OU Baseball: Sooners Fall In Second-Straight Semifinal

The University of Oklahoma baseball team was eliminated from the Big 12 Championship with an 11-1 loss to West Virginia at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark on Saturday morning. The Sooners end their season at 30-27-1 overall, while the Mountaineers move on to the title game at 36-21.

“Disappointing day for a lot of reasons. We’ve got a great group of guys that you’d like to extend your player-coach relationship with,” opened head coachPete Hughes. “The storyline of the game was our execution in a lot of different areas. The worst part is not being around these guys again to coach them.”

An early one-run lead did not hold up for Oklahoma as West Virginia put three runs on the board in the second and fourth and four in the seventh innings.

Right-hander Conner Dotson (7-4) got into a groove beginning with the third inning and went on to retire 13 out of 15 batters. The Sooners got to him for a run in the bottom of the first. Senior right fielder Alex Wise (Neosho, Mo.) hit a leadoff-single, stole second and advanced to third on an errant throw. Freshman designated hitter Steele Walker (Prosper, Texas) then brought Wise home with a base hit through the left side.

“Credit to West Virginia and Dotson, who was thrown into action,” Hughes said of the WVU starter. “He silenced a club that was really swinging the bats very well.”

The Mountaineers got three runs on three hits in the second. In the fourth, they plated three on three more hits, including a two-run home run to left by designated hitter Kyle Davis.

Dotson went 6.1 innings of one-run ball. He struck out nine and allowed one unearned run on four hits and four walks. Freshman right-hander Chris Andritsos (The Woodlands, Texas) went four innings in the loss for Oklahoma. He surrendered six runs, five earned, on six hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

For the game, WVU outhit OU, 11-4. Davis finished the day 3-for-5 with four RBI. Junior catcher Renae Martinez (San Pedro, Calif.) led the Sooners with a 2-for-3 game.