Jonathan Gray stymies Baylor bats in Game 1 at Big 12 Tournament

0 BAYLOR (27-26) Rank: NR

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2 OKLAHOMA (37-19) Rank: NR

One day after Steve Smith's squad volunteered their time in storm relief at Goodwill Industries, OU's All-American, possible #1-overall pick pitcher Jonathan Gray dominated the Bears for nine complete innings, holding them to only 3 hits with only one walk. Only once did Baylor put a runner on third, when Adam Toth flew out to center to end the sixth inning with Nathan Orf standing on third. For his part, Baylor starter Dillon Newman also registered a complete game in the loss, pitching 8 innings, allowing 6 hits, striking out 3 and walking 1. After allowing two runs in the first three innings, he settled down admirably, falling victim to simply playing opposite perhaps the best pitcher in the land.

With the loss, Baylor falls perilously close once again to the .500 mark we've flirted with most of the season. A loss tomorrow to Kansas State gets us right back to that ignominious point, barely one year after Baylor charged into the super regional and finished at 47-19. Since they changed the format of the Tournament this week to pool play, I'm not sure just how many games we have left guaranteed, but I don't think it matters all that much. We'd have to win the Tournament outright at this point to make the NCAA Tournament for the 5th straight year, and that's probably not happening. Remember that tomorrow's opponent, Kansas State, actually won the entire conference this year and is the #1 seed. The season is coming to a close, perhaps mercifully depending on your perspective.

Honestly, I can't be upset about today's game one bit; Jonathan Gray is just ridiculously good. You don't see many guys pumping in mid-to-upper 90s gas in the eighth inning in the college game, as Gray reportedly did. When you do, they're probably striking you out. To me, it's more fascinating that OU hasn't had a better season, since they've got a baseball-hurling cyborg marching around singing Boomer Sooner.