Week 4 Sooner Baseball Report: Unbeaten start comes to an end at Dallas Baptist
Dallas Baptist continues to be Oklahoma’s kryptonite and with any luck the Sooners have already played their worst game of the season following Tuesday night’s 11-0 seven-inning run-rule loss on the Patriots' home field.
DBU, ranked No. 23 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, made OU, ranked 12th, look like no ranked team at all, at one point retiring 14 straight Sooners and 19 of 20 to end the game.
Trey Gampbill, after drawing a first inning walk, reached third base on Easton Carmichael’s single to right field. No other Sooner got beyond first base the rest of the game.
It’s too bad, because this report would be more fun to read had OU pushed its season-opening winning streak to a dozen games.
Oh, well.
DBU scored in four of the seven innings, including a five-spot in the fourth after Sooner reliever Gavyn Jones entered in relief of starter Cade Crossland, promptly allowing each both of his inherited runners to score and three more after that, blowing up his previously perfect earned run average.
The Patriots (9-3) pounded out 11 hits, three of which were home runs, two of those coming from clean-up-hitting first baseman Chayton Krauss.
On the bright side, it was only one loss after 11 straight wins.
The Sooners will finish the week with a three-game set against Sam Houston State beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Bearkats are taking a 2-9 record into tonight’s contest at Texas-Arlington
Not the start to the week the Sooners wanted, though they’re still coming off a very big week in which they posted five victories, all at home, taking two games from Texas Southern and three from Cal-State Northridge.
Despite Tuesday night, there’s still many good stories happening on this team.
A few of them follow below.
The Schedule
Last week
— def Texas Southern 15-4
— def. Texas Southern 5-4
— def. Cal-State Northridge 9-0
— def. Cal-State Northridge 10-2
— def. Cal-State Northridge 3-2
This week
— lost to Dallas Baptist 11-0 (7 innings)
— vs. Sam Houston State, 6:30 p.m. Friday
— vs. Sam Houston State, 2 p.m. Saturday
— vs. Sam Houston State, 2 p.m. Sunday
Record: 11-1
Streak: loss 1
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 6
Batting avg: .323
On-base pct: .451
Slugging pct: .552
Home runs: 8
Triples: 2
Doubles: 16
Stolen bases: 16
Caught stealing: 5
ERA: 2.50
SO/IP: 67/54
Fielding pct: .976
Errors: 5
Unearned runs allowed: 2
Entering this week
Games: 11
Batting avg: .330
On-base pct: .446
Slugging pct: .531
Home runs: 11
Triples: 7
Doubles: 25
Stolen bases: 33
Caught stealing: 7
ERA: 2.41
SO/IP: 112/97
Errors: 11
Fielding pct: .975
Unearned runs allowed: 3
Individual leaders
Batting average: Jason Walk .421 (Kyle Branch .415)
On-base pct: Sam Christiansen .583 (Jason Walk .532)
Slugging pct: Easton Carmichael .675 (Sam Christiansen .643)
RBIs: Easton Carmichael 13 (Kyle Branch 11)
Home runs: Easton Carmichael 3, Dawson Willis 3
Triples: Sam Christiansen 2, Easton Carmichael 2
Doubles: Jason Walk 5 (Kyle Branch 3, Trey Gampbill 3, Easton Carmichael 3)
Hits: Kyle Branch 17 (Jason Walk 16)
Runs: Jaxon Willits 16
Stolen bases: Jason Walk 7 (Trey Gampbill 6)
ERA (10-inning min.): Kyson Witherspoon 1.50 (Malachi Witherspoon 1.88)
Wins: Kyson Witherspoon 3-0 (Malachi Witherspoon 2-0)
Innings pitched: Kyson Witherspoon 18 (Malachi Witherspoon 14 1/3)
Strikeouts: Kyson Witherspoon 28 (Malachi Witherspoon 13)
Inside the numbers
• Freshman in the box: True freshman Kyle Branch is crushing expectations. He exited last weekend slashing .415/.467/.561; pretty good for a nine-hole hitter, though he’s since moved up in the lineup. He’s also hit a home run, three doubles and stolen two bases.
• Freshman on the hill: OU’s sterling 2.41 earned run average entering the week ranked sixth in the nation and third in the SEC. Part of the reason why is true freshman Michael Catalano, who’s tossed 5 2/3 innings over five appearances in which he’s allowed two hits, struck out eight, walked nobody, nor given up a run.
• Explain this stat: Hitting .256, lowest among Sooner starters, with an on-base percentage of .353, second lowest among Sooner starters, shortstop Jaxon Willits exited last weekend having scored 16 runs, four more than any teammate.
Notes of note
Pitching all set up?
Prior to Tuesday night, Sooner pitching had been an embarrassment of riches.
In nine starts from the three-man rotation of Kyson Witherspoon, Malachi Witherspoon and Cam Johnson, seven have included at least a five-inning appearance.
Of 12 other Sooner pitchers to have seen the mound, nine carried ERA’s of 3.60 or better into the week, with seven have allowed no runs at all.
One reliever, James Hitt, fans may remember as a star-crossed starter who could never quite find it and keep it. This season, over a team-high six appearances, he’s carrying a 1.35 ERA over 6 2/3 innings.
Ridiculous conference
After sweeping CSUN over the weekend, the Sooners moved up to No. 12 in USA Today’s Baseball Coaches Poll. Nonetheless, they still trail five other SEC programs in the poll: No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Georgia and No. 9 Texas.
Also ranked are No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 17 Alabama, No. 18 Vanderbilt, No. 19 Ole Miss and No. 20 Auburn. And were the poll carried out to all receiving votes, you’d have to include No. 27 Mississippi State and No. 30 Kentucky.
That’s 14 of 16 SEC programs.
Looking ahead
After taking on Sam Houston State this weekend, the Sooners face Louisiana Tech in the mid-week before traveling to begin SEC play at South Carolina.
Current numbers suggest the Sooners, though on the road, have the advantage. The Gamecocks were 9-3 entering Tuesday night’s game against Davidson, before traveling to The Citadel on Wednesday and facing Morgan State this weekend.
Entering Tuesday, South Carolina was slashing .267/.388/.428 with a team earned run average of 3.18, well off OU’s .330/.446/.531 and 2.41.
Until next time …