Week 7 OU Baseball Report: Though still winning, Sooners need more pitching
Oklahoma enjoyed just enough pitching to continue its winning ways this past weekend.
It needs more.
The Sooners still claim one of the nation’s best starting pitchers in Kyson Witherspoon and one of the nation’s best relievers in Dylan Crooks.
Last weekend, Witherspoon took a loss despite allowing just one earned run over 6 2/3 innings against Mississippi State, his longest appearance of the season, lowering his earned run average to 1.80. Meanwhile, Crooks earned a win and save against the Bulldogs, tossing three scoreless and hitless innings.
And despite early struggles, Jason Bodin’s finally earning the opportunities OU coach Skip Johnson keeps giving him.
See more on him below.
After Witherspoon, though, the starting rotation’s a crapshoot.
Kyson’s brother, Malachi Witherspoon, allowed one earned run over 4 1/3 innings against Mississippi State, but also seven hits, a walk and a hit batsman, and in his previous two appearances, against Sam Houston State and South Carolina, spanning 7 2/3 innings, he allowed 12 hits and 11 earned runs.
Yet, while he’s kept his weekend job, Cam Johnson’s lost his, making room for Cade Crossland, who’d pitched well in long relief against South Carolina.
In his first weekend start against Mississippi State, Crossland allowed eight hits and eight earned runs over three innings, sticking him with a 7.85 ERA, highest among all Sooners.
OU badly needs at least one pitcher beyond Kyson Witherspoon to offer consistency in the weekend rotation and a couple additional trusted relievers beyond Crooks and Bodin because they can’t pitch every day even though Bodin seems to.
It’s something to watch as the schedule gets tougher, as it will this weekend.
After a mid-week contest at Oral Roberts, the Sooners are at 11th ranked Alabama for a huge conference series.
The Schedule
Last week
— def. UT-Arlington 7-6
— lost to Mississippi State 2-1
— def. Mississippi State 13-11
— def. Mississippi State 7-3
This week
— at Oral Roberts, 6 p.m. Tuesday
— at Alabama, 6 p.m. Friday
— at Alabama, noon Saturday
— at Alabama, 1 p.m. Sunday
Record: 20-3 (4-2 SEC)
Streak: Won 2
Team numbers
Entering last week
Games: 19
Batting avg: .303
On-base pct: .416
Slugging pct: .495
Home runs: 21
Triples: 7
Doubles: 38
Stolen bases: 48
Caught stealing: 10
ERA: 3.95
SO/IP: 193/164
Fielding pct: .970
Errors: 20
Unearned runs allowed: 9
Entering this week
Games: 23
Batting avg: .299
On-base pct: .407
Slugging pct: .495
Home runs: 27
Triples: 9
Doubles: 45
Stolen bases: 25
Caught stealing: 10
ERA: 4.10
SO/IP: 236/200
Fielding pct: .973
Errors: 22
Unearned runs allowed: 12
Individual leaders
Batting average: Trey Gambill .356, Kyle Branch .337
On-base pct: Trey Gambill .519, Sam Christiansen .490
Slugging pct: Jaxon Willits .640, Easton Carmichael .600
RBIs: Easton Carmichael 25, Jaxon Willits 23
Home runs: Jaxon Willits 7, Easton Carmichael 5
Triples: Jaxon Willits 2, Easton Carmichael 2, Sam Christiansen 2
Doubles: Jason Walk 7, Easton Carmichael 6, Kyle Branch 6, Dawson Willis 6
Hits: Jaxon Willits 29, Easton Carmichael 29
Runs: Jaxon Willits 31, Jason Walk 20, Easton Carmichael 20
Stolen bases: Kyle Branch 10, Dawson Willis 10
ERA (minimum 10 innings): Dylan Crooks 0.55, Kyson Witherspoon 1.80
Wins: Kyson Witherspoon 5-1, Dylan Crooks 2-0, Cameron Johnson 2-0, Jason Bodin, 2-0, Malachi Witherspoon 2-1
Saves: Dylan Crooks 7, Reid Hensley 1
Innings pitched: Kyson Witherspoon 35, Malachi Witherspoon 26 1/3
Strikeouts: Kyson Witherspoon 58, Malachi Witherspoon 27
Inside the numbers
• Willits still on tear: Two weeks ago, Sooner shortstop Jaxon Willits was hitting .226. He’s now hitting .326. He also leads the Sooners in slugging percentage (.640), home runs (7), triples (2), hits (29) and runs (31). In last week’s quartet of games, Willits went 8 of 15 at the plate, scored five runs, knocked in five runs, hit two home runs and a double.
• Bodin paying off: Reliever Jason Bodin leads the Sooners and SEC with 13 appearances and his 6.00 earned run average is better than only two of his teammates: Jacob Gholston’s 6.75 and Cade Crossland’s 7.85. Still, coach Skip Johnson’s faith in him is paying off. Over Bodin's last five appearances, he's tossed seven innings, allowing one run.
• The walk machine: Sooner outfielder Sam Christiansen’s hitting .270 with a healthy .492 slugging percentage thanks to three home runs and two triples among his 17 hits. Also, his on-base percentage is a ridiculous .490 thanks to 26 walks, seven more than any teammate.
Notes of note
Defying the numbers
OU’s on-field success appears beyond what its numbers say it should be.
Among SEC teams, in all games, OU ranks ninth in batting average (.299), ninth in slugging percentage (.495) and 14th in runs scored (172).
In league games only, in the same order of categories, the Sooners rank 11th (.251), 11th (.409) and eighth (40).
On the mound, OU’s earned run average in all games ranks 10th (.409) and sixth (.517) against conference foes.
The Sooners are also 9-1 in games decided by two runs or less and 3-1 since SEC play began.
It certainly helps to have a closer like Dylan Crooks, whose ERA is 0.55 over 10 appearances, seven of which have gone longer than a single inning.
One pitch, two steals
Beyond collecting stats last weekend, Jaxson Willits did one of the coolest things you’ll ever see against Mississippi State on Sunday.
One, he executed a delayed steal, which is pretty cool by itself.
Catching the Bulldogs so off guard, though the catcher threw down, no fielder was there to receive the throw, instead fielding it behind the bag
Then, because the shift was on with Dayton Tockey at the plate, Willits never slowed around the base, continuing to run to third because no Bulldog was covering that bag either.
The stolen bases were Willits’ sixth and seventh of the season.
In the poll
The Sooners stayed still at No. 9 in Monday’s new USA Today coaches’ poll, one spot in front of Oregon and one spot behind Oregon State, despite owning a victory over the Beavers.
Other top 10 SEC squads include No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Arkansas, No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Texas.
SEC teams behind the Sooners include No. 12 Auburn, No. 13 Vanderbilt, No. 15 Ole Miss and No. 23 Florida.
Until next time …