Braden Davis did all he could on Saturday evening.

But despite another brilliant outing from the Sooners' star left-hander, Oklahoma couldn't give him the requisite run support to remain in the driver's seat of the Norman regional. One day after hanging 14 runs on Oral Roberts in a thoroughly one-sided victory, the Sooners simply couldn't find an offensive groove against UConn.

And it proved costly.

After toppling second-seeded Duke in the very first game of regional play Friday afternoon, the 3-seed Huskies came into the contest hungry for another upset victory. But the task ahead was undeniably daunting, as they had to square off with a white-hot Oklahoma offense and a true ace in Davis. Most recently, the southpaw had tossed a four-hit shutout against TCU last Wednesday in the Big 12 tournament, but he had long since emerged as the most effective starter in the Sooner rotation. Head coach Skip Johnson had saved Davis for this contest rather than deploying him for Friday's opener, a maneuver that worked beautifully. Right-hander Kyson Witherspoon drew the start and tossed six scoreless innings of one-hit ball against Oral Roberts, which set the Sooners up nicely for Saturday's semifinal matchup.

From the jump, Davis engaged in an old-fashioned pitchers' duel with UConn right-hander Stephen Quigley, as the two starters locked horns and traded zeroes for the majority of the contest. The Huskies pushed across a third-inning run via a Korey Morton single, but otherwise had little success solving Davis. However, the UConn lineup did succeed in making Davis labor, as they continually worked counts and fouled off pitches. By the end of the fourth inning, Davis' pitch count had already reached 79.

The Sooners put a runner in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth frames, but on each occasion, they couldn't cash in. Time after time, Quigley silenced the Sooner faithful at L. Dale Mitchell Park with contact outs. In stark contrast to Davis' power pitching, Quigley dominated the Oklahoma lineup with finesse, as he notched just two strikeouts but didn't allow a walk in eight-plus innings of work. Whether via the ground ball or the fly ball, Quigley simply retired hitters, and he didn't allow multiple baserunners in an inning all night.

Scott Mudler briefly brought the packed house back to its feet with a one-out single in the seventh, but it didn't take long for UConn to suck the life back out of the crimson-clad crowd. Rocco Garza-Gongora yanked a line drive down the line, but Huskies first baseman Maddix Dalena snatched it out of the air and stepped on the bag to double off Mudler. Davis got a quick out in the bottom of the inning, but then surrendered back-to-back hits, and Skip Johnson went to the bullpen. Despite 10 strikeouts to his credit, Davis exited the game on the hook for the loss. He'd surrendered seven hits and three walks on the evening.

And upon Davis' departure, UConn third baseman Luke Broadhurst immediately delivered a devastating blow, taking reliever Dylan Crooks deep for a three-run shot to stretch the lead to 4-0. Come the top of the eighth, the Sooners finally broke through on Quigley, as Kendall Pettis snuck a solo homer over the left-field wall. But Quigley, unfazed, set the next three hitters down in order.

After Crooks worked a scoreless eighth, Jaxon Willits gave the Sooners a leadoff baserunner in the ninth, as he coaxed a full-count walk off Quigley. That marked the end of the line for the Huskies' wilting righty starter, and UConn reliever Brady Afthim immediately issued another walk to Michael Snyder. But Jackson Nicklaus fouled out and Mudler flied to left. The Sooners' last hope was Garza-Gongora, but he lined out softly to second to end the game, and the Huskies prevailed 4-1.

With the loss, the Sooners are now set for an elimination matchup with Duke tomorrow. Should they emerge victorious in that 2pm CT tilt, they'll have to turn around and play UConn again at 8pm CT. Should Oklahoma win twice tomorrow, they'd face UConn a third time in a winner-take-all regional final on Monday.

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