Oklahoma baseball: Baylor blanks Sooners 4-0 in Big 12 Championship
By Chip Rouse
Forget the fact that Oklahoma baseball has owned Baylor over the last 10 games.
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The Sooners took all three games from the Baylor Bears in the regular season, but you wouldn’t know that by the way the two teams played in the opening game of the 2018 Big 12 Baseball Championship on Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
Baylor starter Cody Bradford, the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year, looked every bit deserving of that high honor, striking out 11 Sooners and limiting the Oklahoma offense to just four hits in leading Baylor to a 4-0 shutout over the Sooners.
Oklahoma committed two costly errors in the first inning that opened the door for two unearned Baylor runs. Junior right-hander Jake Irvin started for the Sooners and went five full innings, allowing five hits and striking out six, but OU was unable to provide him with any run support.
The Sooners had runners on second and third with one out in both the third and fourth innings, but failed to score.
Oklahoma played the game without its best player. OU’s student newspaper, the Oklahoma Daily, reported that Junior outfielder Steele Walker missed the game with what was described as a strained muscle. I’m not sure even he could have done much to change the outcome in this game.
Baylor, the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Championship, seemed to have the Sooners’ number from the very first inning. Center fielder Cole Haring wielded the hot hand for the Bears, going three-for-five at the plate, including a solo home run in the ninth to add an insurance run.
Oklahoma is now 36-36 all-time in the Big 12 postseason tournament and 9-12 in the first round of the conference championship. The Sooners will play the loser of tournament game between No. 1 Texas and No. 8 Kansas, two teams that OU lost series to this season. OU was 0-3 against Big 12 regular-season champion Texas and 1-2 against Kansas.