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Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Squander Six-Run Lead in Crushing Loss to No. 10 Texas

OU held a 7-1 lead going into the seventh inning, but the Longhorns rallied for an astonishing 11 runs in the final three innings to stun Oklahoma.

Josh Callaway

Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Squander Six-Run Lead in Crushing Loss to No. 10 Texas
Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Squander Six-Run Lead in Crushing Loss to No. 10 Texas /

A disastrous loss to close what had been a promising week.

After taking the middle game of their three-game series with No. 10 Texas on Saturday in thrilling fashion, Oklahoma hit the diamond in Arlington, TX one more time on Sunday looking for a series win against the rival Longhorns.

But, despite a strong performance through six innings that saw them lead by six runs, the Sooners went down in decisive fashion falling 12-8 to close the series at Globe Life Field.Β 

OU Texas G3

Getting the start in the rubber match for Skip Johnson’s club was left-hander Chazz Martinez, who continued to have success at Globe Life Field.

After allowing no earned runs in each of his first two outings at the home of the Texas Rangers, Martinez worked into the sixth on Sunday allowing just one run and four hits to the Longhorns.

Helping Martinez settle in quickly was the Sooners snagging an early lead with Diego Muniz sacrificing a bunt to get a run across in the first to get OU ahead 1-0.

After tacking on another run on a Texas balk in the third, the Sooners struck for two more in the fourth with Sebastian Orduno and Peyton Graham each picking up RBI hits to extend the advantage to 4-0.

Martinez ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing the Longhorns to scratch a run across before Ben Abram came in out of the bullpen to pick up two outs and end the inning with Oklahoma still out in front 4-1.

The Sooners then doubled their lead in the bottom half of the inning with Graham connected on a three-run bomb to left field to make it a 7-1 ballgame and seemingly put things on ice.

But, the Longhorns were very, very far from finished.

In a disastrous seventh inning for the Oklahoma bullpen, Texas plated six runs to even the game on two three-run home runs by Dylan Campbell and Murphy Stehly.

The score remained there into the ninth when the ultimate gut-punch came to the Sooners in the way of a defensive miscue.

With one out and nobody on base, Longhorns center fielder Douglas Hodo lofted a lazy fly into left center that looked to be a sure out.

However, Oklahoma left fielder Diego Muniz and center fielder Tanner Tredaway collided, allowing the ball to fall harmlessly to the turf.

In very baseball fashion, the very next pitch was then an RBI single off of the bat of Texas first baseman Ivan Melendez to put the Horns in front 8-7 - which opened the floodgates.Β 

The Longhorns extended their lead by four more runs from there to hold a 12-7 edge heading into the bottom of the ninth.

To their credit, Oklahoma wouldn't go down without a fight in their final hacks, scoring a run on a Jimmy Crooks RBI single to trim the deficit to 12-8.

But, that would be it for OU as Texas then got the final two outs they needed to finish the job.Β 

The devastating loss dips the Sooners down to 16-10 on the season and drops them back down to .500 in Big 12 play at 3-3.

Oklahoma will return to home soil on Tuesday night for a midweek clash with Oral Roberts at 6:30 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park on SoonerSports.tv.Β 

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Josh Callaway
JOSH CALLAWAY

Josh has been with AllSooners since June of 2021 after spending the previous year with Sooners Wire via USA TODAY Sports. He is also a high school sports broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network.Β You can follow him on Twitter at @JoshMCallaway.

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