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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Drops Game and Series at Alabama

The Sooners battled but could not overcome a big early deficit in an 8-6 defeat.
Guerin Emig|
Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson (center)
Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson (center) | John E. Hoover / Sooners On SI

A big early deficit proved too much to overcome Sunday and Oklahoma lost both a game and a series as a result.

Alabama rode an 8-1 lead through four innings to an 8-6 victory in Tuscaloosa, meaning OU also dropped the weekend series 2-1. The Sooners won rubber games against South Carolina and Mississippi State to begin life in the SEC the past two Sundays, but could not sustain that success this time and fell to 22-5 overall and 5-4 in league play. 

The Crimson Tide improved to 25-4 and 6-3.

Bama, which entered the series with a 48-28 home run edge over OU, opened up a 5-1 lead off Sooners starter Malachi Witherspoon behind early homers from Jason Torres and Will Hodo. 

The Tide made it 8-1 in the bottom of the fourth when second baseman Kyle Branch and right fielder Brayden Horton failed to come up with playable balls, signaling three unearned runs against eventual losing pitcher Witherspoon (2-2). 

oklahoma sooners

OU got one back in the top of the fifth when Jason Walk shot a ball into the left-center field gap. Converging outfielders Kade Snell and Richie Bonomolo collided on the play, allowing Walk to race around with an inside-the-park home run. 

Matthew Heiberger, on in relief of eventual winning pitcher Aeden Finateri, kept the score 8-2 into the top of the seventh, when OU got within 8-4 after loading the bases with nobody out. Dasan Harris scored Branch on a fielder’s choice, then Horton ripped a two-out single to bring in Sam Christiansen.

With two still aboard, Easton Carmichael stepped in after Horton and sent a sinking line drive to right field. Had Alabama right fielder Bryce Fowler not made a charging, lunging catch, it would have been 8-6.

Fowler’s snag loomed even larger in the top of the eighth, when OU first baseman Dayton Tockey drilled a two-run homer to right following Jaxon Willits’ leadoff single. 

Bama relievers Tyler Fay and Braylon Myers retired Branch, Christiansen and Dawson Willis after Tockey’s blast to keep the score 8-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth. It remained 8-6 after eight when OU relievers Jamie Hitt and Reid Hensley worked around Fowler’s leadoff double.

Tide closer Carson Ozmer got the ball in the ninth and retired Harris, Walk and Horton on a three-pitch strikeout, a flyout to left field and a chopper to first base. 

The Sooners see a familiar foe next. They’ll play Texas Tech, 9-16 after losing three straight at Kansas State over the weekend, pm Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in Frisco, TX. 

OU’s next SEC action is in Norman next Thursday, Friday and Saturday against LSU. The Tigers just swept Mississippi State to rocket to 26-3 on the season and 7-2 in conference.

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Guerin Emig
GUERIN EMIG

Guerin is a 25-year Oklahoma sports journalist. He spent the bulk of that time with the Tulsa World, where he partnered with Sooners On SI publisher John Hoover on the OU beat before eventually becoming a columnist. He lives in Tulsa with his wife, Christy, his sweetheart from Booker T. Washington's Class of ‘86.

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