Early on, Oklahoma took the lead, but this advantage was short-lived as they faltered within the first inning. Now, the Sooners aim to secure at least a split of the series.

Kentucky put up four runs in the bottom of the first inning, and the Wildcats thwarted any attempt at a Sooner comeback, defeating the No. 16 Oklahoma team with a score of XX-XX, thus winning the series. They had also claimed victory in Friday’s opening game with a score of 4-3.

OU dropped to 32-16 overall 13-13 in Southeastern Conference play, while Kentucky improved to 27-20 and 12-14.


Scott Mudler

scored a home run, hit a double, and brought in three runs, and

Easton Carmichael

went 2-for-4 for Oklahoma.


Cade Crossland

He got the nod for Oklahoma but managed only three innings. Crossland (4-3) absorbed the loss after surrendering five earned runs off three hits, four walks, and two hit batsmen. Additionally, he yielded two triples.


Gavin Jones, Reid Hensley, Jaden Barfield

and

Michael Catalano

finished on the mound for coach

Skip Johnson

.

Carmichael started things off right in the top of the first when he drove in leadoff man

Jason Walk

from second base with an RBI single up the middle. Walk had led off with a single and stole second.


Jaxon Willits

’ groundout then scored

Trey Gambill

to put the Sooners up 2-0. Gambill had reached by walk, then took third on Carmichael’s single.

That lead, nonetheless, was short-lived.


Kyuss Gargett’s

sacrifice fly scored

Luke Lawrence

to make it 2-1, and so they did

Patrick Herrera’s

journey to the right resulted in scoring for both sides

James McCoy

and

Cole Hage

to put the Wildcats in front.

Ryan Schwartz

Then he hit a two-out single to left to bring home Herrera, giving them a 4-2 advantage.

Kentucky added to its lead in the second. With

Devin Burkes

on third, Hage grounded out to make it 5-1.

OU got a run back in the fifth when Mudler hit a solo home run just over the wall in right field, cutting the Sooners’ deficit to 5-3.

But the Wildcats extended it again in the bottom of the inning when Schwartz drove a bases-loaded double to left that scored Herrera, Gargett and McCoy for a 8-3 Kentucky lead.

Mudler struck again in the top of the sixth when he delivered a bases-loaded double to the right field corner. Carmichael led off with a single to left, and

Kyle Branch

walked on four pitches.

Mason Hamlin

loaded the bases with a walk to set the stage for Mudler’s second big hit of the day.

That gave the Sooners life in the late innings, but Kentucky’s relief pitching avoided any real trouble.

Sunday’s game three goes off at noon.

It’s OU’s penultimate series of the regular season. Next week, the Sooners host No. 1-ranked Texas at L Dale Mitchell Park before embarking on the postseason, where Skip Johnson’s squad hopes to host a regional for the second year in a row.

This article was originally published on

www.si.com/college/oklahoma

as

OU Baseball: Oklahoma Suffers Another Loss, Falls Behind in Series at Kentucky

.