OU Baseball: Oklahoma Loses Series Opener to No. 11 West Virginia

The Sooners fell behind early and weren't able to overcome the Mountaineers' offensive onslaught on Friday night.

An ugly loss to start the weekend.

After beating No. 16 Dallas Baptist for their sixth win in the last seven games, Oklahoma got back to Big 12 play on Friday with the first of a three-game set with No. 11 West Virginia at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown, WV.

However, the Sooners (25-21, 9-10) didn’t keep the momentum flowing from Tuesday, falling big to the Mountaineers (35-11, 12-4) 9-3.

Getting the Friday start for OU was right-hander Braxton Douthit who, after an extended stretch of good outings, has run into a rough patch in recent action.

Following up a shaky outing against Kansas last week, Douthit was knocked around for seven runs in the series opener and only worked four innings.

Two of those came in the very first inning, with Landon Wallace cracking a two-run homer to get WVU on the board first.

Bryce Madron would then get the Sooners into the score column in the third, with a solo shot to right center for his tenth home run of the season. 

𝐌𝐚𝐝-𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐛 #️⃣🔟

💻 ESPN+ | @Bryce_madron pic.twitter.com/ToqQpNs7i9

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) May 5, 2023

But, that would prove to be as close as Oklahoma got in the ballgame, as West Virginia plated three runs in the bottom half, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh to balloon the lead all the way out to 9-1.

Mountaineers left-hander Ben Hampton put forth a strong performance in front of his home crowd, allowing only run one across six innings, scattering seven OU hits.

The Sooners did do a little damage against the WVU bullpen after Hampton departed, albeit with the game largely already in-hand. 

In the eighth, Easton Carmichael cracked a two-run double to potentially start a rally - but OU was unable to add on as they remained behind by six runs. 

Two-run double by @3aston_11. He's 3 for 4 tonight. pic.twitter.com/wxcJQUHKwe

— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) May 6, 2023

The Sooners were then turned away scoreless in the ninth to finish the game and hand them a defeat to open the weekend.

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for Oklahoma and dips them back below .500 in Big 12 play.

If OU is to win a third straight conference series, they will have to win each of the next two games - just as they did a week ago against Kansas.

Game 2 of the three-game set is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT back in Morgantown.