NORMAN — On Saturday night, the Connecticut Huskies quelled Oklahoma’s offensive firepower, downing the Sooners 4-1.

OU’s stunning loss came just one day after Skip Johnson’s team demolished Oral Roberts 14-0 in their first game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma’s offense could not be slowed down against the Golden Eagles, as the Sooners notched seven extra base hits while nine of the team’s 10 batters reached base.

In Saturday night’s contest against the Huskies, however, OU’s ferocious offense disappeared, as the Sooners tallied just one run and three extra base hits. After falling behind 1-0 in the third inning, Oklahoma had multiple chances to score and tie the game, but were unable to string together any consistency in the batter’s box.

“Stephen Quigley pitched really good tonight, we hit a lot of balls hard in that game right at guys,” Johnson said after the game. “I thought our guys battled all night long. … That’s baseball, hats off to them, and maybe this is just part of the story.” 

In the top of the fourth inning, senior infielder Michael Snyder hit a one-out double down the left field line, but Huskies senior right hander Stephen Quigley retired Jackson Nicklaus and Scott Mudler in the next two at-bats to shut down the Sooners’ scoring chances.

With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, junior outfielder John Spikerman doubled down the right field line, but senior outfielder Bryce Madron grounded out to once again end OU’s at-bat with a runner left in scoring position.

Just two innings later, Mudler hit a one-out single that once again gave Johnson’s team an opportunity to get in rhythm on offense, but sophomore utility Rocco Garza-Gongora lined into a double play in the following at-bat to send the Sooners’ defense back onto the field.

“He threw the backdoor slider and rammed the fastballs in, made some really quality pitches,” Johnson said. “We hit some balls hard, I want to say 14 balls that we had quality at-bats on and hit balls, line drive outs. He did a great job and they played great defense.” 

Garza-Gongora got the start for OU in place of senior Anthony Mackenzie, who suffered an injury against ORU and will likely be unavailable on Sunday as well.

Even in the eighth, when senior outfielder Kendall Pettis hit a solo home run to leadoff the inning, the Sooners next three batters were retired in order as Oklahoma continued to struggle on offense.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Sooners had one more chance to get back into the game, as Willits and Snyder walked to put the tying run at the plate with no outs. Just as Connecticut had all game, however, the Huskies were able to get out the jam to escape the Regional Semifinal with a victory.

“There were some quality at-bats right there,” Johnson said. “I think we had a six-pitch walk and had a five-pitch walk with Snyder and, I mean, (Jackson Nicklaus) hit a two-run homer just last week to take the lead and he swung at a pitch and popped it up (on Saturday). You know, and then Rocco (Garza-Gongora) had a battle and got out. … That’s part of it.”

The offensive letdown is a surprise for Johnson’s squad, who has been held under two runs just three times all year. After Easton Carmichael, Willits and Nicklaus all recorded hits against Oral Roberts on Friday night, the trio went a combined 0-for-11 at the plate against the Huskies.

Quigley’s solid outing on the mound was a key contributor to the Sooners’ offensive struggles. While the senior right hander only tallied two strikeouts and allowed seven hits, he finished with just one walk and one earned run.

“He just pitched a good game,” Pettis said. “Like Skip said, we had a lot of hard hit balls, you know, it’s baseball. It just didn’t fall, it literally just did not fall. We had a lot of good ABs a lot of line drives, but nothing was falling.”

WIth the loss, OU will play an elimination game against Duke at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon from L. Dale Mitchell Park. If Oklahoma wins, the Sooners will get a rematch with Connecticut at 8 p.m. with a chance to extend the Norman Regional to Monday.

What will the weather be like this weekend?

Late Friday night, a few storms could move into western Oklahoma.

The weekend is looking hot & humid with more storm chances on Sunday.

Temperatures will be warm and breezy if you are bringing your furry friend to OKC for Poochella at Scissortail Park on Saturday.

Active Watches & Warnings:

1. Severe Thunderstorm Watch active for Alfalfa, Beaver, Dewey, Ellis, Harper, Major, Roger Mills, Texas, Woods and Woodward County until 1:00 am.

