Three Thoughts From Day Two Of the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
It was an interesting day at Oklahoma City’s Bricktown Ballpark for the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament. We saw just two games due to bad weather, but those two games had huge implications as the losers would be sent packing.
As we continue to make our way through the tourney, I have a few thoughts from the second day of Big 12 baseball action. Here were the final scores from Thursday’s games. As I mentioned earlier, only two games were played due to bad weather, but the two games missed will be made up on Friday.
Final Scores from Thursday
#7 Kansas State defeats #6 Baylor 9-4
#1 Texas defeats #5 Oklahoma 4-1
1. Kansas State Keeps Hopes Alive While Baylor is Sent Home
It was a slow start to the game, but Baylor found themselves up 3-0 after four innings thanks to Jared McKenzie who had a solo blast in the third inning before knocking in two more runs in the fourth. What happened next is something I didn’t see coming. The Kansas State bats woke up when Zach Kokoska and Nick Goodwin hit back-to-back solo jacks to put two runs up on the board for K-State in the sixth inning.
But Kansas State wasn’t done there as they were able to add a whopping seven runs in the top of the seventh inning which was highlighted by a Caleb Littlejim three run dinger to give Kansas State a 9-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Baylor would add a run in the same inning, but the score ended with the Wildcats on top 9-4.
This was a huge win for Kansas State as they are likely a fringe postseason team. The Wildcats needed to have a big week and staying alive also means their dreams of making the field of 64 are still afloat. They will face the loser of the Texas Tech/TCU game at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, Baylor was listed as on of the last five teams in according to D1 Baseball and by going winless in the conference tournament, the Bears chances of getting to the postseason are slim.
2. Texas Cruises Past Oklahoma
If you liked pitching, then this was a game for you. Texas scored the first run of the game thanks to a sac-fly in the second inning, but Oklahoma would tie the game at one in the third inning with Conor McKenna’s RBI single. That would be it for the Sooners offense for the day. Meanwhile, Texas would pull ahead in the bottom third after a Douglas Hodo III RBI to go up 2-1.
Then Oklahoma Head Coach Skip Johnson pulled starting pitcher Braden Carmichael in favor of Wyatt Olds who would strike out 11 batters in five innings allowing just one run and two hits. Unfortunately for the Sooners, the bats never woke up and they wound up being eliminated by the Longhorns as Texas would go on to a 4-1 victory.
For Oklahoma, their Big 12 run comes to an end and with D1 Baseball listing the Sooners as one of the first five teams out of the field of 64, they did no favors this week by losing their first two games of the Big 12 tournament. As for Texas, they move on and will face the loser of the Oklahoma State/West Virginia game on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
3. Updated Bracket
Due to the change in scheduling, the Big 12 announced some new times for all the Big 12 baseball action on Friday. Here is the full slate listed for Friday.
Non-Elimination Games
#2 TCU vs #3 Texas Tech (9 a.m.)
#4 Oklahoma State vs #8 West Virginia (4:00 p.m.)
Elimination Games
Loser of TCU/Texas Tech vs #7 Kansas State (12:30 p.m.)
Loser of Oklahoma State/West Virginia vs #1 Texas (7:30 p.m.)
FOR FIVE THOUGHTS ON DAY THREE OF THE BIG 12 BASEBALL TOURNAMENT, CLICK HERE.
**Want to win a $25 gift card? Go sign up here and join our conversation! The best poster each week wins a gift card to your favorite establishment!**
