OKLAHOMA CITY — The Big 12 Championship was supposed to be an opportunity for Oklahoma to prove it belonged with college baseball’s elite.
However, the Sooners will have to wait until the NCAA Tournament to prove their case because in two games at Bricktown Ballpark they’ve been laughed right out of court.
Any hope of OU reaching the championship game ended with Friday’s 11-0 run-rule loss to Missouri.
OU coach Sunny Golloway was left scratching his head after the game.
“I really feel we’ve let down our fans,” he said. “I feel I’ve let down a lot of people personally that got on board with us as we closed in on the 40-win season. We haven’t had that kind of effort or performance in front of our home crowd. That’s been my disappointment for our fans, to not perform the way they would fill the ballpark and cheer our student athletes.”
The Sooners (39-19) had enough problems going into the game.
Missouri had its ace Max Scherzer on the mound and runs were going to be a tough chore.
But the Tiger ace was nearly unhittable in tossing a four-hitter. He struck out five and didn’t issue a walk. He hardly broke a sweat in improving to 7-1.
“I thought Scherzer was everything he’s advertised to be, a right-handed college pitcher who will absolutely blow you away with his fastball,” Golloway said.
But third-seeded OU gave itself no chance after giving up five runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Ryan Lollis and J.C. Field both had two-run singles in the frame.
But the Sooners inflicted most of the damage on themselves.
Only two of the runs were earned thanks to errors by shortstop Freddy Rodriguez and third baseman Ryan Rohlinger.
All told, only three of the Tigers’ runs were earned.
It was the nightmare scenario for OU.
The Sooners needed to keep the game close and scratch out runs with sacrifices and a few timely hits.
But the early deficit negated any opportunity to bunt and steal bases.
“We’ve had long conversations with our club the last three weeks and we’ve talked about that,” Golloway said. “We’ve been revealed by giving up too many runs in innings. The Oklahoma baseball team is not very good when that happens. We’re built on small ball, bunting, hit-and-run… We don’t hit the long ball, we don’t have those types of athletes. When you’re down 4-0, 6-0 right away, we cannot do those things.”
Missouri didn’t need any help.
Lollis and Field both went 2-for-4, but Field, the Tigers’ nine-hole hitter, delivered the bulk of the runs.
Missouri pumped its lead up to 7-0 thanks to runs in the fourth and the sixth innings.
Missouri scored again in the seventh before Field sent everyone home early with a three-run homer to end the same.
The victory was huge for the Tigers.
They came to Oklahoma City needing wins to build their résumé for an NCAA Tournament berth.
Missouri (31-24) capped the regular season by sweeping top-seeded Texas and has beaten second-seeded Oklahoma State and third-seeded OU in the tournament by a combined score of 20-5.
Tiger coach Tim Jamieson was quick to point that out.
“I know it doesn’t mean anything for the (NCAA Tournament) committee, but, in terms of lobbying, I would like to see another team that has beat Texas three times, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma on the road essentially,” he said. “I know it does not come down to just how you are at the end of the tournament, but it certainly should make a statement.”
But the Sooners are team that is making another kind of statement. They had hopes of solidifying themselves as a regional host.
After two postseason games, they’ve been anything but solid.
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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