What's up with the Sooners on their way into Bedlam? Pretty much this
This will not feature a consistent thread.
Basically, I’ve had a busy day, yet the final Big 12 Conference Bedlam baseball series begins in Stillwater at 6 tonight and though earlier commitments have me writing even the first of these words post midnight, I nonetheless believe I have smart things to say about one of the participating teams and still get to sleep by 3 a.m.
We’ll see.
As you may know, I do a deep dive on coach Patty Gasso’s Oklahoma softball team each week and though I haven’t been doing it with Sooner baseball I’ve been on sight for a few games and have watched many more on ESPN+, so I figured I knew what was going on with this team.
I was wrong.
Yes, the pitching’s been suspect, but it’s more than that. Yes, John Spikerman remains out, which is not helpful, yet nor is it like Oklahoma’s quit scoring runs. Also, it turns out, the Sooner defense has been putrid, just not when I’ve been in the press box, which goes to show research is never a bad idea when you’re trying to explain a team.
Thus, there’s no quick, singular answer as to what ails the Sooners (16-12, 7-2 Big 12), who continue to reign atop the league standings, even after losing six of their last nine games.
Only two of the losses were conference setbacks, so there’s that, but OU really is struggling. Not because of any one thing, more because, one way or another, it’s simply found ways to lose games the last couple of weeks.
Like, how about this?
On March 19, the first of those nine games, the Sooners fell 8-0 to eighth-ranked Dallas Baptist.
Since, a span of eight games, they’ve scored 50 runs and given up 50 runs, yet lost five of the eight.
Their starting pitching has let them down terribly: James Hitt allowing six runs over just one inning March 24 against West Virginia; Brendan Girton allowing six runs over 2 2/3 innings March 28 against Lamar; Braden Davis allowing nine runs over four innings March 29 against Lamar; Kyson Witherspoon allowing five runs over five innings March 30 against Lamar.
Yet, in two of those, defense let OU down first: four errors leading to seven unearned runs the day Girton started and three errors lading to four unearned runs the day Witherspoon started.
It’s kind of a season-long issue.
OU carries a team earned run average of 4.80, which is no great shakes, yet still ranks 60th among 250 Division I baseball teams.
Far worse, OU carries a .964 fielding percentage, ranking 212th.
Ugh.
Though plain old errors and unearned runs are not tracked by the NCAA to be ranked, OU’s totals over 28 games sound no good at all: 37 errors, 32 unearned runs.
It should be noted that Lamar, which swept OU in Norman last weekend, is no slouch. Though unranked, the Cardinals are unbeaten in the Southland Conference and 23-5 overall.
Still, scoring 10 and 8 runs in games one and two against them, the Sooners should have won both, and perhaps all three after allowing five unearned runs in a 6-3 game three loss.
Because OU’s strength of schedule ranks No. 1 in the nation, the Sooners still carry a No. 22 RPI figure. By contrast, Oklahoma State (19-10, 5-4 Big 12), having played the nation’s 32nd toughest schedule, carries a No. 29.
Yet, if OU’s arguably the better squad, history is not on its side. Even since 2000, years removed from the Cowboys’ stranglehold on the old Big Eight, OU is 35-56 against OSU and 18-31 in games that count in the Big 12 standings.
Also, since 2021, even though the Sooners took two of three conference contests from the Cowboys that season, they’re still just 5-12 against their Bedlam rival, including a 14-5 loss March 12 in Norman.
Given OU’s pitching issues, its defensive issues, it’s Bedlam history and the fact it’s 2-4 over its last two weekends when it’s supposed to roll out its best starting pitching, there’s virtually no reason to expect much to go right for the Sooners beginning tonight at O’Brate Stadium … with the possible exception of this:
OU won its last time out.
In Wichita, sweeping its season series against the Shockers, OU topped Wichita State 11-2.
Also, the Shockers are pretty good, still 19-10 overall and 5-1 in the AAC.
Better, the Sooners pulled it off by throwing, get this, eight pitchers.
Grant Stevens (5-0) got the win, allowing one hit, no runs and no walks over the first two innings.
James Hitt, who just lost his weekend starting job to Witherspoon, who’d allowed 13 runs, 11 earned, over his previous three outings, spanning only seven innings, tossed a clean two frames, allowing one hit, no runs and no walks over the fourth and fifth innings.
Tossing an inning or a fraction of one, Reid Hensley, Jace Miner, Carson Atwood and Ryan Lambert also allowed no runs, and after Stevens’ 32 pitches, nobody else threw more than 21.
At the very least, OU should bring a confident bullpen into O’Brate Stadium.
Now you know, and though I’ve still got to edit this thing, find a picture and post it, it’s only 1:25 a.m. right now.
Time well spent.
Well done, Clay. Thank you.