No. 12 West Virginia saw their 10-game winning streak come to an end with a 6-3 loss in game two against Oklahoma on Saturday.
In the win, pitcher Braden Carmichael (5-0) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out six batters. Relief pitcher Will Carsten recorded the save for the Sooners (26-21, 10-10).
In the loss, Blaine Traxel (6-4) pitched seven innings, allowing five earned runs and striking out three batters.
Despite the loss, West Virginia (35-12, 12-5) managed to set a new regular season single-game home attendance record, with an official number of 4,387 in attendance.
“It means the world to everybody as you know,” West Virginia skipper Randy Mazey said of the crowd. “This community has rallied behind our program, and ole Traxel loves to get them fired up in one way or another.”
Oklahoma took the lead in the first inning and never relinquished it as Bryce Madron hit a two-run home run to right field to lead 2-0 midway through the first inning. West Virginia responded with a Landon Wallace RBI single to shallow left field to score Tevin Tucker to cut it to 2-1 after one inning.
The only hit by either team in the second inning came when Jackson Nicklaus hit a single to left field. The score remained the same after two innings.
The same would apply for the third inning, as Oklahoma’s Anthony Mackenzie hit a single down the third base line. Carmichael retired three more Mountaineer batters to extend his consecutive retired batters to eight.
It was a 1-2-3 inning for both sides in the fourth inning. Carmichael extended his list of consecutive retired batters to 11 after four innings.
After a 1-2-3 inning for the Sooners offensively, Braden Carmichael saw his streak of consecutive retired batters end at 13 as Ellis Garcia hit a single to left field. Sam White hit a double to left field but the Mountaineers came away empty handed as Tevin Tucker hit a pop out in foul ball territory to keep the score the same after five.
Oklahoma extended their lead in the sixth inning when Dakota Harris hit a two-run home run to right field to extend the lead to 5-1. West Virginia would respond with an RBI sacrifice fly from Braden Barry to score JJ Wetherholt and an RBI single from Dayne Leonard to score Landon Wallace to make it 5-3 after six.
Blaine Traxel finished his day with a 1-2-3 inning to start the seventh. JJ Wetherholt hit a double to right center field to make Oklahoma switch out pitchers but mustered nothing else as Landon Wallace hit a fly out to left field to keep the score the same after seven innnings.
The Sooners added to their lead in the eighth when Kendall Pettis hit an RBI single up the middle to score Bryce Madron and Sebastian Orduno hit an RBI single down the first base line to score Pettis with Easton Carmichael being denied a score at home plate. After a review was upheld, West Virginia only mustered a hit when Braden Barry hit a single up the middle to see their deficit increase to 6-3 after the eighth inning.
Oklahoma loaded the bases in the ninth on three straight walks but were held scoreless when John Spikerman struck out to retire the side. Ellis Garcia hit a single to right field but three straight batters were retired to seal the loss for the Mountaineers.
Game three of the series is set for Sunday at 11 a.m. ET, with the first pitch being moved from 1 p.m. due to the threat of potential thunderstorms in the Morgantown area.
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