For the second straight weekend, the sixth inning proved to be the downfall for junior T.J. Walz and the Jayhawks.

Last Friday against Kansas State, Kansas was comfortably ahead through five innings behind a strong outing from Walz – until a sixth inning rally by the Wildcats resulted in a crushing defeat.

This time around it was Oklahoma who rallied in the sixth inning before coasting to a 14-4 victory over Kansas (31-22-1, 11-13-1) at Hoglund Ballpark.

“They found a way that third time around, instead of swinging in missing to make contact,” Walz said.

Walz suffered the loss for the Jayhawks, despite striking out nine and walking none over his 5 2/3 innings of work.

Before the pivotal sixth inning though, the game itself started just as it did a week ago - with the Jayhawks in control right from the first pitch behind timely hitting and a dominant Walz.

Walz trotted out to the mound and quickly set down the Sooners, striking out two. In the bottom of the inning, his offense gave him a 1-0 cushion when junior left fielder Jimmy Waters smacked an RBI single to right field.

The Jayhawks tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, on an RBI single by sophomore Chris Manship and a home run by Waters.

Meanwhile, Walz continued to mow down the Sooners with relative ease.

Walz struck out the side in the second inning, before striking out two more in the third while featuring a changeup that continually fooled Oklahoma’s hitters. Over the next two innings, Walz scattered four hits and surrendered a run, but struck out two more to bring his total to nine.

“I thought he had an opportunity to go out there and pitch a complete game after the first five innings with the way he was in the strike zone and the way he was so dominant with two strikes,” coach Ritch Price said.

Price’s hope for a complete game effort out of his starter came to an abrupt halt in the sixth.

Walz finally relented in the sixth inning, doing so in almost in identical fashion to his start last weekend against Kansas State (5/14), where he was touched up for four runs on five hits.

The Sooners teed off on Walz for those same totals - five hits and four runs - in the inning to jump ahead 5-3 and chase the righty from the game.

"Their balls seemed to find every hole, but that's baseball," Walz said.

Coach Price had a different take on the Sooners success at the plate, citing Walz’ location and a decrease in his velocity.

“The main thing I thought it was, was that every ball was elevated,” he said. “The balls were all above the belt and all in the middle of the plate.”

Though Kansas narrowed the lead to 5-4 on a solo home run off the bat of junior third baseman Tony Thompson, Oklahoma continued to pile on the offense.

The Sooners tacked on three more runs in the eighth to make the game 8-4 before putting the game out of reach with a six-run ninth.

The lopsided final score didn’t end up reflecting how close the game had been, and how close Walz and the Jayhawks were to an important series opening victory – if not for a disastrous sixth inning.

“It was a devastating inning, there’s no doubt about it,” coach Price said.