Week 10 OU Baseball report: Despite disappearing acts, Sooners get back on track in conference play
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The Skinny
It’s all about turning the page in the SEC and in Bedlam rival Oklahoma State (16-17, 5-8 Big 12) on Tuesday and old Big 8 and Big 12 rival Missouri (12-23, 0-15 SEC) Thursday through Saturday, though all on the road, Oklahoma has the right slate to reel off four consecutive wins that could do it a world of good in its conference and in the rankings, not to mention the space between each player’s ears.
That said, last week is worth revisiting, when the Sooners played two games they’d like to repeat against future quality opponents, topping Vanderbilt twice, one of them a run-rule shutout, but played two other games it must stop playing once and for all, because OU is far too good to keep pulling disappearing acts like it did last Tuesday against Dallas Baptist and Sunday against Vanderbilt.
That was the issue the previous weekend against LSU, when OU scored three runs the entire series after achieving just five hits in all three of the games; a horrendous streak of little offense that reached four games against the Patriots, against whom the Sooners scored one run and managed only six hits.
Then, after securing the Vandy series with bounce-back victories Friday and Saturday, the Sooner bats went dormant again, picking up five hits and scoring only two runs, or three hits and one run the first eight innings.
The Sooners are not a great offensive team, slashing .285/.393/.463, but they are a good offense team with two many capable bats to produce games like those.
On the bright side, Cade Crossland enjoyed his best outing of the year, throwing 5 2/3 innings against the Commodores last Friday, allowing five hits, two walks and one earned run while striking out eight.
OU has yet to get three terrific starts over any conference weekend, but perhaps this one, against the hapless Tigers, will be different.
We’ll see.
The Schedule
Last week
— lost to Dallas Baptist 9-1
— def. Vanderbilt 9-4
— def. Vanderbilt 14-0 (7 innings)
— lost to Vanderbilt 13-2 (8 innings)
This week
— at Oklahoma State, 6 p.m. Tuesday
— at Missouri, 7 p.m. Thursday
— at Missouri, 6 p.m. Thursday
— at Missouri, 2 p.m. Thursday
Record: 25-10 (7-7 SEC)
Streak: Lost 1
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 31
Batting avg: .285
On-base pct: .393
Slugging pct: .463
Home runs: 36
Triples: 9
Doubles: 54
Stolen bases: 74
Caught stealing: 14
ERA: 4.20
SO/IP: 309/270
Fielding pct: .973
Errors: 30
Unearned runs allowed: 21
Entering this week
Games: 35
Batting avg: .283
On-base pct: .393
Slugging pct: .461
Home runs: 39
Triples: 12
Doubles: 60
Stolen bases: 82
Caught stealing: 17
ERA: 4.37
SO/IP: 354/303
Fielding pct: .971
Errors: 36
Unearned runs allowed: 26
Individual leaders
Batting average: Trey Gambill .337, Jaxon Willits .313
On-base pct: Trey Gambill .508, Sam Christiansen .476
Slugging pct: Jaxon Willits .580, Easton Carmichael .547
RBIs: Easton Carmichael 35, Jaxon Willits 31
Home runs: Jaxon Willits 9, Easton Carmichael 7
Triples: Easton Carmichael 3, Jaxon Willits 2, Sam Christiansen 2
Doubles: Jason Walk 11, Kyle Branch 8
Hits: Easton Carmichael 43, Jaxon Willits 41
Runs: Jaxon Willits 38, Trey Gambill 30
Stolen bases: Dawson Willis 13, Trey Gambill 10, Kyle Branch 10, Jason Walk 10
ERA (minimum 15 innings): Dylan Crooks 1.37, Kyson Witherspoon 2.08
Wins: Kyson Witherspoon 6-2, Reid Hensley 3-1
Innings pitched: Kyson Witherspoon 52, Malachi Witherspoon 42 1/3
Strikeouts: Kyson Witherspoon 74, Malachi Witherspoon 48
Inside the numbers
• Carmichael heats up: Easton Carmichael’s bat has been one of the Sooners’ most powerful all season. Still, against LSU two weekends ago, he finished 3 for 12 at the plate, all three were singles and he scored no runs and drove nobody home. Against Vanderbilt, it was a different story: 4 for 10, a home run, a triple, five RBIs.
