OU’s regional hopes dashed

LOUISVILLE, KY. — The wheels fell off the Sooner Schooner early, and the Oklahoma baseball team never recovered as it saw its season end in Sunday’s 11-0 loss to Xavier in the NCAA Tournament.

Kyle Tyler got the start in the elimination game at the University of Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium, but the sophomore did not make it out of the first inning. In the eight batters he faced, he allowed two hits and plunked three. Xavier also took advantage of a couple fielding errors to score eight times in the bottom of the first.

Including the final two innings of the 11-1 loss to Louisville on Saturday night, the Sooners allowed 18 runs over a three-inning stretch. Of the seven charged to Tyler in his one-third of an inning, six were unearned.

However, Steele Walker said he didn’t feel a carry-over from the end of Saturday night’s game.

“We put last night’s game fully behind us,” said the sophomore center fielder, one of three Sooners to go 2-for-4 Sunday. “Obviously, that’s not how we saw it going early on. Credit to them. They came out and they attacked us.”

Xavier starter Trent Astle came into the game with a 6.32 earned run average, but the senior from Jeffersonville, Ind., a

Louisville suburb, pitched in front of a hometown crowd. It also didn’t hurt that Sunday marked his third career start in an NCAA regional.

After facing a pair of hard-throwing lefthanders in their previous two games, Sooners coach Pete Hughes said Astle’s finesse pitching made for a difficult adjustment.

“Their guy was unconventional, but effective,” Hughes said. “He gave us a different look and competed like crazy and just pounded the strike zone.”

After allowing a pair of one-out hits to Jack Flansburg and Renae Martinez in the top of the first, the Musketeers southpaw got the next nine Sooners in order. By the time OU got its next hit — a Walker ground-rule double in the fourth — the Sooners found themselves down 10-0.

Making matters worse, the Sooners pressed some in trying to make a comeback. Against a slower throwing pitcher, OU batters found themselves out in front often. In the eight innings Astle threw, the Sooners grounded into 13 outs.

“When you are down by a lot you want to hit a home run, but really you have to have the opposite mindset when you are facing an unconventional guy who keeps you off balance,” Walker said. “Hats off to him. He did a really good job.”