost the opening game of a Big 12 series.

The Sooners had won eight of nine games against Big 12 teams coming into the Friday night game at L. Dale Mitchell Park against the Texas Longhorns, but failed to hold on to a two-run advantage going into the final inning and lost to their Red River rivals, 7-6.

Junior right-handed reliever Austin Hansen walked the opening batter he faced in the top of the ninth inning, and that opened the door to disaster as the No. 17 Longhorns erupted for three runs on three hits to erase a 6-4 OU lead and take game one of the Red River rivalry series. The walk issued by Hansen was the only free pass issued by the Sooner pitching staff in the game.

Not only was it the first opening-game loss by Oklahoma in four consecutive Big 12 series this season, it also was the first Friday loss in 2018.

The 11th-ranked Sooners dropped to 8-2 in the conference and 25-12 overall, while the Longhorns improved to 10-3 in the Big 12 and took a half-game lead over OU  atop the conference standings.

Here are some other numbers that mattered from game one in the Red River Showdown series:

1 – Friday night’s loss to Texas was the first time this season that Oklahoma has lost a game when leading after six innings. The Sooners are now 22-1 when leading after six innings, 24-1 when ahead after seven innings and 23-1 when leading entering the ninth inning.

9 – OU junior right fielder Steele Walker hit his ninth home run of the season,  his seventh in the last eight games.

10 – Texas second baseman Kody Clemons, the Longhorns top hitter, was held to one hit in five plate appearances in the game. That one hit left the yard, however, for his 10th home run of the season.

11– Eleven of the last 17 games with Texas have been decided by two runs or less. OU is 6-5 in those games.

13 – Oklahoma outhit Texas 13-12 in game one, with three Sooner players (catcher Brady Lindsly, second baseman Kyle Mendenhall and third baseman Brylie Ware) going three-for-five at the plate.

24 – The 2,331 fans in attendance at the game was the 24th largest crowd in the history of L. Dale Mitchell Park.

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