OU Baseball: TCU Finishes Sweep of Sooners

The Oklahoma baseball team was narrowly defeated, 4-2, by No. 3 TCU for the third straight game in front of 1,004 at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Saturday afternoon. The Sooners, who were swept for the first time all season, ended the regular season at 32-25 overall and 13-11 in the Big 12. The Horned Frogs improved to 43-9 and 18-5.

Despite being swept, Oklahoma locked up the three-seed at the Big 12 Championship, which starts on Wednesday. The Sooners will play at 4 p.m. at Tulsa's ONEOK Field against an opponent that is yet to be determined.

TCU took the lead first for the first time in the series with two runs in the second. Catch Evan Skoug drew a lead-off walk and scored on a double to right-center by second baseman Garrett Crain, who came home on a base hit up the middle by Evan Williams.

In the bottom of the fourth, Oklahoma answered on a two-run home run to left by junior catcher Anthony Hermelyn; his second of the series. Junior first baseman Kolbey Carpenter started the two-out rally with a single to center. Hermelyn, who also threw out two would-be base stealers, finished the day 2-for-4 and the series 7-for-14 with eight RBI.

The Horned Frogs' offense was once again ignited in the sixth by a walk to Skoug. With two outs, right fielder Nolan Brown doubled to put two in scoring position. Crain then delivered both to the play with a single into right-center and make it a 4-2 game. Crain finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI.

The Sooners would attempt to rally in the ninth for the third consecutive day. Redshirt-senior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh led off with a single to left, but was eliminated on a fielder's choice hit into by Carpenter. Hermelyn then singled to put runners on the corners, but sophomore shortstop Sheldon Neuse grounded into a game-ending double play. For the third straight game, Oklahoma was able to get the potential game-tying run on base in the ninth inning.

Lefty Tyler Alexander (5-2) was lifted after the lead-off single by Alspaugh in the ninth. In eight innings of work, he scattered six hits and struck out two, while allowing two runs and not issuing a single walk. Right-hander Preston Guillory recorded his second save of the season by working a spotless-ninth.

Sophomore right-hander Alec Hansen dropped to 5-6 on the year in a six-inning start. He surrendered four runs on five hits and five walks to go with four strikeouts. In relief, redshirt-junior lefty Adam Choplick was excellent in three-shutout frames. He struck out five, walked one and allowed just one hit.