Friday night at the Sunbelt Classic always means one thing: Oklahoma vs. Texas.
The Sunbelt’s version of the Red River rivalry always adds a spark and a little extra incentive for the players. It also brings out the fans.
A nice-sized crowd piled into the Norman High bleachers Friday night, and they saw Texas continue its Sunbelt dominance.
The Lone Star State’s finest trailed through the first four innings, but they pulled away and ended up routing Oklahoma 11-5.
For the Texas players, winning is always nice, but beating Oklahoma is always a little nicer.
“It’s great because there’s a lot of people in the stands, more than I expected,” Texas’ Josh Elander said. “Oklahoma has great baseball year in and year out. You know they’re going to be tough.”
After all, the rivalry between the Sooners and Longhorns is one of the biggest in the country, and there’s even more behind the two states’ rivalry.
In 1919, Texas Rangers drove off an Oklahoma oil-testing crew from the disputed banks of the Red River. And the Oklahoma governor even showed up at the border once in an Army tank.
Fortunately, the Sunbelt rivalry is a little more on the good natured side.
“I’m going to TCU, but I’ll always be a Longhorn at heart,” Elander said with a laugh. “The same goes for everybody (in the dugout).”
The old slogan goes, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.”
That includes state pride.
Texans fly the state flag like it’s the Star Spangled Banner, and they proudly boast about their home state. The players from south of the Red River who came up to play baseball this week are no exception.
“We think Texas is the greatest state in America,” Elander said. “We want to come up here and show that. We have great prep sports in Texas.”
The Oklahomans had a lot of pride on the line Friday night, too.
“The Red River thing, you always get a little jacked up for Texas,” starting pitcher Ryan Gibson said.
Oklahoma went into Friday’s game reeling, and coming off a 25-1 thumping earlier in the day to Ohio.
Oklahoma took an early lead. But an error with two outs in the fifth inning led to a big Texas rally, and things fell apart in a hurry.
That’s just another piece of the Sunbelt’s biggest rivalry.
The two teams always meet under the lights on Friday. Though they’ve met just once in the championship round, that Friday night game has decided which team went to the final plenty of times.
Texas got the best of Oklahoma for the 2005 championship at OU’s L. Dale Mitchell Park.
“A lot of times, it’s Oklahoma and Texas playing for a spot in the final,” Gibson said. “And every Friday night, it’s tradition, it’s Oklahoma and Texas.”
So far, the Texans have plenty to be proud of. They’re one win from becoming the first Sunbelt team to run the table.
“We know our team and we know we have a great shot of going undefeated,” Elander said. “We have a lot of talented players and we just need to come out and play the ball we’ve been playing all week.”
Oklahoma is on the other side of the spectrum. It’s 1-6 and has lost both close games and blowouts.
The Oklahomans’ only victory came Thursday night against Canada.
“We’ve had some things not go our way, and we’ve had some places where we didn’t step up. It’s baseball. That happens.”
Oklahoma gets things started early today when it takes on Illinois in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m. at Noble.
Texas will battle Arizona in the championship game at 7 p.m. at Norman High.
“It’s a new day,” Gibson said. “Baseball’s great because every day is a new day. Anyone can beat anyone.”
Jeff Johncox
366-3535
jjohncox@normantranscript.com
Local Sports
June 27, 2009
Texas maintains dominance
- Local Sports
-
-
Shambaugh proves he is one to watch
It was hot, humid and the bugs were flocking to the lighted field at Tiger Stadium on Wednesday night. No one seemed to notice any of it by the sixth inning, though. Everyone was watching Jay pitcher Cale Shambaugh pitch a gem....
-
This one's for Papa
Wednesday was big for Nathan Thornhill for a couple of reasons. He led Team Texas to a convincing 9-1 victory over Team Arizona in the Heartland Baseball Classic. His 11 strikeouts in seven innings have been one of the highlights of the ...
-
Heart on the Diamond
The first Heartland Classic began Monday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park....
-
Soccer teams brave weather
Under gale-force wind conditions, the Norman High girls continued their soccer resurgence Thursday night at the NHS Soccer Complex, taking care of Yukon 1-0.
-
T-Wolves take third at invitational
Norman North coach Dennis Etter likes his team this season. Tuesday, he got his first real look at just how good it can be.
- SaberCats come out in force Julian Wilson was the first Southmoore player to commit last summer. And he was pleased at everything that has happened since then.
- Clash seating arrangements
-
Cats tame Tigers
MOORE — Coach Wes Clark didn’t want the game to turn into a track meet. He believed Norman High had a shot to knock off Southmoore if he could slow the game down to a crawl.
The strategy worked … for a quarter. But after Southmoore’s athletes were unleashed, they cruised past the Tigers 59-36 Tuesday. -
Bombers too much for North girls
MIDWEST CITY — Do the Norman North girls belong near the top of the Class 6A rankings?
Tuesday night, at least until the last six minutes, the Timberwolves certainly made their case.
Then it all fell apart. -
NHS battles, but North rules mat
Norman North, as expected, claimed Tuesday night’s mat edition of the Crosstown Clash.
Yet, getting past the Tigers by the slim margin of 42-31, it might have been Norman High coach Bo Maynes who exited the NHS Gym with the bigger bounce in his step. - More Local Sports Headlines
-
