Texas will miss Big 12 Championship after 13-0 loss to Oklahoma

After an unexpected College World Series run and a promising start to the 2019 season, the Texas Longhorns were eliminated from the Big 12 Championship and any remote hopes of prolonging the season with a run in Oklahoma City on Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a 13-0 to the Oklahoma Sooners.

Texas entered the series needing a sweep or two wins and a sweep by Kansas over Kansas State, but a 4-2 loss on Thursday put the Longhorns on the brink of elimination.

In front of a sparse crowd in Austin after Friday’s game was moved up and turned into a doubleheader due to the rain forecast on Saturday. Unfortunately for head coach David Pierce’s team, the game went off the rails early — starter Blair Henley gave up three runs in 1.1 innings and the issues continued down the line. Freshman Mason Bryant gave up two runs in a single inning, sophomore Matt Whelan gave up three runs in 0.2 innings, senior Brandon Ivey gave up four runs in three innings, and sophomore Nico O’Donnell gave up a run in his inning of work.

Two errors didn’t help, but the Longhorns only allowed one unearned run. With the offense only able to manage four hits over seven innings, that one unearned run would have been enough for Oklahoma, assuming no further scoring in the last two innings, as the run rule was in effect and the Sooners only needed seven innings to dispatch the home team.

And so Texas was ignominiously dispatched from Big 12 Championship consideration with an ugly loss — the worst, in fact, in program history against its longtime rival. First pitch of the season’s final game for the Horns is at 6:30 p.m. Central on Longhorn Network and 104.9 The Horn.