Week 13 OU Baseball Report: Hosting regional remains well within reach
The Skinny
Oklahoma is in the race to bring an NCAA regional to L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Were the Sooners to pull it off, it would make for two Norman Regionals in the space of two seasons, looking to return to the super regional round for the first time since 2022, when OU caught fire in the postseason to reach the College World Series’ best two-of-three championship series, falling short to Ole Miss.
As it happened, Ole Miss is also the program the Sooners were position to sweep last Sunday before starting pitcher Malachi Witherspoon allowed more earned runs than innings pitched, a game had they won, they’d be sitting tied with Vanderbilt in sixth place in the SEC standings, rather than tied with three other teams in seventh.
More on Witherspoon and the conference standings below.
Still, rated as the first team to not receive a regional by at least two bracketologists — more on that below, too — there’s no doubt OU can find itself among the top 16 national seeds and, who knows, perhaps much higher, for one of its remaining regular season opponents is not just its Red River rival, but everybody’s No. 1 team in the country and the No. 1 or 2 RPI team in the nation depending upon whose list you’re looking at.
Texas, though, visits the weekend after this one for a three-game set. This weekend, the Sooners are at Kentucky (25-20, 10-14 SEC), which is not ranked but certainly in contention for an at-large bid into the NCAA draw.
The Wildcats will be hungry after dropping three straight games at Mississippi State. Prior to meeting up with the Bulldogs, they claimed two of three from both South Carolina and Tennessee, in addition to grabbing one of three from Texas.
To date, the Sooners have swept just one conference series, against Missouri, who’s yet to win a conference game.
Another one could do OU loads of favors with the postseason approaching.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. Ole Miss 2-0
— def. Ole Miss 5-3
— lost to Ole Miss 7-3
This week
— at Kentucky, 5:30 p.m. Friday
— at Kentucky, 11:30 a.m. Saturday
— at Kentucky, noon Sunday
Record: 32-14 (13-11 SEC)
Streak: Lost 1
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 43
Batting avg: .290
On-base pct: .406
Slugging pct: .477
Home runs: 52
Triples: 14
Doubles: 81
Stolen bases: 97
Caught stealing: 21
ERA: 4.40
SO/IP: 428/368
Fielding pct: .973
Errors: 41
Unearned runs allowed: 33
Entering this week
Games: 46
Batting avg: .286
On-base pct: .402
Slugging pct: .471
Home runs: 54
Triples: 17
Doubles: 82
Stolen bases: 101
Caught stealing: 23
ERA: 4.31
SO/IP: 463/395
Fielding pct: .973
Errors: 43
Unearned runs allowed: 34
Individual leaders
Batting average: Easton Carmichael .316, Trey Gambill .315
On-base pct: Trey Gambill .489, Sam Christiansen .471
Slugging pct: Easton Carmichael .583, Jaxon Willits .538
RBIs: Easton Carmichael 49, Jaxon Willits 39
Home runs: Easton Carmichael 12, Jaxon Willits 9
Triples: Jaxon Willits 3, Easton Carmichael 3, Jason Walk 3
Doubles: Jason Walk 12, Trey Gambill 10, Dawson Willis 10
Hits: Easton Carmichael 59, Jaxon Willits 53
Runs: Jaxon Willits 50, Trey Gambill 42
Stolen bases: Jason Walk 15, Dawson Willis 15
ERA (minimum 20 innings): Dylan Crooks 1.46, Kyson Witherspoon 2.13
Wins: Kyson Witherspoon 9-2, Cade Crossland 4-3
Innings pitched: Kyson Witherspoon 72, Malachi Witherspoon 58
Strikeouts: Kyson Witherspoon 100, Malachi Witherspoon 70
Inside the numbers
• Willits still struggling: Sooner shortstop Jaxon Willits went 0 for 14 at the plate over four games two weeks ago. He wasn’t shut out against Ole Miss, yet nor did he rebound, going 2 for 11 against the Rebels with no extra base hits, no RBIs and one run scored.
• Carmichael comes up big: OU was nowhere against Ole Miss last Saturday without Easton Carmichael. The Sooner catcher went 4 for 5 with two home runs, driving in three and scoring two runs. His solo shot in the fifth inning turned out to be the game-winning run. With his .316 batting average, 12 home runs and 49 RBIs, Carmichael now leads OU in all three categories.
• Batting a thousand: He’s only registered three at-bats and not one since the third game of the season against Texas Southern. Nonetheless, Gavyn Jones, who’s mostly a pitcher with 16 relief appearances and one start, continues to carry a 1.000 batting average, turning his three at-bats into three singles and three RBIs.
Notes of note
Crossland rebounds, Malachi can’t win
The fortunes of Sooner starting pitchers not named Kyson Witherspoon remains interesting and up and down. Against Ole Miss, after being rocked the previous weekend against at Georgia, Cade Crossland allowed five hits and two runs, struck out eight and walked just one over six innings. Crossland actually came out for the seventh inning, allowing a Rebel to reach, who later scored, before being relieved by James Hitt.
On the mound the next day, Malachi Witherspoon simply didn’t have it, allowing seven hits and five earned runs — six runs total — over 4 2/3 innings.
Witherspoon notched his second victory of the season on March 1 against Cal State-Northridge, but has registered just one win since, a span of nine starts, against Missouri on April 18.
OU is 3-6 over that nine-start span, winning twice when Witherspoon registered a no-decision.
Movin’ back up
Oklahoma is in a four-way tie for the seventh spot in the SEC, deadlocked with Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss, with six conference games remaining. But if it can’t quite break free in the conference standings, winning two of three from Ole Miss has at least propelled them in the polls.
The Sooners are up five spots in the coaches’ poll to 16th, up four spots to No. 17 in the D1Baseball poll, holding steady at No. 14 in the NCBWA writer’s poll and up five spots to No. 16 in the Baseball America rankings.
Bracketology
According to two different bracketologies, the Sooners are on the edge of receiving a regional tournament.
Says Baseball America, OU would be the No. 2 seed in the Raleigh Regional, behind No. 16 national seed and host North Carolina State. Says Aria Gerson, who covers college baseball for The Tennessean, and creates her own bracketology, OU would be the No. 2 seed in the Morgantown Regional behind No. 16 national seed and host West Virginia.
That means both Baseball America and Gerson have OU the No. 17 national seed, just missing an appointment on their home diamond.
Also, says College Sports Madness, which may not put much thought into its predictions, OU would be the No. 2 seed in the Tucson Regional, behind No. 10 national seed Arizona.
Until next time …