OU baseball falls to East Carolina in NCAA Tournament regional opener

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In the nightcap of Friday’s first round of the NCAA baseball tournament in the Charlottesville Regionals, Oklahoma battled East Carolina in the first ever meeting in baseball between the two squads. Following a scoreless opening inning, the second-seeded Pirates ran away to victory 14-5 over the Sooners, scoring at least one run in each of the next seven innings they batted in.

It was the first loss of the season for Oklahoma ace pitcher Braden Carmichael who entered the game with a perfect 7-0 record and a 3.15 earned-run average. The left-handed pitcher struggled as he waked five and gave up four runs in just 2 2/3 innings pitched.

Carmichael held the Pirates offense scoreless in the first inning but gave up a pair of runs in each of the next two innings before his departure. With one out in the second, the Sooners senior walked in Joey Berini giving the Pirates their first run and East Carolina junior Carter Cunningham followed with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Alec Makarewicz.

East Carolina batter Cam Clonch opened the bottom of the third inning with a walk and later scored on an infield single by Berini to second base. A fielding error by Oklahoma shortstop Dakota Harris helped the Pirates extend their lead to 4-0.

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“I think [Braden] Carmichael did a good job in the first inning and the two strikeouts,” Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson said. “He got out of rhythm some and when that happened he started trying to make things happen. When you’re trying to hard, you fail in this game and that’s what happened tonight.”

Although the Sooners ace didn’t have his best night, the Pirates offense had similar success regardless of who they faced on the mound for Oklahoma. The Pirates next victim was pitcher Carter Campbell who took over for Carmichael on the mound.

Following an infield sacrifice by Clonch to make it 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth, left-handed catcher Justin Wilcoxen broke the game wide open with a two-run shot to right field for his ninth home run of the season.

Junior Carson Atwood didn’t fair any better when he took over pitching duties in the fifth inning. After reaching base on a single for the Pirates, Lane Hoover stole second base and then third. Cunningham then delivered a two-run double down the right field line, scoring Hoover and Jacob Starling. Josh Moylan singled to nearly the same spot, scoring Cunningham and increasing the East Carolina lead to 10-0.

Cunningham finished the night with 3 RBIs to lead the Pirates, while Wilcoxen and Berini each added two. Four other Pirate players had at least one RBI.

While the Pirates offense dominated, sophomore Trey Yesavage delivered a noteworthy performance from the mound for his team. In five innings pitched, the ace threw seven strikeouts while giving up just four hits to Sooners batters.

Oklahoma would manage to get on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning against Yesavage when Bryce Madron scored on a single to left field by Easton Carmichael. Madron reached base on an error in one of the few mistakes for the Pirates when second baseman Starling mishandled a ground ball. Easton Carmichael finished the night 2 of 4 with one RBI to lead the Sooners offense.

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Oklahoma added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning after back-to-back hits by Diego Muniz and John Spikerman to start the frame. Next, Kendall Pettis hit a sacrifice fly to rightfield scoring Muniz. Spikerman would score on a wild pitch by Pirates pitcher Jake Hunter for the Sooners.

Kendall Pettis scored for the Sooners on a Madron single in the ninth inning and Madron reached home for the final run in the contest but it was too late for Oklahoma.

“I’m really proud of how our team kept competing and fighting all night,” Pettis said. We kept getting after it and the way we can take that to tomorrow is to go out and put up some runs early and build momentum and get on a run.”

The loss was the third straight for the Sooners who face Army at 11 a.m. Saturday in an elimination game. The Black Knights will be another unfamiliar opponent for the Sooners with the only meeting between the two teams coming over a decade ago in 2012.

“We picked a bad day to play bad,” Johnson said. “But we’ve got to forget about this one quickly. We got a quick turnaround tomorrow and the way we get things for the team turned around is to go out and take one pitch at a time. This one’s over and we have to go out and take it one pitch at a time if we’re going to win tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, East Carolina will take on Virginia at 5 p.m. The Pirates eliminated the Cavaliers from the NCAA tournament during the opening regional round in 2022.

More: Get to know the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners baseball team and schedule

OU vs. Army

When: 11 a.m. Saturday

Where: Disharoon Park in Charlottesville, Va.

TV: ESPN

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU baseball falls to East Carolina in NCAA Tournament regional opener