Sooners vow to bounce back after 10-3 MCWS loss

OMAHA, Neb. - Through Oklahoma's stay in Omaha things had gone according to plan. They had played the minimum amount of games and entered Saturday night with its pitching set up for the weekend.

It ain't ever that easy. C'mon you knew that.

Mississippi did to Oklahoma what Oklahoma had done to their opponents through the first three games at the Men's College World Series and took the opening game of the Championship Series 10-3 on Saturday night at Charles Schwab Field.

Uncharacteristically sloppy early. On the wrong end of big two out base hits consistently. And then the bottom fell out as the Rebels went back-to-back-to-back in the eighth.

"That's what's awesome about baseball. You can go 4-4, 5-5, and then the next day you can go 0-4, 0-5, and that's why you have to come back and keep playing the game and learn from the lessons that you learned, just like these guys said," affirmed Skip Johnson. "We woke up this morning and still had to win two games. We'll wake up tomorrow morning and still have to win two games. It happens."

Flush it. Regroup. And bounce back.

A task this Oklahoma has been asked to do time and time again. Even as resilient as this group has been all season Saturday night's setback felt different.

Blake Robertson said they'll learn from it.

"Well, we don't give up. We go pitch to pitch, and we don't give up, and we're going to fight to the last out," said Robertson. "Like I said, we were getting beat in every aspect of the game until the sixth inning, and we still had a chance to come back and win. So it's just an unfortunate loss for us, but it doesn't define us as a team."

Ole Miss starter Jack Daugherty didn't allow a baserunner through five before Jackson Nicklaus and Sebastian Orduno began the sixth with back-to-back singles. Kendall Pettis then laid down a bunt and Garrett Wood threw the ball into right allowing Nicklaus to come around and score. All of the sudden there was life in a previously lifeless Oklahoma offense.

Enter Mason Nichols. He struck out Peyton Graham. Then blew a fastball by Blake Robertson. And a rally that knocked Daugherty out of the game had quickly shifted momentum back to the Ole Miss dugout. Gut punch.

"It happens. It's baseball. Me and Peyton were talking about we're going to get up again. Success is coming. Tanner Tredaway picked us up working the walk, which that helped big-time. It happens," said Robertson.

Ole Miss landed the knockout blow in the eighth, scoring four runs on three Rebel home runs. TJ McCants started the two out rally when he turned on a Chazz Martinez pitch and sent it into Rebs bullpen. Calvin Harris and Justin Bench followed suit with solo shots of their own.

The first back-to-back-to-back home runs at the Men's College World Series since LSU hit three bombs in consecutive at-bats in 1998. Six of the Rebels runs came with two outs.

"We didn't execute our game plan. There are balls that fell in. We lost them in the lights. Booted ground balls, swinging at balls out of the zone. That happens in a game when you're trying really hard," said Johnson.

"When you try at this game, you fail. This is what it does to you, and you have to make sure you can get in control of yourself, take a breath, and make it just about one pitch."

Now Oklahoma must turn the page. Quickly. It's season is on the line Sunday afternoon with Cade Horton getting the ball in game two.