Junior left-hander Robert Gasser became the first UH baseball player to toss consecutive 10+ strikeout games since 2015, striking out 11 Sooners Friday night. | Andy Yanez/The Cougar
It was a rough weekend for Houston baseball in Norman, Oklahoma, as the Sooners outscored the Cougars 38-5 to sweep the three-game series.
Here is a look at how each game went down:
Game one
Senior outfielder Tyler Bielamowicz started Friday night’s series opener with a bang, blasting a ball to left field in the top of the second to put UH ahead early.
But Bielamowicz’s solo home run was about all the production the Cougars would get from the offense, scoring only one more run that came via an error in the top of the seventh.
Coming off a string of strong starts, junior left-hander Robert Gasser took the mound for UH and once again shined early in the game, except for giving up a solo home run in the third. Gasser struck out 11 Sooners, marking his second consecutive game with 10+ strikeouts.
Despite generating a bunch of swing-and-misses, the lefty ran into trouble in the sixth, loading the bases with no outs, which led to three Sooners runs.
Oklahoma added to its lead in the eighth, scoring two additional runs to comfortably win 7-2.
Game two
Ugly is an understatement when describing how this game went for UH.
Oklahoma hitters lit up the UH pitching staff, scoring 19 runs on 20 hits to cruise to a 19-1 victory.
Except for senior right-hander Carter Henry, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief, every other Cougar pitcher that took the mound gave up at least three earned runs.
Sophomore left-hander Cameron Prayer started the game for the Cougars and struggled mightily, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings of work, taking the loss for UH.
UH’s lone run of the game came courtesy of sophomore infielder Brad Burckel, who hit an RBI single in the top of the eighth to score freshman infielder Luke Almendarez.
Game three
The series finale was more of the same, as Oklahoma run-ruled UH 12-2 in seven innings.
After falling behind 4-0, the Cougars got themselves back in the game with a 2-run fifth inning thanks to RBI hits from Burckel and junior outfielder Steven Rivas.
But the thing that haunted UH all weekend was allowing multi-run innings, and the Sooners put up a crooked number in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs, all of which came with two outs.
Oklahoma followed up its big fifth inning with a three-run sixth and then held UH scoreless in the top of the seventh to end the game via run rule.
Sophomore starter Ben Sears took the loss for UH, giving up nine earned runs on eight hits.