PATTERN SHIFT COMING:

As we typically see, the main jet stream lifts north as we head into June. This is the main storm path, so Oklahoma’s organized severe season will come to an end.

We can and will still get strong to severe storms, but the tornado risk goes way down.

Next week, the big ridge of high pressure known as the “heat dome” will appear. This puts us in the northwest flow of the jet stream, which sometimes means complex storms arrive from the high Plains.

Wind and hail producers. We will see. Eventually the heat dome usually moves directly over head, and we shut off the rain and we see our temps spike. This typically happens in July.

Follow our meteorologists!

Meteorologist David Payne

Meteorologist Jed Castles

Meteorologist Cassie Heiter

Meteorologist Justin Rudicel

Meteorologist Lacey Swope

Meteorologist Andrew Adams

Oklahoma’s quarterback room just got a lot deeper — and with a local QB at that.

Steele Wasel has transferred from Akron, where he redshirted in 2023, to OU, he told Sooners on SI Saturday.

The news was first reported by OU Insider’s Brandon Drumm and Parker Thune.

Wasel said he grew up an OU football fan and loved watching one Sooner QB in particular.

“It was my freshman year,” he said. “They started inviting me to come out to some of the games, and just watching Baker Mayfield play as a young kid, getting into football, it was pretty damn cool.

“I don’t know if I would say I model my game after him, but definitely one of my favorites to watch.” 

Wasel was offered by offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Seth Littrell to join OU’s roster as a preferred walk-on.

“So I went in the portal and not too long after, Coach Littrell called me,” Wasel said. “You know, it was actually like probably two or three weeks ago that we had finalized it, but I had been just waiting for my admission to go through before I put anything out there.”

Littrell always kept his finger on the pulse of Oklahoma recruits when he was head coach at North Texas — especially quarterbacks — but Wasel said he never spoke with Littrell before he got the call. 

“I was just sitting in my bed, doing some school work, and I got a call from him,” Wasel said. “Pretty crazy deal.” 

Littrell apparently got an assist from the Sooners’ growing NIL collective, which has a program specifically targeting walk-ons.

“We haven’t gotten to any of that stuff yet,” Wasel said.

Wasel was a prolific quarterback at Choctaw in 2022, when he threw for 3,325 yards and 38 touchdowns, rushed for 543 yards and five touchdowns, and led the Yellowjackets to an 11-2 record and playoff run. Wasel was a three-year starter for coach Jake Corbin and was named Oklahoma All-State. As a sophomore in 2020, he Wasel racked up 3,324 total yards and 33 touchdowns and powered his team the state championship game.

He was part of a Choctaw team that sent at least seven players into Division I football, including former Sooner defensive back Jordan Mukes and two others who went to Oklahoma State.

“I never thought about it like that,” he said. “Saying them all out loud, puts a little different perspective on it.”

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Wasel was a 3-star prospect coming out of high school, according to 247 Sports. He chose Akron over scholarship offers from Arkansas State, Memphis, Rice, Tulsa and Virginia Tech, and had several Power 5 offers as a preferred walk-on.

At Akron last year, as the Zips were just 2-10 for the second consecutive year under coach Joe Moorhead, Wasel did not get any game action.

“There’s no bad blood with them,” Wasel said. “Nothing bad to say about them. I just feel like it wasn’t right for me — for me to be the best I can be and just be happy on and off the field.”

Now he’s playing for the program for which he grew up supporting, and at the spot of the player he grew up cheering for.

“I’m a huge Baker Mayfield fan obviously, grew up watching him,” Wasel told Sooners on SI in 2021, especially “the way he resets his feet and the way he leads his team.”

At OU, he’ll enrich a QB room that’s grown in both depth and talent over the past year with the addition of freshmen Michael Hawkins and Brendan Zurbrugg as well as seventh-year senior and three-time transfer Casey Thompson behind sophomore starter Jackson Arnold.

“Just want to show up there and do whatever I can to make myself better and make my team better,” he said.

“Shoot, I’m just ready as hell to get out there and get started. Not too much else to it. … Work hard and just play ball.”