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Oklahoma baseball: Sooners settle for share of Big 12 second place

By Chip Rouse

PITTSBURGH, PA - MAY 20: Nolan Gorman #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals puts his gear in the bat rack before making his MLB debut during the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on May 20, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MAY 20: Nolan Gorman #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals puts his gear in the bat rack before making his MLB debut during the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on May 20, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) /
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The Oklahoma baseball team needed three road wins over 5th-ranked Texas Tech to gain a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship. The Sooners got two, and in impressive fashion, I might add.

The Sooners dropped a 10-2 decision to the Red Raiders in the series finale on Sunday and settled for a share of second place with Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, both of which are nationally ranked in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll.

Oklahoma State is ranked 7th this week, while the Red Raiders dropped to No. 11 after suffering a pair of losses to the unranked Sooners over the weekend.

The Sooners got off to a promising start, scoring a pair of runs in the opening inning on Sunday, but Texas Tech responded with a five spot in their half of the first and never trailed after that. The Red Raiders collected a dozen hits off of four Oklahoma pitchers, including three home runs, to avoid a series sweep after taking three games on the road at Oklahoma State the week before.

Redshirt freshman Cade Horton started for the Sooners on Sunday and struggled right out of the gate. The right-hander gave up eight earned runs on the same number of hits and lasted just 3 1/3 innings. He struck out four, walked three batters and was charged with the loss, his second of the season to go with two victories.

OU had scoring opportunities with nine hits but couldn’t cash in with 10 runners stranded on base.

The Sooners won six of eight Big 12 series this season, including each of the last five. They end the regular season with a 15-9 conference record and will take the No. 3 seed into the Big 12 Championship next weekend. OU enters the postseason with an overall record of 33-20.

TCU will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament by virtue of winning the Big 12 regular-season title. Texas Tech earned the No. 2 seed, winning the tiebreaker over OU and Oklahoma State. despite losing two of three to the Sooners. Oklahoma State is the No. 4 seed.

The Sooners will play No. 6 West Virginia in the opening round of the double-elimination conference tournament, beginning on Wednesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. That game will be the final contest played on Wednesday, scheduled to start around 7:30 p.m. CT.

Oklahoma won two of its three games with West Virginia during the regular season. The winner of the OU-West Virginia contest will play the winner of game between No. 2 Texas Tech and No. 7 Kansas State in the final game on Thursday, so the Sooners could see the Red Raiders again this week.

Conversely, the losers of those two opening-round games will play each other in the second game on Thursday afternoon.

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