Game story from Oklahoma's historic Bedlam baseball loss:
There are two sides of a historic loss. There's the side that calls for celebration from the winning side. Oklahoma City Thunder TV announcer Brian Davis has affectionaly deemed this area 'the high side', partner.
Then there's the side Oklahoma found itself on Tuesday night in Stillwater. The wrong side of a 24-2 decision. That doesn't happen often in baseball unless your down the street at your local little league park. And for the record 'Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore'.
Only lessons learned the hardway, brought about by an in-state rival nonetheless.
"It's a cruel game sometimes. Things just spiraled out of control," said Sooners manager Pete Hughes following the Oklahoma programs first 20-run loss in over a decade. "It wasn't for a lack of effort. You've got to tip your hat to those guys to come out and have a great offensive night. They were really impressive tonight."
And that might be putting it lightly. An eight-run first inning put the Cowboys (23-9) in front and the offense didn't quit; adding four in the third, three in the fourth, five in the fifth and four in the sixth.
However, before it all went down hill there were opportunities. Albeit that last for about 15 minutes in the top of the first.
Kolbey Carpenter and Taylor Alspaugh delievered back-to-back singles to start the game only to be stranded after Hughes elected to play small-ball. Craig Aikin failed to get down a sacrifice-bunt and then two strikeouts later Oklahoma State starter Conor Costello, an Edmond Santa Fe product, ended the OU threat.
"You look at the story of the first inning. We didn't execute fundamentally twice with a bunt," Hughes said. "They played catch. No errors. Then they come up. Get their bunts down and we didn't play catch. It was a matter of fundamental baseball."
A single by second baseman Tim Arakawa and an error put the first two on for the Cowboys. Then the bottom fell out as Oklahoma State sent 11 total batters to the plate, scoring 8 runs on six hits. Costello helped his own cause with a double to right-center. Arakawa returned to the plate to add the exclamation with the seventh and eigth runs coming on a two-run blast to right.
When it was all said and done the 24 runs for Josh Holliday's club was their most ever in a game against OU, besting the 23 the 1987 and 1952 teams scored, and the margin of victory was the largest in Bedlam history.
Oklahoma staged a brief, two-out rally in the top of the second. Junior catcher Chris Shaw grounded a single through the left side and the Sooners got on the board with a two-run home run by senior third baseman Joshua Ake. Carpenter and Alspaugh each followed with their second hit of the night, but that was it for OU in the frame.
"These are the games that you don't forget too much. They last in the memory a little bit," said Shaw. "I think it's just getting to the ballpark tomorrow. Clean slate. The past is the past. That's what we look to do everyday is get a clean start."
A clean start that will be much needed. But not quite so much earned with a looming three game series set to kickoff in Austin on Friday.
"We've just got to regroup. Come back tomorrow and get ready for Texas," Alspaugh said. "You learn from your mistakes and you move on. It's a short memory. You can't say you're past it because you have to learn from your mistakes but as far as I'm concerned I'm on to Texas."
****************************************************************************
NOTES ...
* Joshua Ake's second inning home run was his first collegiate dinger
Taylor Alspaugh (2-for-4):
* Oddly enough Tuesday nights setback comes on the heels of a 5-five game Oklahoma win streak. Taylor Alspaugh was all about keeping it positive heading into - what could be termed- the biggest weekend of the season ... remember last nights contest was not a conference game.
"Win or loss you have to get back out there. Regardless. That's the beauty of the game or sports in general," said Alspaugh, a Tulsa Union product. "You have tomorrow so regardless if we would have won tonight by that margin you have to get back out (tomorrow) and start working. So it really doesn't change our approach or how we approach the next series."
* Was it a terrible loss? I would fire myself if I tried to tell you it wasn't. But as embarassing of a loss as it was the season isn't ruined because of- what will go down as- one non-conference loss.
I think this is a much, much better team than was fielded Tuesday. The thing spiraled out of control in the bottom of the first and they could never stop the water from drowning the rest of the town- so to speak.
Go back and check the game thread. There were multiple opportunities early to stop the bleeding and it just didn't happen.
