Oklahoma baseball: Takeaways from a Bedlam blowout with Showdown with No. 14 Texas looming

Oklahoma State scored big early and late and in every inning save one in between in rolling up an 18-9 victory over a reeling Oklahoma baseball team that has lost seven of its last nine outings against Big 12 teams.

About the only good news from the Sooners 18-9 undressing by in-state rival Oklahoma State was that it did not count in the conference standings, where struggling OU currently resides at the bottom looking up at the eight other teams that participate in baseball.

The Sooners, now even-steven at 19-19 on the season, got off to a good start at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater, scoring three times in the top of the first behind a leadoff walk, a hit batter and a three-run jack to left field by junior shortstop Dakota Harris to go in front 3-0.

Oklahoma State wasted no time, however, erasing the three-run deficit, putting up a five-spot in the bottom half of the first. Sooner starter Gray Harrison faced just four batters, walking the first three in the Cowboy lineup. Nolan cShubart, batting cleanup, rapped a double to left field scoring two runs, and that ended the evening for Harrison.

Carson Atwood entered the game in relief of Harrison and didn’t fare much better, allowing four runs in 1.2 innings. By the end of the second inning, the Cowboys had raced out to an 8-3 advantage on just five hits, three for extra bases, five walks and a hit batter.

Oklahoma State continued to chip away at the five Sooner pitchers who appeared in the game through seven innings. In the eighth inning, the floodgates opened again as the Cowboy offense scored seven more times in the eighth off of three OU relievers.

Ironically, the pitcher who suffered the brunt of the eighth-inning damage was former Cowboy pitcher Kale Davis, who transferred to Oklahoma after last season. Davis came on in relief of Aaron Weber with one out in the eighth and was able to get only one out facing six Oklahoma State hitters. OSU scored four times off of their former teammate (all four earned), who gave up two hits along with three bases on balls in one-third of an inning.

The Sooners had scored three times in the seventh to pull within three at 11-8, but Oklahoma State countered with a single run in the bottom of the seventh, followed by the eight-run, eighth-inning explosion.

After Tuesday, OU is probably happy it doesn’t have to see its in-state rival again until the final weekend of the regular season. That series will be played in Norman.

Oklahoma has lost its last four games against Oklahoma State and 14 of the last 18.

The Sooners won’t have much time to regroup from the Bedlam beating in Stillwater. They are headed to Austin, Texas, this weekend for a three-game rivalry series against Big 12 leader and 14th-ranked Texas.

Three takeaways from a midweek Bedlam bashing by rival Oklahoma State

• Junior Dakota Harris had three hits and three RBI in the game, including a three-run home run in the first inning, his team-leading eighth of the season.
• Junior outfielder Bryce Madron had a couple of hits in four plate appearances, including a highlight reel solo home-run blast in the fifth inning measured at 446 feet that cleared the batter’s eye wall in deep center field. It was his seventh round-tripper of the season.
• Trailing 12-8 in the top of the eighth inning, Oklahoma loaded the bases with two outs and had the tying run at the plate in sophomore Jackson Nicklaus, but the Sooner second baseman struck out to end the threat. Oklahoma State then scored seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to put the game away for good.