Sooners' Baseball Season Ends In Regional Final

The third-seeded Oklahoma baseball team fell in the Tallahassee Regional final on Monday, 8-1, to second-seeded Mississippi State at Dick Howser Stadium. The Sooners ended the season with a 38-25 overall record.

OU scored first without recording a hit in the second inning. After Brady Lindsly reached on a strikeout and a wild pitch and Thomas Hughes walked, the Sooners used a sacrifice bunt from Kyle Mendenhall and a RBI groundout from Justin Mitchell to grab an early 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs answered in the fourth inning with a two-out RBI double to right field from Justin Foscue to take lead. In the fifth, Mississippi State added run on Rowdey Jordan’s two-out RBI single to plate Dustin Skelton, who led the inning off with an infield bunt single, to push its advantage to 3-1. 

Mississippi State added one run each in the in the fifth and eighth innings, before recording four runs in the ninth to put the game away. A two-RBI single from Jordan Westburg and a two-run homer off the bat of Jake Mangum allowed the Bulldogs to extend their lead to 8-1 in the final inning.

The Sooners were limited to four hits as Mississippi State starter JP France tossed a season-high seven innings and gave up one run on two hits, while striking out five and walk two. Riley Self worked two scoreless innings and gave up just two hits to pick up his first save of the season.

 Lindsly scored OU’s lone run, finishing 1-for-4 at the plate. Dom DeRenzo walked and was 1-for-3, while Mitchell and Brylie Ware both were 1-for-4 against the Bulldogs.

Skelton led the Bulldogs at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance, scoring twice and driving in two. Jordan was 2-for-3 with a RBI and one run, while Foscue finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.

OU freshman left-hander Levi Prater took the loss for the Sooners, matching his season-high with 4.2 innings pitched. Prater (3-4) allowed three runs and three hits to go along with two strikeouts.

Oklahoma made its second straight trip to the NCAA postseason and first appearance under head coach Skip Johnson. OU’s Thomas Hughes, Kyle Mendenhall, Brylie Ware, Nathan Wiles and Brandon Zaragoza all earned a spot on the NCAA Tallahassee All-Regional Team.