Tag: Kendall Pettis

Oklahoma baseball adds JUCO catcher Brendan Brock

Brendan Brock commits to Oklahoma Baseball.

After one of the best baseball seasons in recent memory, Oklahoma Baseball  is trying to replicate the success of winning a regular season conference title and get back to Omaha for the first time since 2022.

This past season’s team was incredible. They produced at the plate and picked up big-time performance from the mound. Unfortunately, a few notable contributors are set to leave, so Oklahoma will have opportunities available for guys who need to impact the game. Bryce Madron, first baseman Michael Snyder, third baseman Anthony Mackenzie, and left fielder Kendall Pettis are all set to depart.

Easton Carmichael and Scott Mudler provide OU with great options behind the plate.

The Sooners landed a commitment from another player capable of playing catcher as Brendan Brock of Southwestern Illinois committed to the Sooners on Thursday.

Brock played for one year in junior college ball, where he hit .398 in 56 games. He hit 15 home runs with  52 RBIs, scoring 68 runs and swiping 39 bags.

He has versatility, too. He plays catcher but also spent time roaming the outfield. He has some good bat-to-ball skills but showcases the athleticism that Skip and his staff covet to be a menace on the basepaths.

All in all, this commitment is just the type of player Johnson loves. Brock is athletic, versatile, and can do some of everything as an offensive piece. He will have to adjust to the quality of baseball in the SEC, but he should be able to compete for playing time in next spring.

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Oklahoma Sooners fall to UConn Huskies 4-1 in Norman Regional

Oklahoma Sooners couldn’t hit with runners on and fall to UConn 4-1.

After a picture-perfect start to hosting their first regional in almost 20 years, [autotag]Skip Johnson[/autotag] and the Oklahoma Sooners saw it all come crashing down on Saturday night. They lost to the Big East regular season champion UCONN Huskies 4-1.

The Sooners came into the game with loads of momentum after a 14-0 shutout of Oral Roberts Friday night. On Friday afternoon, UCONN beat the two-seed in the region, Duke, by a 4-1 score.

Both teams knew Saturday night would be a grind, but for OU, they felt great.

[autotag]Braden Davis[/autotag], the staff ace, didn’t pitch on Friday because Johnson wanted to save him for this matchup instead. While he was right in theory, things didn’t go as he wanted them to.

Oklahoma was the road team, so they started the game batting first. Oklahoma could get nothing off Connecticut pitcher Stephen Quigley despite a Bryce Madron hit.

Davis worked out of a jam in the bottom of the second to keep things tied. Oklahoma had two hits in the top half of the third, but Quigley worked himself out of a jam and kept Oklahoma off the board.

In the bottom half of the inning, a two-out rally featuring two walks and a single by the Huskies’ Korey Morton allowed UConn to draw first blood and take a 1-0 lead.

Oklahoma got doubles in the fourth and fifth innings from [autotag]Michael Snyder[/autotag] and [autotag]John Spikerman[/autotag], but couldn’t bring them home.

That would remain the story of the night for the Sooners. In the bottom of the seventh inning, after back-to-back 1-out singles, RHP Dylan Crooks entered in relief of Braden Davis, who pitched 6.1 innings, allowing seven hits and walking three batters. He threw 109 pitches and struck out ten batters. He was also on the hook for three earned runs when Luke Broadhurst hammered a ball to deep left field to push the Huskies’ lead to 4-0.

Kendall Pettis hit a homer in the eighth, but that would be the last hurrah from the Sooners before the game ended. The Sooners got Jackson Nicklaus up for the tying run, but Nicklaus couldn’t make any noise, and the game was over.

Oklahoma’s inability to get the big hit doomed them. They pitched well enough to stay within striking distance but could never push themselves to get the one or two big hits necessary to flip momentum to their side.

Redshirt senior outfielder Kendall Pettis went 2-for-3 with a home run. He was the standout offensively.

With the loss, the Sooners will face Duke, the two-seed in this regional, with their season on the line.

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Complete game shutout from Braden Davis leads Sooners to Big 12 tournament win over TCU

Baden Davis put on a dominant display to lead the Oklahoma Sooners to a 4-0 win against the TCU Horned Frogs in the Big 12 Tournament.

