Box Score NORMAN, Okla. - The UALR baseball team (6-8)
dropped a 2-1 decision to the No. 2-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (16-0) on Saturday
at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Trojans jumped out to an early lead after Sean Bignall led off the game with a
home run, but the Sooners responded with runs in the bottoms of the third and
eighth innings to complete the come-from-behind win.
Both teams
finished Saturday's contest with seven hits. Bignall was the only Trojan with
multiple hits, adding a single in the top of the third to go along with his
first home run of the season.
Ryan Duke
was credited with the win for the Sooners after entering the game in relief in
the top of the eighth inning. Duke gave up one hit in 1.1 innings of work to
improve his record to 1-0. John Maler
was saddled with the loss for UALR to go to 0-2, while Travis Henke got the start and allowed just one run on six hits in
7.0 innings.
OU tied
the score at one in the bottom of the third. Following three straight singles
by the Sooners to leadoff the inning, Cody Reine picked up an RBI after being
struck by a pitch by Henke. The right-hander was able to escape the inning
without further damage, however, as he then got Garrett Buechele to ground into
a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
The
Sooners would not put the go-ahead run on the board in the bottom of the
eighth. With Eric Ross on third base, Reine got his second RBI of the day on a
grounder to second that was enough to bring in the winning run.
A two-out
double by Niko Navarro would give the Trojans life in their final set of
at-bats, but OU was able to survive, as Duke got Brock Feldmann to strike out swinging to end the game.
UALR and Oklahoma will play the
finale of their three-game series on Sunday, March 13, at 1 p.m.
