Three Thoughts on the Big 12 Baseball Weekend
Another weekend of college baseball is in the books, as the postseason draws nearer. And there were again some key takeaways, so here are three thoughts on what transpired.
TCU takes it down between league’s top two predicted champ contenders
Oklahoma State put itself in position to grab another key series victory after winning the opener 7-6 Thursday night in Fort Worth. That was quite a thriller, as the Cowboys held on against a late Horned Frogs rally for the win. However, the Pokes were unable to secure another victory in either of the next two games, dropping the middle game 7-3 on Friday, before TCU took the third meeting 12-5 on Saturday. And so it was the preseason pick to win the league that bested the other in this matchup. Oklahoma State fell to 7-5 in conference play, while TCU improved to 7-5.
Oklahoma’s topsy-turvy season continues
Fresh off a College World Series Finals appearance a year ago, the Sooners have been one of the most unpredictable teams in the country. They defeated the aforementioned TCU Horned Frogs in their initial league series. But after that came a three-game sweep in Manhattan at the hands of the Kansas State Wildcats, followed by a competitive showing against a much better (Top 10) Stanford team, then this weekend’s inexplicable series loss at Baylor. This is a bad Baylor team, and Oklahoma still dropped two of three, including a 5-3 setback in the Saturday series finale. Oklahoma isn’t a healthy team right now, which could put it in line for some better play down the stretch, but even that shouldn’t be an excuse for losing this type of series.
Streaking no more
Winning series is all that matters at the end of the day. But Kansas surely wanted to get greedy and sweep West Virginia on the road in Morgantown. Had it achieved the feat, its winning streak would have extended to eight games. As it is, the Jayhawks still rattled off seven wins in a row and took care of business with a series win. The streak has them back at .500 after they were well below that mark in recent days. Kansas stands at 15-15 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12, next taking on Texas Southern a couple of times in the midweek before welcoming Sunflower State rival Kansas State to town.
Teams will get back after it in the coming days, and we’ll surely see some more great action then.