The Big 12’s regular-season champions flexed their muscles in their Big 12 tournament opener. Oklahoma shut out the TCU Horned Frogs 4-0 on Wednesday afternoon behind a masterful pitching performance by Braden Davis.

Davis was locked in from the start. After giving up a one-out double to TCU’s Sam Myers in the top of the first, Davis would sit down the next 10 TCU batters. He generated some excellent swing and misses while also pitching to contact. The defense behind him made some outstanding plays in the field, like this catch by left fielder Kendall Pettis that helped minimize the first inning double.

While Davis locked down the Horned Frogs’ offense, the Sooners had to be patient against TCU starter and Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Peyton Tolle.

The Sooners finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. A one-out walk by Michael Snyder was followed by an Anthony Mackenzie single. Jackson Nicklaus doubled to bring in Snyder to put Oklahoma up 1-0. Then with two outs in the inning, Pettis came through with a single to add to the Sooners lead and make it 2-0.

With a lead, Davis continued to deal.

Even though Oklahoma’s best power hitter, Bryce Madron, wasn’t playing, others picked up the slugging in his absence. Mackenzie homered to left center and Nicklaus followed that up with a homer of his own to give Oklahoma a 4-0 lead and chase Tolle right out of the game.

Those two runs would be the final nail in the coffin as Davis cruised to the finished line for the complete game shutout. He gave up just four hits and allowed zero walks. Davis also fanned nine TCU Horned Frogs in the effort.

He needed a career-high 120 pitches, but his Herculean effort puts Skip Johnson and the rest of the Oklahoma coaching staff in a favorable position to mix and match arms in Thursday’s game against the Kansas Jayhawks with no one extending themselves on Wednesday.

The Sooners and Jayhawks both won their first games of the tournament and will battle for a spot in the Big 12 semifinals on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. The Big 12 foes did not play in the regular season.

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Oklahoma Sooners to be without star outfielder for 4-6 weeks

The Sooners will be down one of their best players for about a month due to an injury.

Just before the Oklahoma Sooners took on Dallas Baptist they found out some devastating news. The Sooners would be without their star outfielder, [autotag]John Spikerman[/autotag].

Spikerman, now a junior, has been a mainstay in the lineup since his freshman season in 2022. But the voice of the Sooners, Toby Rowland, announced he will be having hamate surgery and will be out 4-6 weeks to recover. This surgery is to fix an injury in his hand but he could be able to pinch run while the injury heals.

Spikerman currently leads the Sooners in batting average at .394. He also has one of the better on-base percentages on the team at .446. The Sooners are definitely going to miss his presence on the field and in the lineup but they are also going to miss his leadership.

He was someone who had been to a College World Series. He had won the Big 12 tournament. This year was shaping up to be a career year for him as well.

If there are any positives from this it’s that Oklahoma is very deep in the outfield so they’ll have plenty of people to try to replace him but it’s always hard to replace your top hitters and one of the leaders of the team.

The Sooners are back in action this weekend against the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag].

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How to watch, key players for the Oklahoma Sooners in the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic

The Sooners baseball team are back in action in the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic. Here is how you can watch.

The Oklahoma Sooners bounced back from an early week loss to Dallas Baptist last week with a 3-1 series win over Wright State. That brings their record to 5-3.

Now they head to Las Vegas for the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic. This weekend they’ll take on three teams, Pittsburgh, California and Ohio State.

If the Sooners can go 2-1 this week that would be huge for early in the season but it won’t be easy. Pittsburgh is 6-1 on the year. Cal is 7-1 on the year and Ohio State is the worst one at 4-4. Both Pittsburgh and Cal are hoping big weeks will get them in the top 25 rankings.

But let’s take a look at how you can watch each game and the key players for each team.

How to watch, key players for the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Wright State

The Sooners open their home play with a series vs. Wright State. Here is how you can watch the series.

The Oklahoma Sooners weren’t able to keep the winning momentum going as they fell to Dallas Baptist in their lone midweek game. Still, that shouldn’t take away from a stellar opening weekend to the season.

