Oklahoma finds opportunity in Bedlam baseball series

A lot of things can change in a month during a baseball season. It started with a momentum-building sweep in Austin against Texas, a first in Oklahoma school history.

Lately, Skip Johnson‘s OU baseball team has been closer to what fans imagined at the beginning of the year. Expectations were high following the school’s first trip to Omaha in 12 years for the College World Series. But sure enough, there were rough patches following a 4-8 start in conference play.

No, no one has penciled in another stay at the Bluecollar Boardroom. But Oklahoma heads into the final week of the regular season with all you can ask for this time of the year — an opportunity.

So what’s the difference? It starts with a healthy lineup.

“We’re getting healthy. That’s the biggest thing. I think our record when Dakota (Harris) is in the lineup is 24-13. When he’s out of the lineup, we’re 5-9,” said Johnson ahead of the Sooners’ weekend series versus Oklahoma State. “When you add that piece to the puzzle, it really helps a lot.

“It’s a great opportunity for us. It’s going to be like a postseason atmosphere around here the next couple of days. If I have to explain that, then we got the wrong guys in the clubhouse. Just hope they go out and do what they can. Execute versus try hard. They’re going to be competitive, for sure. And hopefully, we can come out on the victorious side of it.”

Since issuing 13 walks and allowing four home runs in a 19-8 loss during the first Bedlam installment of year exactly one month ago today, Oklahoma has won 10 of its last 13. Perhaps it was the kind of wakeup call that Johnson’s club needed.

“It’s just adding that one piece that was the big separator,” Johnson said. “You’ve seen Rocco (Garza-Gongora) grow a little bit more as the season goes on. I think he went 5-for-5 in Saturday’s game. Having Kenny (Kendall Pettis) back in left field has really helped a lot, too. And he’s had a really good year offensively. That’s a good sign.

“And having (Will) Karsten throwing the back-end. We were going to use him as a starter at the beginning of the year. Had a little bit of the injury bug when we first started. He had to get adjusted to the bullpen, and he’s done really good over the last two or three weeks.”

Harris’ addition to the lineup despite missing 14 games during the middle of the season with an oblique injury has been so much more than just what shows up in the boxscore.

“I think his leadership as much as anything. It’s a comfort level, comfort level for the team,” Johnson said. “It’s a comfort level for the coaches. There’s a comfort level with the pitching staff. The communication is a lot better.”

And sure the bonus is what the Brooks Wallace Semifinalist brings up the middle. With his bat in the heart of the Oklahoma lineup, he is hitting .333 and tied with a team-leading 43 RBIs.

“I think it’s just an energy I help bring to the team. We go about our business. Everyone is good, but when you take out an impact player, it makes it a little bit easier to pitch to some of those guys so I think just having a guy in the middle of our lineup teams have to pitch a little differently,” said Harris on his importance in the Sooners lineup. “I think that’s it right there. You saw the same thing with Easton (Carmichael), too. When he was out of the lineup, it hurts us. That’s an impact bat in our lineup and he’s out of there and all of the sudden we’re not quite as good as we were.”

FINDING CONSISTENCY ON THE MOUND

It’s not that they’ve been overpowering, but a key component to the Sooners late season surge has been quality starting pitching. No, you aren’t going to find a Cade Horton. Or even a David Sandlin. But what you are going to find is a pitching staff that is rounding into form at the right time. At least that’s what Johnson hopes.

“I think it’s really huge. I think that’s probably been the strongest point is going out there to throw for four or five innings to start with so where you don’t have to use the bullpen as much. And really kind of put those guys in different roles as you go through it. More match-up type deals as you go through the rest of the game,” said Johnson.

More than anything is the fact Oklahoma has — finally– found a dependable weekend rotation after being forced to replace Jake Bennett, Sandlin and Horton.

“They’ve pitched a lot better. They continue to grow in that area,” Johnson said. “Throw strikes and play defense. We’re going to have to always do that, for sure. Our offense has played a lot better and when we get a lead, we’re a lot better. So it’s been fun to watch that grow, for sure.”

Braden Carmichael and James Hitt have yet to lose a Big 12 decision.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

There’s a lot at stake. Not to mention the historical marker in Oklahoma hosting a three-game Bedlam series in Norman for the first time since 1982, but the Sooners postseason hope may very well come down to the outcome of this weekend’s series that begins Thursday night.

There was a vibe in the air as early as Wednesday as preparations began for the Sooners final home series of the year.

“When Bedlam first started, they played it at like Oklahoma City and OneOK in Tulsa and I thought that was a good deal for the whole state,” said Johnson. “Then Oklahoma State builds this unbelievable facility. They wanted it last year so we went up there and played it last year and we’re going to play it here this year and we’ll see how we handle it here and handle the environment. Like I said, it’s going to be like a postseason environment.”

The kind of environment that might’ve made Johnson a tad concerned just a month ago. His ballclub has matured over the last month. We’re not too far removed from Johnson telling reporters his team doesn’t handle adversity well. They dropped the series opener versus Kansas after the start time was moved up. They’ve sat through rain delays in Waco and Morgantown, only to lose both series. Fast forward to this past week and a pivotal seven-game road trip from coast to coast (literally). Lessons learned during the early portion of conference play led to a 5-2 mark during the coast-to-coast jaunt which have played an integral role in maintaining hopes of a return trip to the NCAA postseason.

“Being together for that long period of time traveling from the east coast back to the west coast. Going five hours in a bus across the mountains of Washington,” said Johnson on his team’s expedition from Dallas to Morgantown to Spokane last week. “It’s been fun.

“Being over there playing Gonzaga, who has really nice facilities, just being in different places where nobody has really been kind of freed it up, playing a little looser than we’ve played. It was fun to watch those guys get after it. Pitched extremely well, which is a good sign.”

A sign of which Sooners fans hope is things to come.

“You never know what is going to happen. We’ve proved that,” Johnson said.

TOURNAMENT HOPES AT A GLANCE

Oklahoma heads into the final weekend of the regular season smack dab in the middle of the Big 12 standings. More than anything, a really, really good weekend that includes a sweep of the Pokes could land Oklahoma as high as second place in the conference. There’s also a possibility of heading to Arlington to defend its postseason crown in seventh place.

Johnson hopes the NCAA Tournament Committee looks more at RPI than the conference record.

“I mean we’ve played a helluva schedule this year,” Johnson said. “That’s the reason our RPI is what it is. I think it’s 35th right now. There’s a lot of parity in it and you’ve seen that as you’ve gone through. We could have won two-to-three games at West Virginia and ended up winning one game. That’s a big difference. It’s like that every weekend (in the Big 12).”

“Really the big egg that we laid is when we didn’t have Dakota Harris. The two weekend series with Kansas State and Baylor. If they hold that against you, then I can’t control that. I mean why do we play a schedule? Really. Our non-conference strength of schedule is probably in the Top 20. Our conference schedule is in the top 20. That’s why our RPI is 35.”

“Don’t look at our record if RPI is what it’s supposed to be. Which it should be. We’ve just got to go out and finish strong. Maybe win two of three. Or win all three. Then go into the conference tournament and win a game or two and get ready for a regional.”

For the first time in a long time, Oklahoma, finally, heads into the final weekend of the regular season projected by D1Baseball.com and Baseball America to be in the NCAA Tournament field.