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SPORTS
June 6-12, 2018
Murray to play football this fall Despite high draft selection, OU star remains comitted KEGAN RENEAU @keganreneau
Oklahoma sophomore outfielder Kyler Murray was the first Sooner to be taken in the 2018 MLB First-Year Player Draft, selected with the No. 9 pick by the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. Despite numerous reports that he would sign a contract with the Athletics and play football this fall, fans and others were skeptical due to the lucrative $4,761,500 signing bonus the No. 9 slot was valued at. Football coach Lincoln Riley has said on multiple occasions
that he “expected” Murray to be joining the team in the fall. Murray has since broken his silence and calmed the mood, confirming to ESPN’s Jake Trotter and other reporters on a conference call that he will be back to play football for the Sooners this fall. The two-sport star juggled spring football and baseball this spring, and recorded a .296 batting average with 10 home runs, 13 doubles and 47 RBI. Now, Murray heads to the football field with a baseball contract to negotiate and a quarterback battle with redshirt sophomore Austin Kendall. Kegan Reneau
keganreneau@ou.edu
PHOTO GRAPHIC BY CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
Kyler Murray plays on the OU baseball and football team. Murray spent April 14 playing in the spring football game and starting in the baseball game against Texas.
Sooners’ season comes to abrupt ending
After promising start, OU stuggles to advance onward KEGAN RENEAU @keganreneau
Oklahoma was in the driver’s seat of the Tallahassee Regional after starting 2-0, but its season came to an end after losing to Mississippi State a second time, 8-1. Unlike Sunday, the Sooners (38-25) got the scoring started. After sopho m o re d e s i g n a t e d h i tter Brady Lindsly got on base after a mishandled dropped third strike and a walk to junior first baseman Thomas Hughes, senior Kyle Mendenhall moved both runners into scoring
position. Freshman catcher Justin Mitchell hit an RBI groundout to score Lindsly, and they took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Mississippi State’s pitching staff would only allow that run the entire game and got plenty of run support. Freshman southpaw Levi Prater provided four and two-third innings in his start, only allowing two runs on three hits — then Mississippi State got going on the Oklahoma bullpen. The Bulldogs (35-26) scored one run in the fifth and one in the eighth before a four-run explosion in the ninth. They scored 31 runs over 27 innings against Oklahoma in the Ta l l a h a s s e e R e g i o n a l ,
plaguing the Sooners hopes of advancing to a super regional. The Sooners advanced to the regionals for the second straight year, their first under coach Skip Johnson, with many ups and downs along the way. Beginning Big 12 play with a 8-0 record, its best start to conference play since 1984, Oklahoma planted itself atop the Big 12 and the NCAA , peaking in rankings at No. 11. The Sooners would go on to drop four of their last five conference series to end the season as a No. 4 seed in the Big 12 (14-10). Kegan Reneau
keganreneau@ou.edu
ARCHIEBALD BROWNE/THE DAILY
Sooner baseball players stand in the outfield for the national anthem May 4.