OU Baseball: Oklahoma Falls to Kansas State in Rainy Manhattan

The Sooners struggled with command on the mound and couldn't get the offense going in a decisive loss to the Wildcats.

An ugly way to start the weekend.

After falling in the midweek game to Dallas Baptist following a series win over TCU to open up conference play, Oklahoma continued Big 12 action on Friday night with the first of a three-game road set against Kansas State.

Similarly to last weekend, if the Sooners (13-9, 2-2) are to win the series it will have to be from behind after they lost the series opener big to the Wildcats (15-8, 2-2) 7-1 at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, KS.

On a rainy night in Kansas, the story of the game for Oklahoma was their inability to throw strikes getting them into trouble.

In total, the Sooners walked eight Wildcats hitters on the evening - with five of those coming from starter Kale Davis (2-2) who struggled after a strong first two innings.

In the third, KSU struck first with Brady Day ripping a two-out, two-run single off the glove of OU second baseman Jackson Nicklaus.

Both of the runners who scored on the hit reached base via a walk.

Oklahoma got one of those runs back in the fifth with some nice two-out hitting of their own, as John Spikerman and Anthony Mackenzie came through with back-to-back knocks to move Kendall Pettis around the bases and slice the deficit to 2-1.

𝑂𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 👊@AnthonyMacken11 drives home @kendall_pettis!

OU 1, KSU 2 pic.twitter.com/iJYDsfBEPk

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) March 25, 2023

But, the bottom half of the fifth would prove to be their undoing.

Both Davis and left-handed reliever Carter Campbell, who is one of the Sooners’ most reliable bullpen arms, struggled with command through a dumping rain.

Through a medley of walks and sloppy play, Kansas State struck for five runs in the inning to extend their advantage to a comfortable mark of 7-1.

That would go on to be the final score after Oklahoma couldn't find a way to muster any offense through the far-from-deal weather conditions the rest of the night.

The loss is the Sooners’ second straight and the third in their last five games, but can be quickly forgotten with a bounce back through the remainder of the weekend.

In the Big 12 opening set against the Horned Frogs just a week ago, Oklahoma dropped the opener big before responding by taking the next two games.

OU will now be looking to repeat that magic in Manhattan, starting with the middle game of the series which is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday back at Tointon Family Stadium.