Oklahoma‘s season ended earlier than the Sooners wanted, losing a Game 7 to UConn on Monday. Head coach Skip Johnson saw his offense sputter in the biggest game of the season. Just one run came across the plate on just seven hits — not the best output.
Johnson was asked about the start Gabe Van Emon made for UConn, saying Oklahoma hitters were off balance when facing him. Van Emon threw 7.1 innings — his longest outing of the season. Six out of his 17 appearances went over five innings.
Try Fubo for FREE today and don’t miss any of the action!
Some unlucky bounces went against Oklahoma too.
“Kept them off balance, kept the ball away all night,” Johnson said of the UConn pitcher. “The one time we did adjust, we hit a single to right field. It’s been weird all weekend, we’ve had some weird stuff happen. The ball hits off Micahel Snyder’s foot, we had a rally going there and it hits off the pitcher. Kind of one of those deals.”
Maybe the most frustrating aspect for Oklahoma was that balls were being put in play. Van Emon only struck out two batters, meaning outs were coming while the ball was in the field. Nothing was falling for the Sooners as some special defensive plays were made by UConn.
One area Johnson highlighted was the leadoff hitter of each inning. In order to start a rally, especially down six heading into the sixth inning, the first guy at the plate needs to get on. Starting an inning with a quick out is a nice way to kill momentum.
“I think he kept us off balance,” Johnson said. “He got some momentum. We hit some balls hard. Couple line drive outs. We could never get a leadoff guy after the first inning on. Every offense, you got to get leadoff hitters on.”
Oklahoma had a roller coaster of offensive numbers throughout the regional. In the opener against Oral Robert, 14 runs were put on the board as a run-rule was called. Their first game against UConn resulted in one run scored, similar to the final game of the regional.
Certainly not what Johnson expected from his ball club heading into the NCAA Tournament. After being a high national seed, there were hopes in Norman of making it to Omaha for the College World Series. Now, the Sooners will go again next season but this time against SEC foes.
The post Skip Johnson breaks down Oklahoma’s offensive struggles in regional final loss appeared first on On3.