Sooners’ season ends in regional loss to Mississippi State
For The Oklahoman
TALLAHASSEE,
FLA. — Oklahoma’s baseball season has come to a close.
The No. 3 seed Sooners were eliminated by No. 2 seed Mississippi State 8-1 in the Tallahassee Regional final at Dick Howser Stadium.
“You look at the young guys that we pitched and played, those experiences that they got from that, being in a regional, being close to going to an upper regional, I think that says a lot about where the University of Oklahoma is,” OU coach Skip Johnson said.
“Those guys kept battling, battling, battling, and just came up against a good opponent and got beat.”
The Sooners (38-25) needed to win one of the final two games of the regional to advance to the Super Regional round for the first time since 2013, but they fell 13-5 in the first game on Sunday night before losing on Monday afternoon.
OU started the regional 2-0 with a 20-10 win over MSU and a 4-0 win over Samford.
Unlike the first two games these two teams played in the regional — which featured 48 combined runs — this game was low scoring, at least until the final two innings when MSU (35-26) extended its lead from 3-1 to 8-1.
The Sooners finished with just four hits.
“The thing that strikes me the most ... was how well we pitched in comparison to where we were after the first Oklahoma game,” MSU coach Gary Henderson said.
“I think the thing that sticks with me the most is the response of our kids on the mound after the embarrassment on Friday.”
OU starter Levi Prater tied a career-high with 4.2 innings pitched with just three runs and three hits allowed.
MSU starter J.P. France — who threw 2 2/3 innings and had a 13.50 ERA in his two previous appearances in the Tallahassee Regional — threw seven innings allowing just one run and two hits.
“He just stayed away from us all day, and we struggled to stay with our approach to the opposite side of the field,” designated hitter Brady Lindsly said.
“He came out and threw strikes and executed pitches.”
The Oklahoma offense just couldn’t find its footing against Bulldog pitching despite striking first with an RBI groundout by Justin Mitchell in the second to make it 1-0.
MSU responded in the fourth with a 2-RBI double from Justin Foscue, and added to it with an RBI single by Rowdey Jordan in the fifth to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead.
“The game was really tight for most of the game,” Johnson said.
“We lost the momentum around the fifth inning. Gave up a couple runs there. Made a few mistakes in those innings and they executed.”
Prater was relieved by left-hander Braidyn Fink to get one out in the fifth — he allowed the single in the fourth by Jordan that was charged to Prater — before turning to righthander Cade Cavalli in the sixth.
Cavalli kept the Sooners in the game putting up scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh before running into trouble in the eighth inning. After allowing two hits to start the inning, Cavalli was relieved by right-hander Connor Berry.
The Bulldogs added an insurance run on a passed ball to make it 4-1 later in the inning, and added four more runs in the ninth off of right-hander Austin Hansen — who replaced Berry to start the ninth — on a 2-RBI single with the infield in by designated hitter Jordan Westburg and a 2-run home run by Jake Mangum to make it 8-1.
MSU closer Riley Self came in for France in the eighth and pitched two scoreless frames to end the game.
OU was without starting center fielder Kyler Murray (hamstring) and right fielder Steele Walker (oblique), who combined to hit 23 home runs. They were the only two players on the roster with more than six home runs. Neither player played in the Tallahassee Regional.
Second baseman Kyle Mendenhall, third baseman Brylie Ware, shortstop Brandon Zaragoza, designated hitter Thomas Hughes and pitcher Nathan Wiles were named to the All-Regional team.