Oklahoma Overwhelms Texas A&M In College World Series Opener That Forces Aggies Into Losers Bracket

The College World Series got underway Friday afternoon in Omaha and it didn't take long for the Oklahoma offense to cause problems for Texas A&M. A team never wants to drop the first game of the historic event, but the Aggies will now have to battle through the losers bracket after losing 13-8 to the Sooners.

It has only been done four times in College World Series history where a team from the loser's bracket won the championship. The current record is 36 out of 40 teams have won the title after winning the first game.

Before the Aggies could get comfortable, Oklahoma jumped out to a 8-0 lead through the first two innings, with pitcher Nathan Dettmer getting pulled after just 1.2 innings. Dettmer could never find his pitch, giving up four hits and seven earned runs. Even though the game wasn't over by a long shot at this point, Joseph Menefee came in relief and gave up a grand-slam to Oklahoma's Jack Nicklaus.

The grand slam from Nicklaus was just the third one at the ballpark in College World Series history. When asked after the game about the offensive explosion we've seen this year in college baseball, Texas A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle didn't hold back when talking about how he thought baseball's have been changed this season.

“The ball’s definitely changed. I mean I’m not a big conspiracy theory guy but I know there are a lot of coaches out there who think the ball’s changed a lot this particular year.”

Former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was in attendance, which ESPN was all over because of his pajama pants he was wearing around the ballpark in Omaha.

One of the most intriguing storylines coming out of this game was the Sooners losing DH Brett Squires to a broken hand, suffered while diving back to first base. We will see what Oklahoma decides to do moving forward in Omaha at the spot.

The Aggies put a scare into the Sooners in the seventh inning, scoring four runs and making it a 12-8 game. Just when Oklahoma thought they could get comfortable, Texas A&M struck back at the plate, forcing the Sooners to use a few extra arms. The Aggies went through five different pitchers on Friday afternoon, you have to do everything you can to survive, which wasn't enough today.

A team making their way through the losers bracket is tough enough, but the Aggies will have to find better pitching and not leave runners on base, which hurts them today. The Sooners had seven 2-out RBI's against the Aggies, not giving them much room to make a full comeback, even though they added a few runs late in the game.

Also, Texas A&M gave up 9 walks and hit 3 batters, while using six different pitchers on Friday.

Oklahoma's Jake Bennett threw six innings, looking pretty solid through the five innings, with 3 K's and giving up 5 hits. The Sooners offense thought they had given him enough cushion, but the Aggies kept battling, though the walks and errors ended up keeping Oklahoma at a safe distance.

After putting up impressive numbers to end the regular season and rolling through the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies now face an early exit. Texas A&M will now await the loser of Notre Dame and Texas for the elimination game on Sunday.

Aggies skipper Jim Schlossnagle is worried about getting that first win in Omaha.

"It stinks not getting to play tomorrow, although the rest is worthwhile. The message is getting on a one-game win streak.

"We can either cower down, put our tail between our legs and go back to College Station, or we can fight," the head coach added. "My money is on our team fighting."

So, the SEC is now 0-1 in the College World Series, with Arkansas, Auburn and Ole Miss set to play on Saturday. We'll see what the Aggies can bring on Sunday, but they are one loss away from heading back to Texas.