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Oklahoma baseball rewind: OU roughed up in Shriners College Classic

By Chip Rouse

Clemson junior Benjamin Blackwell (4) is hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, to advance the first run of the game during the bottom of the fourth inning at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson Sunday, March 6, 2022.Ncaa Baseball South Carolina At Clemson
Clemson junior Benjamin Blackwell (4) is hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, to advance the first run of the game during the bottom of the fourth inning at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson Sunday, March 6, 2022.Ncaa Baseball South Carolina At Clemson /
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It was a rough weekend for Oklahoma baseball as the Sooner bats were silenced on Saturday and Sunday following a heartbreaking extra-inning loss to LSU on Friday.

The Sooners appeared on the way to an opening-game win over No. 7 LSU in the Shriners Childrens College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston. OU scored twice in the top half of the seventh inning to tale a 3-0 lead over LSU, but the Tigers countered with a single run in their half of the seventh and then tied the game in the eighth on a two-run home run by Cade Doughty.

Neither team scored in the ninth sending the game into extra innings. Oklahoma scored a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th on a lead-off single by center fielder Tanner Tredaway followed by a double down the right-field line by catcher Jimmy Crooks that scored Tredaway. The Sooners went on to load the bases against three LSU relievers but stranded all three runners.

LSU rallied in the bottom of the 10th when a two-out double by Doughty scored Tre Morgam with the tying run.

The Sooners went down in order in the 11th. In the bottom half of the 11th, LSU shortstop Jordan Thompson greeted OU reliever Griffin Miller with a towering home run to left to end the game and ruin a strong performance by OU starting pitcher Jake Bennett, who pitched the first 6 2/3 innings, allowing just one run and three hits and struck out four.

It was a tough loss for the Sooners, who outhit the Tigers 13 to 9 and squandered 13 baserunners.

The loss to LSU seemed to take it all out of the Sooners, and strong pitching performances by UCLA on Saturday and Tennessee on Sunday shut down the Oklahoma bats, allowing just 3 runs and a combined 11 hits in the two games.

UCLA scored six times in the first and added six more runs in the third to go out in front 12-0 before Oklahoma managed to push across its first run. The Sooners scored three times in the fourth, but that would be it for the game as UCLA went on to an easy 15-3 win. The first-inning runs by the Bruins were the first runs scored on OU in the first inning this season.

Sooner head coach Skip Johnson acknowledged after Saturday’s loss:

"“It was a little bit of a letdown game. That happens,” he said, when you have a tough game yesterday and a quick turnaround.”"

The letdown apparently carried over to Sunday’s contest with No. 11 Tennessee, as well. The Volunteers scored in the opening inning on a solo home run by right fielder Jordan Beck. That proved to be all Tennessee needed as five Volunteer pitchers limited the Sooners to just five hits, two of them by Tanner Tredaway.

Sophomore left-hander Chaz Martinez made his third start of the season for OU and was charged with the loss. He went 3 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on five hits with four strikeouts and four free passes.

Oklahoma ended the weekend with a 5-5 season record. The Sooners have four games on tap this week, all at home at L. Dale Mitchell Park. OU hosts Dallas Baptist on Tuesday, followed by a three-game weekend series with the University of Texas-San Antonio.

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