As I posted in the weekend baseball thread last weekend. I honestly believe the program is headed in the right direction. They have a really good recruiting coming in next season (currently ranked No.21 by PerfectGame). Things didn't go well tonight. Okay, okay this might not be a time for this kind of pep talk.
But maybe things turn out a differently if Aikin is able to move the runners around in the first & OU scratches a couple runs across. Maybe if Curran gets out of the first trailing- just- 3-0 then the bottom never falls out? All of the sudden it's 3-2 after two ... I digress.
Regardless, they have a massive opportunity ahead this weekend. Call it a gut check. Call it whatever you want. But there will be some questions answered this weekend. Oklahoma will head to Austin in a tie for second place in the conference. Unfortunately, it's in a place the program has struggled at the most. *End pep talk*
***********************************************************************************
Quoteboard from Stillwater:
Pete Hughes, OU head coach:
"I know you don't want any game to beat you twice. This will motivate us a little. This will galvanize us a little bit. I'm using it as a teaching moment believe it. With adversity and how we handle it. I was proud of the way we handled it in here with composure. Those games are super hard to coach and super hard to play in from this side of things. We still ran hard 90s. We ran out our pop ups. We played hard. We stayed in it with each other. We're going to move on and learn from it and get better from it."
Taylor Alspaugh, (2-for-4)
"Well we can't let it derail us. We still had a good weekend series and we move forward. We can't let just one bump in the road stop the whole train in general. We've just got to keep moving on and keep getting better and we'll see these guys again so hopefully we'll be ready the next time."
Chris Shaw (2-for-4, RUN):
"I think we did a great job battling back. We put on two right after the inning and that's what we tried to do was just win each inning after that. That's all you can do after they put up an 8-spot but once they started piling runs after that eight then that comes tough. Some bounces didn't go our way and that was just the way it went today."
********************************************************************************************************************
- I'm going to go out and talk with the players on Wednesday afternoon and we'll get more of a Texas weekend preview up in coming days. Unless we wake up to find the season has been canceled. Let's all just take a deep breath. And, in this case, I'll go ahead and finish this beer I'm drinking before bed.
This post was edited on 4/8 3:26 AM by Eddie_Rado
BEDLAM BASEBALL - Game Thread
There are two sides of a historic loss. There's the side that calls for celebration from the winning side. Oklahoma City Thunder TV announcer Brian Davis has affectionaly deemed this area 'the high side', partner.
Then there's the side Oklahoma found itself on Tuesday night in Stillwater. The wrong side of a 24-2 decision. That doesn't happen often in baseball unless your down the street at your local little league park. And for the record 'Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore'.
Only lessons learned the hardway, brought about by an in-state rival nonetheless.
"It's a cruel game sometimes. Things just spiraled out of control," said Sooners manager Pete Hughes following the Oklahoma programs first 20-run loss in over a decade. "It wasn't for a lack of effort. You've got to tip your hat to those guys to come out and have a great offensive night. They were really impressive tonight."
And that might be putting it lightly. An eight-run first inning put the Cowboys (23-9) in front and the offense didn't quit; adding four in the third, three in the fourth, five in the fifth and four in the sixth.
However, before it all went down hill there were opportunities. Albeit that last for about 15 minutes in the top of the first.
Kolbey Carpenter and Taylor Alspaugh delievered back-to-back singles to start the game only to be stranded after Hughes elected to play small-ball. Craig Aikin failed to get down a sacrifice-bunt and then two strikeouts later Oklahoma State starter Conor Costello, an Edmond Santa Fe product, ended the OU threat.
"You look at the story of the first inning. We didn't execute fundamentally twice with a bunt," Hughes said. "They played catch. No errors. Then they come up. Get their bunts down and we didn't play catch. It was a matter of fundamental baseball."
A single by second baseman Tim Arakawa and an error put the first two on for the Cowboys. Then the bottom fell out as Oklahoma State sent 11 total batters to the plate, scoring 8 runs on six hits. Costello helped his own cause with a double to right-center. Arakawa returned to the plate to add the exclamation with the seventh and eigth runs coming on a two-run blast to right.
When it was all said and done the 24 runs for Josh Holliday's club was their most ever in a game against OU, besting the 23 the 1987 and 1952 teams scored, and the margin of victory was the largest in Bedlam history.
