OU Baseball: Oklahoma Loses to No. 19 Texas Tech in Norman

The Sooners squandered an early 2-0 lead, allowing the Red Raiders to strike for eight unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings.

NORMAN – Another conference series loss for Oklahoma.

After losing in extra innings on Friday, OU continued their three-game Big 12 set with No. 19 Texas Tech on Saturday evening at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.

Since winning their opening series of league play against TCU, the Sooners (18-18, 3-8) have struggled mightily to collect Big 12 wins - and that trend continued on Saturday in a 9-5 defeat at the hand of the Red Raiders (25-11, 6-5).

Getting the start for Skip Johnson’s club was right-hander Braxton Douthit, who to this point in the season had been inarguably the team’s best starting pitcher.

But, everyone has rough days in baseball - and that was the case for the Lamar transfer against TTU.

Douthit allowed eight earned runs across four innings of work - raising his season ERA from 2.95 to 4.24.

Despite the sour end result, productive outs would get Oklahoma an early lead on their home turf.

Dakota Harris and Wallace Clark both grounded out to score runs in the first and second innings to give the Sooners an early 2-0 edge.

In the third and fourth frames, however, the Red Raiders got to Douthit striking for eight runs in the two innings to take a commanding 8-2 advantage.

OU battled back in the bottom of the fourth, though, as second baseman Jackson Nicklaus ripped a three-run homer to right field to slice the deficit in half at 8-5.

But, unfortunately for the Sooners, TTU head coach Tim Tadlock pressed the right button with his bullpen to nip the OU rally in the bud.

Left-hander Ryan Free entered to pitch the fifth inning and proceeded to dominate the rest of the way.

Free sat down the next 15 OU hitters in succession with an outrageous nine strikeouts.

The Red Raiders sprinkled in another insurance run in the sixth to bring the final mark up to 9-5. 

The loss drops Oklahoma down to .500 on the season and is their seventh loss in their last eight Big 12 games.

Hoping to salvage the series and avoid a sweep, the Sooners will send left-hander Braden Carmichael to the mound in the Sunday finale set for 2 p.m. back at L. Dale Mitchell Park.