OU Doomed By Cold Bats In Game 2 Loss To Sam Houston State

The No. 25 University of Oklahoma baseball suffered its second straight loss at Sam Houston State, 7-2, at Don Sanders Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The Sooners drop below .500 at 3-4 with the loss, while the Bearkats improved to 2-5.

Oklahoma totaled just two hits on the day; pushing its series total to five. The day started off promising with a leadoff double to right-center from junior third baseman Jack Flansburg (Orange, Calif.) to start the game. The only other hit of the day for the Sooners was a two-run home run by sophomore second baseman Kyle Mendenhall (Carlsbad, Calif.) in the fifth that cut the deficit to four runs.

Sam Houston struck for three runs in the second and three more in the fourth. Junior lefty Austin Kerns (Owasso, Okla.) was chased after the second inning. The first run came in on a RBI-single from right fielder Riley McKnight. Center fielder Bryce Johnson then drove in one on a fielder’s choice. Mendenhall made a terrific stop behind the bag at second to limit SHSU to one run on the play. Kerns (1-1) allowed another on a balk. In two innings of work, he allowed three runs on two hits and a walk.

Right-hander Heath Donica (1-0) pitched five innings in the win for the Bearkats. He surrendered two runs on two hits and two walks to go with two strikeouts.

SHSU added three runs against freshman right-hander Jake Irvin (Bloomington, Minn.) in the fourth. Irvin put in a scoreless-third before walking the leadoff man and allowing three run on three hits, including a two-run, pinch-hit double from Zach Smith. In three innings, he gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks, while striking out three.

Freshman right-hander Austin Hansen (Lenexa, Kan.) put together a solid three-inning outing of relief for the Sooners. He did not allow a run and limited the Bearkats to three hits and a walk as he struck out a pair.

Sam Houston outhit Oklahoma, 10-2, for the game. McKnight finished 3-for-3 with two RBI, while third baseman Andrew Fregia went 2-for-2 with three runs scored.

The Sooners turn to junior right-hander Alec Hansen (Loveland, Colo.) on Sunday in an effort to salvage a game in the series. First pitch is set for 1:00 pm.