Sooners Drop Series Finale at West Virginia

Oklahoma

West Virginia

Line Score
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
OU	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	1
WVU	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	X	5	5	1

Pitching
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
WP - Strowd (3-2)	5.0	3	1	1	8	7
LP - Prater (5-2)	3.0	3	4	3	4	3

IndiInvidual Leaders
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB
OU - Vujovich	3	0	1	1	2
OU - Cavalli	3	1	1	0	1
OU - Hardman	5	0	2	0	0

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 19th-ranked Oklahoma baseball team dropped its series finale at West Virginia 5-1 on a cold and snowy Sunday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark.

Left fielder Jordan Vujovich doubled and drove in a run, and first baseman Tyler Hardman doubled and singled for the Sooners (22-7, 4-2 Big 12). After two balmy days with temperatures in the 60s and 70s, the weather turned cold overnight. Sunday's game began in swirling snowy conditions with a first pitch temperature of 35 degrees. Snow swirled on and off throughout the early innings, falling hard at times.

The loss broke a streak of 14 straight Big 12 series rubber games won by the Sooners. Prior to Sunday, the last time OU lost the deciding third game of a conference series was in 2014 at TCU. It was also the first time this season that Oklahoma did not win at least two of three games in a weekend series.

“It was a really tough day to play,” Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson said. “It was snowing and the environment wasn't good, but I think the biggest thing was that we lost the rhythm of the game in the first couple of innings. I was really proud of Jaret Godman and Wyatt Olds coming in and making some big pitches to keep it to 5-1 and see if our offense could come back.”

Trailing 3-0, Oklahoma scored in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Vujovich, who was nearly safe at first on the play. Designated hitter Cade Cavalli singled up the middle and moved around to score on the groundout.

Freshmen Jaret Godman and Wyatt Olds combined to retire the final 14 WVU batters of the game in relief of sophomore Levi Prater (5-2) who went 3.0 innings in the start. After a single in the fourth, Godman retired eight straight batters before Olds worked two perfect innings.

West Virginia scored an unearned run in the first inning on an errant throw to second on an infield ground ball. The Mountaineers added two runs in the third inning on a two-run home run by first baseman Marques Inman and made it 5-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout.

WVU starter Kade Strowd (5-2) pitched 5.0 innings and earned the win for the Mountaineers (16-11, 2-4 Big 12).

Right fielder Diego Muniz also singled and walked for OU, which tallied five hits and drew nine walks, leaving 13 runners on base.

“We just have to get back the fundamentals of the game, playing good catch and executing with men in scoring position,” Johnson said of the Sooners moving forward. “We have to just keep working on our game and keep trying to grow.”

Oklahoma returns home for six straight games at L. Dale Mitchell Park, beginning with a Tuesday game against Oral Roberts. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.