Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
DENTON, Texas —Wichita State dropped both games of Friday's doubleheader at North Texas by one run, 4-3 and 1-0.
Wichita State (21-21, 12-11) will look back at several missed opportunities on the night that cost them a pair of games.
The Shockers dropped the first game on a walk-off home run in the ninth inning. In the nightcap Wichita State had nine hits and held North Texas to just three hits, but left 14 runners on base and went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
Game 1 | Wichita State 3, North Texas 4 (9 innings)
Krystin Nelson reached base all three times via two singles and a walk. Caroline Tallent hit a solo home run and Taylor Sedlacek and Bailey Urban both had a hit and an RBI. CC Wong and Addison Barnard rounded out the hit column with a single apiece.
Lauren Howell got the start in the circle, going 2.2 innings. She allowed two runs on five walks and a pair of hits. Alex Aguilar was solid in 4.1 innings of relief until the game-tying home run in the seventh. That was the lone run she allowed on six hits and one walk. Alison Cooper (5-8) was on the losing end in the circle. In 1.1 innings, she allowed the lone run on two hits and a walk.
With one out in the bottom of the second North Texas grabbed the lead on a solo home run. In the third, two walks and a bunt single loaded the bases for the Mean Green which led to another walk, scoring a run. The Shockers turned to Aguilar out of the bullpen to prevent any further damage, and she delivered. Aguilar struck out the first batter she faced to end the inning.
The Shockers finally broke into the scoring column in the top of the fifth on Tallent's two-out solo home run, cutting the deficit in half.
In the sixth Wichita State grabbed momentum after loading the bases on three straight singles from Nelson, Wong and Barnard. A sac fly from Sedlacek tied the game at 2-2 and then Urban's single off the wall in center gave the Shockers a 3-2 lead.
Needing three outs to secure the win, North Texas immediately led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to tie the game at 3-3. Aguilar would retire the next three hitters to send the game to extra innings.
Cooper escaped the eighth after a leadoff double, sending the game to the ninth. Wichita State went down in order, paving the way for Molly Rainey's walk-off solo home run with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
Game 2 | Wichita State 0, North Texas 1
The Mean Green spoiled another masterful pitching performance from Chloe Barber. On the heels of a complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts in her last outing, all she did was strikeout 14 tonight, allowing just one run on three hits and no walks. She carried a perfect game into the bottom of the fifth when North Texas' Mikayla Smith sent a one-out solo home run over the wall in right.
Barber now has four games with 14 or more strikeouts this season and 29 punch outs in her last 13.0 innings.
All nine of Wichita State's hits were singles. Addison Barnard and Lainee Brown had two each, while CC Wong, Taylor Sedlacek, Bailey Urban, Sami Hood and Caroline Tallent all had one.
Wichita State loaded the bases in each of the first two innings, but failed to score.
Barber struck out the side in three of the first four innings.
Up Next
Wichita State and North Texas wrap up the series Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. on ESPN+.