It’s been a rough early season for the Oakland men’s baseball team as they have started 3-15. They earned their most recent loss Wednesday night against the No. 25 Louisville Cardinals in a 5-13 defeat, extending their losing streak to five games.
Both teams remained scoreless through the first two innings as starting pitcher Ethan Glassman diced through the Cardinals’ order with little trouble. It wasn’t until the third inning that the Golden Grizzlies would get on the board. After two flyouts, shortstop Brandon Nigh earned first base due to a hit-by-pitch. He then stole the next two bags on wild pitches before being driven home by a designated hitter Matthew McGann double.
Louisville came right at Glassman in the very next inning as catcher George Baker hit a home run as the leadoff batter of the frame. Glassman would surrender two more runs in the third before finally getting out of the inning with a groundout. The damage was done, and the Cardinals claimed their first lead of the game, 3-1, ending Glassman’s day after his three innings.
But the Golden Grizzlies’ offense finally had some run support for their starter. To lead off the fourth, OU catcher Ben Clark roped a double to left center right before centerfielder Taylor Tomlin singled to put men on the corners. Right fielder Trent Rice dropped a single into right field to bring home Clark, sending the Cardinals pitcher back into the dugout early. Tomlin would score on a wild pitch to tie the game at three runs apiece. Left fielder John Lauinger singled before Nigh hit a double to drive home two more runs, taking the lead for Oakland 5-3.
Sophomore Austin Fisher came out of the Golden Grizzlies’ bullpen for the fourth inning. After giving up a leadoff walk, Fisher retired his next three batters. Oakland looked competitive and hungry, fighting to end their losing streak.
The Golden Grizzlies couldn’t get anything going in the top of the fifth and called on starter-turned-reliever Tanner Ware to pitch. Ware’s early season struggles were not fixed in this contest, unfortunately. The junior was shelled in 1.2 innings, facing 10 batters and allowing five hits and four runs.
Gage Smith came out of the bullpen to get that final out in the sixth, but the Cardinals were relentless. The Louisville sluggers came to play and went 5-5 against Smith with three singles and back-to-back home runs. In the blink of an eye, a 5-3 lead turned into an 11-5 deficit.
Ethan Henry came in for Smith, and after walking his first batter, he struck out the inning’s last batter to end a nightmare frame for the Golden Grizzlies. At one point, the Cardinals had reached base in eight consecutive plate appearances.
The final three innings were all scoreless for OU. In fact, after their stellar fourth, the Golden Grizzlies went 2-16 in their plate appearances. They went 1-2-3 in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, failing to reach base in any of them.
In the eighth inning, Louisville tacked on two more runs off reliever Jaxson Easterling. At the end of the game, the Cardinals held a resounding 13-5 victory over the Golden Grizzlies. The win took the Cardinals to 14-2 on the year, with their only losses against No. 7 Texas and St. Johns.
Next up for Oakland is a road game against the Michigan State Spartans on Wednesday, March 19.