Texas Baseball Drops One-Run Game, Unable to Sweep OU

There are many ways of looking at Texas Baseball dropping a 2-1 game against Oklahoma Sunday afternoon in Austin.

There’s what Texas Baseball failed to do, what Oklahoma did, and what the home plate umpire did to change the course of the game.

Any way you shake it, Oklahoma took Game 3 of the weekend series to avoid a sweep. Texas will have to settle for winning the series and reaching .500 in the Big 12 conference at 6-6. [ Full Box Score ]

https://twitter.com/TexasBaseball/status/851157273275707392

Texas Baseball Unable to Win Early

Texas scored their only run of the game in the first inning. And, a missed opportunity loomed large.

The Longhorns loaded the bases with no one out. But, they only scored one run on a sacrifice fly by Kacy Clemens.

From there, Texas got men in scoring position in multiple innings, but they could not find that clutch hit that helped them win the first two games against Oklahoma.

The story of Texas Hitting this season is very simple. When they get clutch hits, they win. They can’t find a clutch hit, they lose. The starting pitching is typically superb, so it comes down to whether they can piece together a rally.

Unfortunately, they were without their anchor Kacy Clemens for most of the game.

Home Plate Ump Makes Crucial Decision

With Texas up 1-0 in the fourth inning, home plate umpire David Wiley rung up senior Kacy Clemens on a curveball that was not even close to the plate.

Kacy Clemens stated his displeasure, turned to walk to the dugout, and Wiley emphatically tossed Clemens from the game, appearing to show him up. Texas manager David Pierce argued with Wiley, who essentially warned Pierce not to get tossed as well.

If we could get psychological, it came across like Wiley knew he screwed up the call, got defensive about it, and tried to transfer the focus to Kacy for contesting a pitch that was clearly off the plate.

With Kacy Clemens ejected and out of a Texas game for the first time this season, Texas struggled to recover.

Catcher Michael Cantu got his shot with runners on second and third in a 1-1 tie game. But, again, David Wiley incorrectly called a strike on a 3-1 count to Cantu. The pitch was not as egregious as the pitch to Kacy, but it was clearly off the plate and should have been ball four to load the bases. Instead, Cantu struck out swinging on the next pitch, leaving more Runners in Scoring Position.

After that failed RISP opportunity, Oklahoma struck.

Texas Pitching Unable to Shut the Door

Oklahoma went scoreless through the first five innings against Kyle Johnston, who seems to have regained his form after struggles in March.

But, Johnston gave up back-to-back walks, then a single in the sixth inning to allow the Sooners’ first run.

It looked like Johnston was left in the game too long. But, he was able to escape the sixth without any further damage.

Texas was not as fortunate in the top of the seventh when OU plated a run against reliever Chase Shugart to take a 2-1 lead.

With Texas struggling to score runs without Kacy Clemens in the game, the Longhorns hitters could not scratch together a tying run in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

Oklahoma took the game 2-1, but the Horns took the series 2-1.

Next: Clemens Bros. Turn Bash Bros. vs. OU

Now, Texas will look to regroup Tuesday night against Texas State in Austin. Then, the Horns resume Big 12 play next weekend in Waco against Baylor.