Sooners win sloppy series finale – Oklahoma 6, Kansas 3
Although eliminated from postseason contention, Kansas University’s baseball team showed an “it ain’t over ’til it’s over” attitude Sunday against Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks put two or more runners on base with two outs in four different innings and scored two of their three runs with two outs, but it wasn’t enough in an 6-3 loss to the Sooners at Hoglund Ballpark.
Kansas second baseman casey spanish throws to first base after forcing out an Oklahoma baserunner. The Sooners defeated the Jayhawks, 6-3, on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark and won the weekend series 2-1.
“That’s kind of the way baseball goes,” KU coach Bobby Randall said. “I was disappointed; I know how badly we wanted to win.”
Kansas (22-27 overall, 5-18 Big 12) scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the second inning. Ryan Baty led off with an infield single and moved to second when Jason Fransz, Oklahoma’s left fielder, dropped Kevin Wheeler’s fly ball.
With Ryan Klocksien at the plate, Sooner starter Austin Mix (6-5) threw to shortstop Denver Kitch, who was covering second, in an attempt to pick off Baty, but Kitch’s throw to third bounced in the dirt and into the Oklahoma dugout, allowing Baty to score and Wheeler to move to third.
Klocksien struck out and Cole Armstrong popped out to third base, but Brandon Shepard drove in Wheeler with a double down the left-field line. Shepard scored two batters later on a single to center by Adam Rachlin before Matt Tribble popped out to end the inning.
“We got that one run and then Shepard and Rachlin both produced some big hits,” Randall said, “but then we didn’t have enough two-out hits. To score quite a few runs you’re going to have to have some two-out hits and we just never came up with those, and they did.”
OU (31-21, 13-11) scored a run in the top of the third on a throwing error by Armstrong and added another on back-to-back two-out singles by Greg Kish and Matt Bose in the fourth. Baty misplayed Bose’s single in left, allowing Kish to score and bring the score to 3-2.
“Outfield-wise, it was sloppy,” Randall said of the swamp created by the weekend’s thunderstorms. “It wasn’t the cleanest game. We made some bad plays we don’t normally make, but so did they.”
Kansas didn’t make as much of those opportunities, though, stranding three runners, two of whom had reached via errors, in the bottom of the sixth inning when Rachlin’s two-out liner flew straight into the glove of right fielder Kish.
“We came up and hit three balls on the button,” Randall said, “and Rachlin hits a rocket with the bases loaded right at him. Sometimes, that’s the way baseball is.”
Kansas third baseman Ryan Klocksien fires a throw to first base after fielding a bunt by an Oklahoma batter on Sunday. The Jayhawks fell, 6-3, in the final game of a three-game weekend series against Oklahoma.
KU starter Chris Jones allowed just one earned run through six innings, but he walked four batters and started to run out of gas in the seventh.
“I’d say I had the best stuff I’ve ever had this year on the mound,” Jones said. “The first couple innings I was throwing real well, but I didn’t fully take advantage of my stuff and I made it a lot harder than it had to be.”
Tyson Bothof (0-2) relieved Jones with two out and Reggie Willits on second in the top of the seventh and gave up a run-scoring single to Fransz that tied the game at 3.
Kansas centerfielder Jason Appuhn misplayed the ball and then threw wildly to second, allowing Fransz to reach third. Fransz then scored on Ryan Richardson’s double to right field, giving the Sooners a 4-3 lead.
“I thought Chris Jones pitched marvelously,” Randall said, “and he just ran out of juice. We made that change and they hit a ball right off the end of the bat for a base hit to score that run and then they got another run.”
Kansas stranded two runners in both the seventh and eighth innings before Oklahoma added two insurance runs in the top of the ninth on three hits.
The Jayhawks return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark against Kansas State University, their final home game of the year. The final two games of the three-game series will be Sunday and Monday in Manhattan.
 |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|