OU Baseball: Oklahoma Gets Hammered by Pittsburgh
Oklahoma brought its sticks to Sin City. But Pittsburgh’s sticks were bigger.
The Sooners were routed in their opening game of the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic, 19-9 by Pittsburgh.
The Sooners fell to 5-4 on the season.
Skip Johnson ran out eight different pitchers for Oklahoma, with only starter Braden Davis (1-1) lasting more than one inning. Every OU pitcher yielded at least one hit, one run or one walk.
It wasted an otherwise strong offensive performance by the OU lineup.
OU jumped on top out of the gate but Sooner pitching fell apart in the third inning.
John Spikerman opened with a double and scored from third on Easton Carmichael’s RBI double to right to put the Sooners on the scoreboard in the first inning, and Bryce Madron and Carmichael raced home on Anthony Mackenzie’s single to center to make it 3-0.
Pitt got all three runs back in the bottom of the first, however, off OU starter Braden Davis, who issued two walks before C.J. Funk’s double to right center scored Jayden Melendez. Luke Cantwell and Funk then scored on a throwing error by Jaxon Willits to make it 3-3.
Spikerman put the Sooners back on top in the second when he reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on Madron’s RBI triple. Madron made it 5-3 on Carmichael’s second straight RBI double, and Carmichael then scored on Michael Snyder’s RBI single through the right side for a 6-3 OU lead.
That lead was short-lived, however, as the Panthers scored a six-spot in the bottom of the third.
Funk opened with a single and Turner Grau delivered an RBI single. Josh Spiegel’s RBI double with no out off Davis made it 6-5, and Jack Kendro then put Pitt on top with a three-run home run off D Crooks, followed by an RBI single by Cantwell to make it 9-6 Panthers.
OU responded in the fourth when Madron smacked a one-out single to center and took second on a wild pitch. Mackenzie’s RBI single to left brought Madron home from second to cut it to 9-7.
But in the fifth, Pitt wasn’t even close to done.
Ryan Zuckerman led off with a first-pitch home run off Jeff Lodes to make it 10-7 and, after a walk, Dom Popa’s double to left center was followed by a fielding error that allowed Kendro to race home from second for an 11-7 lead. Funk made it 12-7 with an RBI single off Carter Campbell that scored Melendez, and Tyler Bischke’s bases-loaded walk off Reid Hensley scored Cantwell and put the Sooners in a 14-7 hole.
The carnage continued as Funk scored again off Spiegel’s groundout, Grau scored off Kendro’s single to left and Bischke scored on Popa’s bases-loaded walk for a 17-7 lead.
OU chipped two runs off its deficit in the sixth when Madron was hit by pitch and took third on Carmichael’s third double of the night. Snyder’s single up the middle scored Madron and Carmichael to make it 17-9.
Pitt countered with a single run in the sixth when Bischke’s single off Atwood scored Cantwell for an 18-9 lead.
Carmichael finished 3-for-3 with three doubles and two RBIs. Snyder and Mackenzie each had three RBIs and two hits, and Madron and Spikerman each had two hits, while Madron also scored four runs.
OU returns to the diamond on Saturday with a 6 p.m. CT game against Cal, and closes out the event Sunday at 1 against Ohio State.