Sooners Fall Short Against No. 16 Dallas Baptist

Two runs in the eighth and one in the ninth weren't enough as the No. 23 University of Oklahoma baseball team came up short to No. 16 Dallas Baptist at L. Dale Mitchell Park, Tuesday night. The Sooners fell to 24-15 overall with the loss, while the Patriots improved to 27-7.

“We lost the game because we didn't execute fundamentally tonight,” stated head coach Pete Hughes. “When you play really good teams you have to. You have to get your bunts down, you can't make base running mistakes, you can't walk guy and you can't make errors.”

Oklahoma plated the first runs of the game with two in the bottom of the third. A pair of walks got the Sooners going with one out. Junior center fielder Craig Aikin drove in the first run of the night with a double to left-center; his team-leading 10th double of the season. A second run came in on a RBI-groundout off the bat of junior Anthony Hermelyn to push the OU lead to 2-0.

Junior right-hander Keaton Hernandez tossed three-shutout innings of two-hit ball in the start for the Sooners. He gave way to senior lefty Jeffrey Curran, who faced three batters without recording an out and saw DBU's first run come in on a wild pitch. Junior right-hander Corey Copping entered with two on and no outs. He struck out one and walked another before leaving the bases loaded by starting a 1-2-3 double play to maintain the OU lead.

In the top of the sixth, junior righty Thomas McIlraith became the second Sooner reliever to leave without recording an out. Back-to-back singles set the table for the Patriots and first baseman Chane Lynch tied the game with a double to left-center that chased McIlraith. Junior right-hander Ralph Garza Jr. came on to retire all three batters he faced, but both inherited runners scored on RBI-groundouts to second base and Dallas Baptist claimed a 4-2 lead.

The Patriots added three insurance runs in the eighth against Garza. The inning started with a double by catcher Daniel Salters, who finished the night 4-for-5 with three runs scored. With one run, third baseman Nash Knight extended the lead to five with a two-run single through the right-side to make it a 7-2 game.

A walk and an infield-single by sophomore designated hitter Austin O'Brien gave the Sooners two on with one out in the home half of the eighth. Junior catcher Chris Shaw singled up the middle for his third hit of the night and Oklahoma had the bases loaded. Redshirt-senior Robert Tasin, who entered earlier in the game as a pinch-hitter and stayed on to play first base, laced a base hit the other way into left field to score two runs and narrow the deficit to three. DBU then turned to its closer, right-hander Brandon Koch for the final five outs. He kept the Sooners to just two runs in the eighth as he retired both batters he faced.

After the Patriots went three-up, three-down in the top of the ninth against junior righty Blake Rogers, Oklahoma would send the heart of its order to the plate. Aikin reached on an infield-single and Hermelyn drilled a base hit to left to start off the bottom of the ninth. With junior Jacob Evans pinch-hitting, both runners advanced on a passed ball and Evans drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Haley drew a four-pitch walk to drive in Aikin; closing the gap to 7-5 and putting the potential tying run in scoring position. Koch got the first out of the inning on a strikeout and benefited from the Sooners not breaking for home on a pitch that reached the backstop. He closed the door by fielding a tapper in front of the mound and throwing home to start the game-ending 1-2-3 double play.

For the Sooners, who outhit the Patriots, 12-10, Aikin and Shaw each recorded three-hit nights. McIlraith (0-1) took the loss with three runs allowed on three hits.

Smith (3-1), the third DBU pitcher of the night, was credited with the win in 3.1 innings of work. He allowed two run on five hits and a walk.