Bears Fall To Sooners In Frisco

FRISCO, Texas – A four-run fifth inning was the difference as Oklahoma came back to defeat the California baseball team 9-5 on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Frisco Classic at Rider Stadium.
 
Cal (6-2) finished with five runs on nine hits but left three on base – none bigger than in the top of the fifth inning when Cal left two on base while clinging to a 3-2 lead. Rodney Green Jr. went 2-for-4 with his third home run of the season. Tucker Bougie and Dom Souto also collected multiple hits.
 
Oklahoma (5-4) finished the day with eight runs on 10 hits. Jackson Nicklaus was a thorn in the Bears' side all afternoon, going 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs. Dakota Harris went 4-for-5 with two runs scored.
 
Cal scored in the first, third and fourth innings to take an early 3-0 lead. Caleb Lomavita wasted no time getting the Bears' offense in gear. He led off the game, jumping all over the first pitch of the game for a double to left center, and he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Carson Crawford.
 
In the top of the third, Green Jr. left earth, smashing a pitch over the right-field wall. The home run for Green is his third of the year and ninth of his career. In the fourth, Bougie led off the inning with a base hit to center field. A walk and back-to-back fly balls allowed him to score the Bears' third run of the contest.

 
Ian May got the start for Cal. He retired the first three batters he faced and pitched around a leadoff single in the second. He left the game in the bottom of the third after walking the leadoff batter. His final line was 2.0+ innings pitched, surrendering one hit and a walk with a strikeout.

May left the game at that point with tightness in his arm.

“Obviously the game changed pretty quickly when May had to come out,” Cal head coach Mike Neu said. “I felt like we were in a good spot. He’s been rolling and hasn’t given up an earned run all year.

“We got out to an early lead (3-0) and felt like the offense was clicking then obviously, things changed pretty quickly after that. I was feeling pretty good about our bullpen. They’ve been so strong all year. But they (Oklahoma) did well. They battled off some pitches and we had to get deep into the pen.”
 
Oklahoma got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when Cal relief pitcher Tyler Stasiowski ran into trouble. A one-out single by Harris was followed by a two-run home run by Nicklaus. Stasiowski was able to right the ship and got out of the inning with the lead intact.
 
Cal had its chance to put the game away in the top of the fifth inning. Souto led off the inning with a double down the line. Lomavita walked on four pitches, bringing Green Jr. back up to the plate. However, Oklahoma relief pitcher Carter Campbell (1-0) got Green Jr. and Crawford to strike out and ended the inning when Bougie grounded out first on a sharply hit ball.
 
The Sooners took the lead in the bottom of the fifth. They entered the inning trailing 3-2. A double down the left-field line by John Spikerman briefly tied the game at 3-3. An RBI single by Harris and a two-run home run by Nicklaus capped off a four-run inning that put the Sooners out front 6-3.  Chris Stamos (1-1) took the loss for Cal. He went 1.0 complete, surrendering three hits, four runs, all earned, with a walk and four strikeouts.

 
The Bears struck back in the sixth. Kade Kretzschmar led off with a single up the middle. Two batters later, Jag Burden jumped all over the first pitch he saw for a two-run blast to right field. That marked his first homer of the year and second of his career. But that was all the Bears would score. Oklahoma added to its lead in the eighth inning, scoring three more to put the game away.
 
UP NEXT
The Frisco Classic will resume tomorrow when Cal will take on Ohio State. That game is slated to begin at 3 p.m. PT and will follow the completion of Oklahoma and Mississippi State. Saturday's contest will feature live stats and will be streamed live on D1Baseball.com.

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