Texas Tech baseball drops series-opening game to Oklahoma in Big 12 Conference action

The Texas Tech baseball team's not used to losing at home this season. The Red Raiders are even less accustomed to being shut out at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park.

Braden Davis was unmoved.

The junior lefthander allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings, leading No. 23 Oklahoma to an 8-0 victory Friday night in a Big 12 series opener. The Keller graduate struck out eight, mostly with off-speed and breaking pitches.

"Just keeping them off-balance with a good mix," said Davis (6-3). "I think all the pitches were working to both lefties and righties. I got behind a good amount of hitters, but just keeping that mentality that 'I'm not going to lose this at-bat' helped me get through."

Will Carsten finished off the four-hit shutout, Tech's first at home since 2021.

"I think Davis threw the ball really well," Tech coach Tim Tadlock said. "I think Oklahoma played really well. They beat us in every phase of the game, starting with pitching and playing defense. They had tough at-bats, ran the bases good, so tip your hat to them."

Oklahoma (27-17, 16-6) maintained a one-game lead in the Big 12. Tech (30-18, 12-13) lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped to 22-5 at home this season.

The National Weather Service showed Lubbock had east wind at 30 miles per hour, gusting to 41, not long before game time and southeast wind at 18 mph, gusting to 33 in the early innings.

"It was a tough night to hit," OU coach Skip Johnson said. "The wind's blowing in. Braden settled in. We got a couple runs early and got him in rhythm. ... It was tough to hit. We just hit some balls that landed in, and they didn't."

OU 8-hole hitter Scott Mudler doubled home the first two runs in the second inning and touched off a four-run fifth with a leadoff double.

Tech starter Ryan Free (5-1) went six innings, yielding eight hits and seven runs, three of the fifth-inning runs against him unearned.

Saturday's second game of the series has been moved up to 1 p.m., one hour earlier than originally scheduled.

Around the conference: Can Oklahoma baseball hold off a pack of pursuers? | Big 12 baseball power rankings

Here are takeaways:

The offense no-showed

Tech's only hits off Davis were a Tracer Lopez single in the second inning and a Gavin Kash double in the sixth. Tech also got singles from Kash in the eighth and Landon Stripling in the ninth.

The last time Tech was shut out was in the 2021 NCAA super regional, a season-ending 9-0 loss to Stanford.

Since giving up nine runs to Lamar on March 29 and seven at Oklahoma State on April 5, Davis has a 1.44 earned-run average in his past four starts.

"I'm really staying with the same process," he said. "There are things I can control. There are things I can't control. I'm just keeping the mentality that I'm the better guy on the mound, just kind of letting that go throughout my outings."

The defense didn't help

Oklahoma broke open the game with a four-run fifth inning, helped by three errors. Right fielder Austin Green misread Mudler's leadoff scorcher right at him, and it sailed over Green for a double.

Then it got sloppy. Third baseman Cade McGee committed an error on Jaxon Willits' sacrifice bunt and second baseman T.J. Pompey committed two errors.

Ranging far to his left, Pompey gloved a base hit by John Spikerman, but rather than eat it, threw wildly past first. Then Pompey didn't get down on Bryce Madron's sharp grounder, an error that allowed two runs to score.

Tech was charged with four errors altogether.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: OU's Braden Davis rules in series opener | Texas Tech baseball takeaways