ARLINGTON – Despite three hits from lead-off hitter Kyeler Thomson and nearly five strong innings from redshirt freshman Jackson Burns, Texas Tech Baseball fell to Oklahoma, 10-3 Friday morning into afternoon, in the opening game of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown hosted by REV Entertainment and Globe Life Field.

In his second opening weekend start of his career, Burns, who missed the final 51 games of the season after suffering a season-ending illness, allowed just three hits and one run over 4.2 strong innings.

The strong start from the righty, combined with an RBI groundout from battery mate Matt Quintanar gave Texas Tech (0-1) an early 1-0 lead.

With Burns matching Oklahoma’s (1-0) lefty Cameron Johnson pitch-for-pitch, the game remained 1-0 in favor of Tech until the fifth when back-to-back singles from OUs Camden Johnson and Dalton Lachance placed runners on the corners with nobody out.

Looking to limit the damage, Burns capped an athletic 3-6-1 double play, toe-tapping the corner of the first base bag to put the inning’s first two outs on the board.

On the play, Camden Johnson (no relation to SP Cameron Johnson) came home to score to tie the game at one-all.

After losing a 2-2 battle with OUs Nolen Stevens, Tech went to the bullpen, summoning sixth-year lefty Ryan Free. After a wild pitch advanced the go-ahead run into scoring position, the Red Raiders closed the top of the fifth by gunning down Stevens at third base on a dirt-ball.

The Red Raiders almost placed their own runner in scoring position in the fifth, when Thompson singled with two outs and beat a throw to second on a stolen base attempt, but the speedster over-slid the bag and was tagged out for the first caught stealing of his career. Thompson was previously 29-for-29 on stolen base attempts.

Armed with the momentum, OU pulled out in front in the top of the sixth, plating a one-out full-count walk on a two-run home run from first baseman Dayton Tockey off Free. The blast gave the Sooners a 3-1 lead.

Free went an inning and two-thirds allowing both of his runs and the only hit of his outing on the two-run homer from Tockey.

In the home half of the sixth, OUs southpaw, Cameron Johnson, went through the heart of Tech’s order (2-3-4), needing just 12 pitches to strike out the side.

The sixth proved to be the end of the line for the pitcher Johnson, as the LSU transfer went 6.0 innings and allowed just three hits and one unearned run. He walked three and struck out 11 batters amongst his 105 pitches.

After Free and reliever Parker Hutyra combined to toss a 1-2-3 seventh, the Red Raiders got a lead-off walk from freshman Linkin Garcia and a single from Caden Ferraro to put the tying runs on base for Quintanar.

Ahead in the count 3-1 against true freshman LJ Mercurius, Quintanar ripped a ball up the middle that resulted in a tough-luck 4-6-3 double play.

Still with a chance against the neophyte Mercurius, Tech did get an RBI single through the right-side from first baseman Robin Villeneuve to pull to within 3-2.

With the tying run on base once again, Tech pinch hit Maryland transfer Hollis Porter off the bench, who after being ahead 2-0 in the count, struck out swinging.

In the top half of the eighth, OU hit a two-run longball, when a Trey Gambill fly ball landed in the seats in right-center. The blast gave the Sooners a 5-2 lead.

Looking to claw back into it, Tech got a lead-off triple from Thompson and sac-fly from senior Tracer Lopez in the eighth to get to within two runs at 5-3, but OU used an RBI single from shortstop Jaxon Willits as well as a grand slam from designated hitter Brendan Brock to cap a five-run ninth in the 10-3 win.

In his Tech debut, Garcia reached base three times and scored a run, while Villeneuve also reached base twice on a walk and the RBI single.

UP NEXT:

The Red Raiders will look to rebound tomorrow morning against No. 23 Vanderbilt in game two of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. First pitch from Globe Life is set for 11 a.m.