OU baseball: Sooners drop first game of season with 7-2 loss Saturday

The Associated Press

Sophomore infielder Matt Oberste (14) hits a home run in the second inning against Virginia during an NCAA college baseball regional game Sunday, June 3, 2012, in Charlottesville, Va.

The No. 18 Oklahoma baseball team dropped its first game of the season with a 7-2 loss against Pepperdine on Saturday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

OU (10-1) got down by two runs in the first inning but battled its way back to tie the game in the fifth, but the Wave (7-4) scored the game-winning run on a fielder’s choice groundout in the top of the sixth. The Sooners came close to knotting the game at three in the bottom of the eighth, but they left the potential-tying run 90 feet from home before Pepperdine scored four runs in the top of the ninth.

Key Stat: 11 — OU stranded 11 runners in its first loss of the year. The Sooners stranded two runners on base three times — in the second, third and sixth innings — and left the bases loaded in the first. It’s hard to win games when teams leave a small island village on base.

Key Player: Pepperdine third baseman Austin Davidson — Although Davidson only had one hit in four at-bats, he drove the final nail in the coffin with a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning.

Honorable Mention: Junior first baseman Matt Oberste — The two-time Big 12 Player of the Week is making a case for receiving the honor for the third straight week. He went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, triple and single — being just a double short of completing the cycle. He has hit safely in all 11 games this season and has a 14-game hitting streak dating back to last year.

What it means: Coach Sunny Golloway has talked about how his team can learn more from losing a game rather than winning. Well, this is his first chance to teach his club about losing. The question is will OU come out in Sunday’s finale having paid attention to the lesson or come out flat to lose its first series of the year?

What’s next for the Sooners: OU and Pepperdine will conclude their series at 1 p.m. Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Whoever wins that game will win the series.

Jono Greco

Jono Greco, journalism graduate student, is the sports editor for the The Daily. This is his seventh semester on staff, previously working on the sports desk as the assistant editor and as the football and baseball beat reporter, as well as multiple other sports beats. He also served as copy chief during the Fall 2012 semester.

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