Oklahoma staged a brief, two-out rally in the top of the second. Junior catcher Chris Shaw grounded a single through the left side and the Sooners got on the board with a two-run home run by senior third baseman Joshua Ake. Carpenter and Alspaugh each followed with their second hit of the night, but that was it for OU in the frame.
"These are the games that you don't forget too much. They last in the memory a little bit," said Shaw. "I think it's just getting to the ballpark tomorrow. Clean slate. The past is the past. That's what we look to do everyday is get a clean start."
A clean start that will be much needed. But not quite so much earned with a looming three game series set to kickoff in Austin on Friday.
"We've just got to regroup. Come back tomorrow and get ready for Texas," Alspaugh said. "You learn from your mistakes and you move on. It's a short memory. You can't say you're past it because you have to learn from your mistakes but as far as I'm concerned I'm on to Texas."
****************************************************************************
NOTES ...
* Joshua Ake's second inning home run was his first collegiate dinger
Taylor Alspaugh (2-for-4):
* Oddly enough Tuesday nights setback comes on the heels of a 5-five game Oklahoma win streak. Taylor Alspaugh was all about keeping it positive heading into - what could be termed- the biggest weekend of the season ... remember last nights contest was not a conference game.
"Win or loss you have to get back out there. Regardless. That's the beauty of the game or sports in general," said Alspaugh, a Tulsa Union product. "You have tomorrow so regardless if we would have won tonight by that margin you have to get back out (tomorrow) and start working. So it really doesn't change our approach or how we approach the next series."
* Was it a terrible loss? I would fire myself if I tried to tell you it wasn't. But as embarassing of a loss as it was the season isn't ruined because of- what will go down as- one non-conference loss.
I think this is a much, much better team than was fielded Tuesday. The thing spiraled out of control in the bottom of the first and they could never stop the water from drowning the rest of the town- so to speak.
Go back and check the game thread. There were multiple opportunities early to stop the bleeding and it just didn't happen.
As I posted in the weekend baseball thread last weekend. I honestly believe the program is headed in the right direction. They have a really good recruiting coming in next season (currently ranked No.21 by PerfectGame). Things didn't go well tonight. Okay, okay this might not be a time for this kind of pep talk.
But maybe things turn out a differently if Aikin is able to move the runners around in the first & OU scratches a couple runs across. Maybe if Curran gets out of the first trailing- just- 3-0 then the bottom never falls out? All of the sudden it's 3-2 after two ... I digress.
Regardless, they have a massive opportunity ahead this weekend. Call it a gut check. Call it whatever you want. But there will be some questions answered this weekend. Oklahoma will head to Austin in a tie for second place in the conference. Unfortunately, it's in a place the program has struggled at the most. *End pep talk*
***********************************************************************************
Quoteboard from Stillwater:
Pete Hughes, OU head coach:
"I know you don't want any game to beat you twice. This will motivate us a little. This will galvanize us a little bit. I'm using it as a teaching moment believe it. With adversity and how we handle it. I was proud of the way we handled it in here with composure. Those games are super hard to coach and super hard to play in from this side of things. We still ran hard 90s. We ran out our pop ups. We played hard. We stayed in it with each other. We're going to move on and learn from it and get better from it."
Taylor Alspaugh, (2-for-4)
"Well we can't let it derail us. We still had a good weekend series and we move forward. We can't let just one bump in the road stop the whole train in general. We've just got to keep moving on and keep getting better and we'll see these guys again so hopefully we'll be ready the next time."
Chris Shaw (2-for-4, RUN):
"I think we did a great job battling back. We put on two right after the inning and that's what we tried to do was just win each inning after that. That's all you can do after they put up an 8-spot but once they started piling runs after that eight then that comes tough. Some bounces didn't go our way and that was just the way it went today."
********************************************************************************************************************
- I'm going to go out and talk with the players on Wednesday afternoon and we'll get more of a Texas weekend preview up in coming days. Unless we wake up to find the season has been canceled. Let's all just take a deep breath. And, in this case, I'll go ahead and finish this beer I'm drinking before bed.
This post was edited on 4/8 3:26 AM by Eddie_Rado
BEDLAM BASEBALL - Game Thread
