OU Baseball: Oklahoma Blows Another Late Lead at Wichita State

The Sooners' relief pitching and defense were not good as the Shockers rallied to send OU to its fifth consecutive loss.

More shaky relief pitching and more shoddy defense cost Oklahoma dearly on Tuesday night.

The Sooners blew another late lead and Wichita State scored six unearned runs as OU dropped its fifth in a row with a 8-7 loss to the Shockers at Riverfront Stadium in Wichita.

Oklahoma, which ranks eighth among nine Big 12 Conference teams in fielding percentage, committed three errors and Wichita State scored two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth to erase what had been Sooner leads of 5-2 and 7-4.

Oklahoma (13-12) came in on a four-game losing streak, including the weekend sweep at Kansas State. Wichita State (14-10) was coming off a three-game weekend home sweep of UMass.

OU trailed 2-0 after a disastrous second inning as the Shockers picked up an unearned run and even stole home.

Kyte McDonald reached on a bunt single back to the mound, took second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a groundout and then executed a double steal for a 1-0 lead. After Jack Little advanced to third on a throwing error by Aaron Calhoun, Brock Rodden then singled through the right side to make it 2-0.

The Sooners quickly tied it in the fourth inning.

After Wallace Clark drew a two-out walk, Jackson Nicklaus smashed a two-run home run to right field, knotting the scoreboard at 2-2. It was his fourth of the season, tying for the team lead.

Kendall Pettis followed with a double to left and stretched it to three bases on an error in the outfield. Pettis then came home on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.

In the seventh, the Sooners reestablished their lead.

Bryce Madron tripled to the gap in right-center field, bringing home John Spikerman for a 4-2 lead, and Diego Muniz’ single to right allowed Madron to come home for a 5-2 lead.

The Shockers weren’t done, however.

In the bottom of the seventh, Rodden’s double to left on an 0-2 offering from Carter Campbell plated Chuck Ingram with another unearned run that cut it to 5-3.

After a pitching change, Pennington greeted Carson Pierce with an RBI double to center field that made it 5-4.

OU stretched the lead to 6-4 in the eighth thanks to some more resourceful baserunning by Pettis.

Pettis led off the inning with a four-pitch walk and stole second. He took third on a wild pitch, then scored on on Rocco Garza-Garngora’s RBI single to right field.

Spikerman followed with a bunt single, and both Spikerman and Garza-Gongora advanced on a passed ball, and Madron’s sacrifice fly to center field brought home Garza-Gongora for a 7-4 OU lead.

Still, the Shockers refused to quit.

McDonald and Seth Stroh led off the eighth inning with back-to-back singles. After McDonald was thrown out trying to steal third, Little hit a ground ball to third, and Stroh came home on Clark’s throwing error — OU’s third error of the game and Wichita State’s third unearned run.

That set up the big stroke from Rodden, who blasted a three-run home run — all unearned — and put the Shockers on top 8-7.

In the ninth, Clark drew a one-out walk, but Nicklaus and Pettis struck out to end it.

The Sooners are back home this weekend for a four-game series with Stanford.