Sooners can breathe after busy home-opening week

The good far outweighed the bad for Sooners baseball. But Sunday’s 12-2 loss in the finale of a four-game series with Wright State sure does leave a bad taste in your mouth. 

Wright State took out a weekend’s worth of frustration on the Oklahoma pitching staff. Jamie Hitt was tagged for six runs on eight hits before being chased with just one out in the third. Will Carsten no better allowing three runs on three hits and three walks. Rough day at the office. 

Despite taking three of four games on the weekend, the Sunday setback can be used as a lesson for Oklahoma (5-3). Showing up to the yard everyday is the easy part. Executing and doing the small things the right way is required. 

“That’s what’s awesome about baseball. It’s about humility. It’s about understanding how you have to be. You got to work. You learn from the things that happen within the system of what’s going on in the game. It’s the thing that is awesome about baseball because all of a sudden you’re on cloud nine. You play eight hours out here. You can feel sorry for yourself because that’s what the game wants. If you don’t want to play it pitch to pitch and all of a sudden that happens,” said Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson. 

After scoring 44 runs in the first three games of the series, Oklahoma bats were held in check on Sunday. The only real threat to get back in the game coming in the third.

Isaiah Lane and Kendall Pettis led off the inning getting plunked. Easton Carmichael reached on a dropped fly ball in right that scored Lane from second. Big inning ahead? Hardly. Just an RBI single from Michael Snyder between an Anthony Mackenzie fly out and Jackson Nicklaus ground out. The Sooners wouldn’t get closer than 6-2. 

WSU outhit Oklahoma 15-5. 

Opened L. Dale in style 

All in all, it’s a successful opening weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Ballpark. There continues to be flashes of a potentially really good ballclub. Anthony Mackenzie returned to the line-up and gave instant contributions with five hits and five RBIs. Michael Snyder continues to emerge as a key transfer portal addition to the Sooners infield. He’s hitting .429 on the season after a blistering weekend at the plate racking up eight hits and driving in eight runs. 

“I thought they played really good. I thought they had a sense of urgency on Friday night. They played really well,” said Johnson on his teams play overall. “Got key outs at times. Got key pitches at times. And I thought the pitching did really well until probably today.”  

Here’s what you missed over the weekend … 

Friday – Oklahoma 20, Wright State 0

Oklahoma scored early and often behind season high runs (20) and hits (21) and Brendan Davis, Jett Lodes, Myles Meyer and Brad Pruett combined to strikeout 15 in the shutout. For the lefty-starter Davis it was his first career Sooner victory behind a career-high eight strikeouts. 

Oklahoma scored in seven of the eight innings they went to the plate, blowing the game open with sixth in the fifth, four in the seventh and three more in the eighth. 

There’s home openers and then there are home opening blowouts. This was the latter. Nine different Sooners recorded an RBI in the game.

Saturday – Game 1 – OU 14, Wright State 9

Oklahoma scored in each of the first five innings highlighted by a seven run second frame. 

John Spikerman opened the game with a monster first inning blast to centerfield. He finished the first game with team-best three hits and four RBIs. Five different Sooners collected multi-hits with Easton Carmichael driving in three runs and Anthony Mackenzie and Carter Frederick each driving in a pair. 

Jace Miner picked up the victory relieving starter Brendan Girton who allowed five runs (one earned) on six hits before departing after 3.2 innings. 

Game 2 – OU 10, Wright State 3

The hit parade continued in the second game of the double-header with Oklahoma scoring a run in each of the first six innings to build a 10-2 lead. 

Jackson Nicklaus and Kendall Pettis each recorded three hits a piece. Michael Snyder connected with his first home run as a Sooner in the fifth, finishing the game going 2-for-3 with three RBIs. 

Kyson Witherspoon made his first career start and earned the win scattering seven hits over five innings, walking three batters and three strikeouts. It wasn’t necessarily the smoothest start but he made key pitches when needed. 

Up Next: 

After playing eight games in the first 10 days of the season, Oklahoma gets a much-needed week off before traveling to Las Vegas next weekend taking part in the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic where they’ll play Pittsburgh (Friday), California (Saturday) and Ohio State (Sunday).