• Malachi’s strange game: Malachi Witherspoon had one of the strangest outings against Vanderbilt on Sunday. He pitched six innings, which is good; he allowed six hits, which is reasonable; he walked only one, which is great; he hit two batters, which isn’t; he struck out 11, which is fantastic. Also, of the nine Commodores to reach base, six came around to score and all six runs were earned. How does a pitcher strike out 11 in six innings, yet also yield six runs.
It’s not easy.
• Jason Walk’s magnificent game: In OU’s 9-4 victory over Vanderbilt last Friday, Jason Walk not only went 3 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs scored, with a double and a triple, he also earned the No. 7 play of ESPN’s SportsCenter top 10 with a twisting, turning, reaching grab in center field.
Notes of note
Appreciating Kyson
The previous two weekends, despite delivering quality starts, Kyson Witherspoon didn’t get the run support to nab victories. This past weekend, he did, throwing a seven-inning run-rule complete game in the Sooners’ 14-0 victory over Vanderbilt.
The rest of this should put his whole season into context:
Witherspoon ranks 17th in the nation with a 2.08 earned run average and 37th in the nation giving up 6.1 hits per nine innings, yet ranks fourth in both categories among those who’ve matched or surpassed his 52 innings of work.
He ranks ninth at 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings and 16th in wins, of which he has six, but could easily have eight.
Then there’s WHIP, or walks and hits per inning pitched, which might well be a better stat to measure a pitcher’s effectiveness than ERA. In WHIP, Witherspoon ranks 11th at 0.88, which happens to be second in the SEC, trailing only Liam Doyle of Tennessee.
Maybe take DBU off the schedule?
Going back to 2019, Oklahoma has played Dallas Baptist nine times and won only twice. Last Tuesday’s 9-1 decision made it four straight and six of seven for the Patriots over the Sooners
Why does it keep happening?
One theory is the Pats pitch their best pitchers against the Sooners because a mid-week victory over a strong power conference foe is more important to DBU then a single win over a random Conference USA opponent.
That theory might have held some weight the two teams’ first meeting this season, an 11-0 decision, when Ryan Borberg tossed five one-hit innings. Still, though in the Pats rotation, it’s not like Borberg’s a world beater. His earned run average is 4.12. Also, the same theory holds no water in last week’s affair, when DBU tossed a bullpen game, six different pitchers throwing three or fewer innings.
DBU just has OU’s number.
Why not play Kansas State instead?
Two non-Sooner notes
One, Texas A&M, the consensus preseason No. 1, has come back to life.
Now 20-15 overall, after losing their first nine games of the SEC conference season, the Aggies have now won six straight in the league and eight straight overall.
Look out.
Two, there’s a pitcher at Central Connecticut State, who’s name is Vincent Borghese, who’s started seven games and somehow completed six of them, which is insane.
Navy’s Brady Bendik is second on the list with three complete games. Twenty-three others have thrown two.
The last time a pitcher tossed at least that many in a 162-game MLB season was 2011, when Tampa Bay’s James Shields threw 11 and Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay threw eight.
Improving their stock
Despite going 2-2 last week, the Sooners moved up three spots in the coaches’ poll, from 19th to 16th, by virtue of taking 2 of 3 from Vanderbilt.
Other SEC schools in front of them include new No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Tennessee, No. 7 LSU, No. 9 Auburn, No. 11 Ole Miss and No. 15 Alabama. The only SEC school behind the Sooners in the poll is Vanderbilt, which dropped from 17th to 18th upon leaving Norman.
Until next time …