Xavier falls to Oklahoma in NCAA Tournament opening game

Courtesy of GoXavier.com

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Xavier Baseball fell to the No. 2 seed Oklahoma in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament Louisville Regional on Friday afternoon. The No. 3 seeded Musketeers will face either Louisville or Radford on Saturday at noon in the double-elimination format regional.

Zac Lowther pitched six scoreless innings, with the Musketeers holding a two-run lead going into the seventh, but a seven-run outburst for OU erased the advantage, ending the No. 3 seeded Musketeers’ win-streak at seven.

NEXT UP

• Xavier will face the loser of tonight’s game between No. 1 Louisville and No. 4 Radford. The Cardinals and the Highlanders are set for a 6:23 p.m. first pitch on Friday evening.
• Saturday’s game is set for noon at Jim Patterson Stadium on the campus of University of Louisville.

XU AT THE PLATE

• Nate Soria finished 2-of-4 at the plate, collecting both of the Musketeers’ RBIs on a second inning double.
• Rylan Bannon went 3-of-4 at the plate, including a double in the sixth inning and a pair of singles to the outfield.
• Will LaRue singled in his first at bat, marking his fifth straight at-bat that he reached base, including his 3-for-3 performance in the BIG EAST Championship game against St. John’s.
• LaRue finished 2-of-4 at the plate, scoring a run on Soria’s double.
• Mitch Gallagher scored the other run for Xavier in the second after picking up a single on a bunt down the third base line.
• Conor Grammes took a walk to lead off the third, extending his on-base streak to 15 games.
• Blaine Griffiths took a lead-off walk in the eighth, pinch hitting for Ethan Schmidt. Xavier had two walks on the day.
• Chris Givens’ 15-game hit streak came to an end. The mark stands as the longest streak for a Musketeer this season.

XU ON THE MOUND

• Zac Lowther pitched 6.1 innings, striking out eight and walking three. The junior limited OU to four hits, holding the Sooners scoreless for six innings. In the seventh, an OU triple, followed by a Xavier error and a walk loaded the bases. A Sooner double cleared the bases to put OU up 3-2 when Lowther left the game. Lowther matched his career high pitch count at 116, finishing with four runs against him, including one unearned.
• With the eight strikeouts, Lowther passed Michael Lucas’ 246 career strikeouts to move into third in the Xavier career strikeout rankings with 249. Lowther has struck out at least six in 10 of his last 11 starts.
• Trey Schramm relieved Lowther in the seventh, coming in with one on and one out. The sophomore right-hander faced four batters, finishing with four hits against and three earned runs allowed.
• Brad Kirschner closed out the seventh for the Musketeers, facing three, striking out one and allowing one hit.
• Taylor Williams came in for the eighth inning, striking out one and allowing one hit in a scoreless inning.

HOW XU SCORED

SECOND INNING: Will LaRue singled up the middle to lead off the second, followed by a bunt for Mitch Gallagher down the third base line to put runners on first and second. Nate Soria doubled to the left field line to bring in a pair of runs, putting Xavier up 2-0.