Stranded Sooners: OU Falls with Runners on Base

Originally Published: May 29, 2010 12:19 AM CDT

Stephany Speck
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Oklahoma Sooners (43-15) left base runners on in six of the nine innings, as they struggled to drive in any runs, falling to the Baylor Bears 8-3.

The Sooners’ bats fell flat against the Bears’ Craig Fritsch, who pitched the first five innings. He gave up six hits, but OU was only able to score three times--leaving six hitters on base during Fritsch’s time on the mound.

“I thought we had some good at-bats and I thought we had some not-so-good at-bats,” said OU head coach Sunny Golloway. “Early in the game, we had the bases loaded and they pitched us really well and got the out.”

The Sooners loaded the bases in the top of the second inning, but Christopher Ellison lined out to center field to end the inning with no runs.

The Sooners ran through four pitchers during their loss to Baylor. The Bears, hungry for a win and the opportunity to reach the Championship game, definitely had momentum on their side.

“We were relentless at the plate,” Baylor’s second baseman Raynor Campbell said. “We had guys go up there and give us quality at-bats?we were able to put some runs together with two outs tonight. It was big.”

Baylor (33-21), along with Kansas State and Missouri, is one of only three teams in the Big 12 that haven’t won a championship game. While they’ve made five appearances in the title game since their first in ’97, but haven’t been able to clinch to win and take home a ring.

The Bears used that focus on the final game to overwhelm the Sooners on both offense and defense.

“It’s very frustrating,” said OU catcher Tyler Ogle. “I struck out twice with runner in scoring position. It’s just not something that you like to see, especially when you are trying to get momentum going into a Regional. You want to get those runs in.”

The Sooners, who face the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday at 4 p.m., will look to rest up before possibly hosting an NCAA Regional game at the L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. The official announcement will be made by the NCAA Sunday.

The Bears will play Kansas Saturday at 7:30 p.m., before facing the Texas A&M Aggies in the Championship game--a rematch of the 2007 Championship game in which the Aggies beat the Bears 14-6.