Free falling

The Texas baseball team lost to Oklahoma State on Sunday, 8-3, marking the second consecutive time they’ve been swept in a weekend series. Overall, the loss is the seventh straight defeat for Texas – their longest losing streak in over 50 years.

The Cowboys scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the first inning, and OSU starter Michael Freeman limited the Horns in the first two innings. The UT offense broke through in the top of the third frame on a two-out, 2 RBI single from Ben Johnson, that staked Texas to a 2-1 lead.

The advantage was short-lived, as Oklahoma State struck for three runs in the home half of the third, grabbing a 4-2 lead on 4 straight singles followed by a sacrifice bunt. With momentum in their dugout, the Pokes’ steady offense scored four more runs the next inning, knocking Texas starter Kacy Clemens from the game, and giving them a commanding six-run lead.

As has often been the case over the previous week, the Texas offense responded to the deficit with two groundouts and a strikeout in the next half-inning. The Longhorns were robbed of a run in the top of the sixth and added an inconsequential run in the top of the ninth inning for the 8-3 final tally.

Clemens allowed five earned runs in 3.1 innings on six hits, two walks, and a hit batter. With the loss, Clemens’ record evened at 2-2. Connor Mayes was again solid in relief with 3.1 innings of one-run work.

Freeman improved to 6-0 on the season. Although he struggled to command his pitches at times, Freeman only allowed the two earned runs over 8.0 innings.

During the current 7-game losing streak, the Longhorns are scoring 2.0 runs per game. In 15 losses this season, the offense scored 45 runs (3.0/loss), compared to 108 runs (6.4 rpg) in wins. During the current losing streak, Texas has amassed 75 strikeouts (10.7/game).

POST-GAME

Augie Garrido

On negative momentum: “We’re not making any excuses. We understand the responsibilities we have… Momentum is what gets it rolling. I’m very proud of our players – they did not give into that at all. Their body language was not feeling sorry for themselves, we went out and competed. We had a run taken away from us in the sixth inning and then we scored in the ninth. They got some runs that were gifts and that was the separation.”

On his message to the team: “The message is that we played a much better offensive game against one of the best pitchers in college baseball today than we have in the past. But when you’re in these funks, what you can count on is for things to go wrong on the day you can’t have it go wrong. But we actually took a lot better at-bats today, got really aggressive against good pitching and we need to build off that.”