Week 11 OU Baseball Report: Sooners on fire on their way into Athens
The Skinny
Maybe the best thing about Oklahoma’s upcoming three-game series at Georgia is it begins Thursday, because the way it’s been going for the Sooners, why wait an extra day to play?
Take care of business against Oral Roberts at home on Tuesday, push the winning streak to five games and seven wins in eight tries and hit the ground running on the Bulldogs’ diamond, where the Sooners will have the chance to not only take down an SEC heavyweight, but win a series from the No. 1 RPI team in the nation.
That’s right, Georgia is 33-9 overall and, at 10-8, tied with OU and Ole Miss at sixth place in the conference, yet because the Bulldogs have already faced the Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 teams in the RPI — Texas, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Arkansas — going 5-7 against the quartet, the Bulldogs are nonetheless No. 1 on the chart.
The Sooners, though ranked No. 13, moving up 3 spots in the latest coaches’ poll after sweeping Missouri, are 19th on the RPI chart and in position to make a big statement away from home.
They’ll attempt doing it after hitting the cover off the ball against the Tigers.
Though Missouri had yet to claim an SEC contest when the Sooners hit Columbia last weekend, OU took advantage against an overmatched team, winning every game by run-rule, piling up 17 runs twice and 12 in the other.
As a team, OU’s slash numbers against conference foes, in just three games, rose from .244/.359/.385 to .279/.403/.466.
Much more on that below.
Coach Skip Johnson’s Sooners are doing just fine in their first SEC season.
Also, a big performance at Georgia could take them to a different level with series against Ole Miss, Kentucky and Texas still to play.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Oklahoma State 11-1 (8 innings)
— def. Missouri 17-4 (8 innings)
— def. Missouri 17-8 (8 innings)
— def. Missouri 12-1 (7 innings)
This week
— vs. Oral Roberts, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
— at Georgia, 6 p.m. Thursday
— at Georgia, 5 p.m. Friday
— at Georgia, 11 a.m. Saturday
Record: 29-10 (10-8 SEC)
Streak: Won 4
Team numbers
Entering last 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
Entering this week
Games: 39
Batting avg: .296
On-base pct: .410
Slugging pct: .491
Home runs: 50
Triples: 13
Doubles: 73
Stolen bases: 96
Caught stealing: 19
ERA: 4.26
SO/IP: 391/334
Fielding pct: .971
Errors: 39
Unearned runs allowed: 28
Individual leaders
Batting average: Jaxon Willits .345, Trey Gambill .340
On-base pct: Trey Gambill .521, Sam Christiansen .497
Slugging pct: Jaxon Willits .615, Easton Carmichael .605
RBIs: Easton Carmichael 45, Jaxon Willits 39
Home runs: Easton Carmichael 10, Jaxon Willits 9
Triples: Jaxon Willits 3, Easton Carmichael 3
Doubles: Jason Walk 11, Kyle Branch 8, Dawson Willis 8
Hits: Easton Carmichael 52, Jaxon Willits 51
Runs: Jaxon Willits 48, Trey Gambill 40
Stolen bases: Dawson Willis 15, Jason Walk 13
ERA (minimum 20 innings): Dylan Crooks 1.31, James Hitt 2.31
Wins: Kyson Witherspoon 7-2, Reid Hensley 3-1, Cade Crossland 3-2, Malachi Witherspoon 3-4
Innings pitched: Kyson Witherspoon 58, Malachi Witherspoon 47 1/3
Strikeouts: Kyson Witherspoon 84, Malachi Witherspoon 56
Inside the numbers
• Long balls flying: The Sooners entered last week with 39 home runs over 35 games and exited it with 50 over 39, getting 11 dingers from six different players, including multiple shots from Easton Carmichael (3), Sam Christiansen (2) and Drew Dickerson (2).
• Willits’ huge week: OU shortstop Jaxon Willits may be upset he finished without a home run last week while the Sooners were hitting them out in bunches. Still, he raised his batting average 32 points, from .313 to .345, by going 10 of 17 at the plate, lashing seven singles and three doubles, driving home eight and scoring 10 runs
• Carmichael’s huge week: Sooner catcher Easton Carmichael didn’t only hit home runs last week. He also went 9 of 23 at the plate, raising hit batting average from .309 to .331, while driving in 10 and scoring five runs.
Notes of note
Crushing the opposition
Perhaps you noticed, each OU victory last week was a run-rule, even its mid-week Bedlam contest at Oklahoma State.
The Sooners scored 57 runs in four games only a week after scoring five runs total during a four-game losing streak, getting swept at home by LSU before losing big to Dallas Baptist three days later.
They also picked up 57 hits in 31 innings, 19 of which they plated at least one run.
The eruption began in the first inning of the first game, scoring five runs off Cowboy starting pitcher Ryan Ure.
James a hit on the mound
Senior left-handed pitcher James Hitt has a story.
In the first of his three Sooner seasons, he was a mainstay in pitching rotation, just not that consistent in the role, finishing the 2023 season with a 4.89 earned run average, striking out just 41 batters over 70 innings, while opponents hit .266 against him.
Last season, he was lost, his ERA ballooning to 8.41 over seven starts and 10 relief appearances, while opponents hit .333 against him.
This season, all 17 of his co-team-leading appearances have come in relief and he’s never been as good as he is right now, allowing just two runs over his last eight appearances, spanning 13 1/3 innings, in which he’s allowed eight hits and walked just two.
For the season, Hitt’s carrying a 2.31 ERA over 23 1/3 innings in which he’s struck out 26 and walked seven. Opponents are hitting .207 against him.
Checking on the polls
As mentioned above, the Sooners have risen to No. 13 in the coaches’ poll, though there are other college baseball polls, too. In the NCBWA writers’ poll, OU jumped from 16th to 12th. In the D1Baseball.com poll, the Sooners jumped from 18th to 14th. And in the Baseball America top 25, OU moved from 12th to 11th.
Until next time …