Sooners Shut Out By Kansas State

Oklahoma (30-22, 11-8 Big 12) was shutout for just the second time this season, as the Sooners dropped the series opener in Manhattan, Kan., to Kansas State (24-25, 8-11 Big 12) by a final of 5-0.

The Sooners were under duress the entire evening, as the Wildcats had at least one runner on base in every inning, including the leadoff batter in five frames. The Sooners did not help their own cause, giving up three walks, a hit batter and four errors to aid the Kansas State offense.

The Crimson and Cream hitters was held in check the entire game by Kansas State's Nate Griep. The sophomore was masterful on Friday, tossing a complete game and allowing three hits and two walks while striking out three. Griep improved to 5-2 on the season.

The lone bright spot for Oklahoma on Friday was the performance of the bullpen. Corey Copping, Jeffrey Curran and Thomas McIlraith combined to toss 3.2 innings of relief, scattering two hits and allowing no runs.

The Sooners found themselves in an early hole, as the Wildcats pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. A leadoff walk to Carter Yagi, followed by an RBI-double from Tyler Wolfe and a single by Shane Conlon to drive in another run.

After two innings of scoreless baseball in the second and third, Kansas State tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth to increase its lead to three runs at 3-0. Max Brown led off with a single followed by a walk to Alex Bee and a sacrifice bunt from Sam Chadick to put runners on second and third with one out. The Wildcats scored off a sacrifice fly to centerfield off the bat of Clayton Dalrymple. OU's centerfielder Craig Aikin made a diving catch on the play too save another run from scoring.

KSU added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 5-0. The Wildcats used four singles in the frame, including back-to-back RBI infield base knocks from Tyler Moore and Brown for the multi-run inning.

The Sooners and Wildcats are back in action on Saturday, playing in game two of the three game series. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.