The Sooners have a quick chance to bounce back from their second loss of the season with a four-game series against Wright State. Wright State comes into the game losing two of three to Louisiana to start the season.

This was after they had a solid 2023 campaign, though they struggled on the road. The Sooners need to take advantage of that and win this series.

So, let’s take a look at how you can watch the Sooners baseball team’s first series at home.

How to watch, key players for the Oklahoma Sooners vs. Dallas Baptist

After a 2-1 weekend the Sooners are back in action with a midweek game against Dallas Baptist. Here is how to watch.

What a start to the season it was for the Oklahoma Sooners. They started the year 2-1 with a win over top 10 Tennessee.

Now they are back in action on the road against Dallas Baptist who is 3-0 on the season. The Sooners have a chance to really impress people and continue to make statements if they are able to win this one.

The pitching matchup was announced on Monday, and it will be [autotag]Grant Stevens[/autotag] for OU, who is making his debut. For Dallas Baptist, it will be Nick Wilson who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA on the year.

Let’s look at how you can watch the game as well as some more key players.

How to watch, key players for the Oklahoma Sooners in the Shriners Children’s College Baseball Showdown

The Oklahoma baseball team is set take the field this weekend for the first time and this is how you can watch them.

It is almost Opening Day for the Oklahoma Sooners baseball team. The Sooners are coming off a tough 32-28 season a year ago, where they were eliminated in the Regionals.

But they return this year with seven of their top nine hitters back in the lineup for the 2024 season. But they’ll have to replace two of their starting pitchers from a season ago.

They start the season off with a tough three-game stretch in the Shriners Children’s College Baseball Showdown. They take on the Oregon Ducks, Tennessee Volunteers, and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

So, let’s look at how you can watch those games and some key players for all the teams.

Oklahoma Sooners beat Oklahoma State 9-5 to advance in Big 12 championships

The Oklahoma Sooners advanced in the Big 12 baseball championships with a 9-5 win over Oklahoma State.

The Oklahoma Sooners jumped out to an early lead in their Bedlam matchup with Oklahoma State and cruised to a 9-5 victory to advance in the Big 12 baseball championships.

The Sooners opened the game with a pair of walks to John Spikerman and Kendall Pettis to open the game in the top of the first. A Bryce Madron sacrifice fly to right field put runners on second and third with one out in the inning.

Dakota Harris jumped on the first pitch he saw from Oklahoma State pitcher Carson Benge for the two-run single. Harris then advanced to second on an Anthony Mackenzie fielder’s choice before being driven in by an RBI single from Easton Carmichael to make it 3-0 after the top of the first.

Getting the start for the Sooners, Carson Atwood provided a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the first, holding onto Oklahoma’s momentum.

The Sooners added another run in the top of the second on a Pettis sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 and Atwood retired the Cowboys in order in the bottom of the second.

In the top of the third, the Sooners scored on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Nicklaus to make it 5-0. Then Spikerman singled up the middle to bring Sebastian Orduno in from third to extend the lead to six. Then Oklahoma took advantage of an Oklahoma State wild pitch when Pettis was able to reach first after striking out, allowing Wallace Clark to score to make it 7-0.

The Cowboys finally got on the board in the bottom of the third with three runs, chasing Atwood out of the game. James Hitt came in to help limit the damage and then threw 2.2 innings, allowing two hits and two walks before giving way to Carter Campbell who came in and threw four innings, allowing one run on three hits and a walk.

With the score 7-4 in the seventh, the Sooners got back to work offensively. Nicklaus reached on an error, which allowed Kade Fletcher to score on the sacrifice. Later in the inning, Mackenzie walked with the bases loaded to make it 9-4 Oklahoma.

The Sooners allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth, but Campbell was able to keep the Cowboys off balance over the final four innings.

John Spikerman and Easton Carmichael each collected a pair of hits and six different Sooners drove in a run.

A bubble team for the NCAA tournament, this is a huge step to securing a postseason berth. The Sooners now move on to face the winner of the final game of day one between the No. 3 seed West Virginia and the No. 6 seed Texas Tech.

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5 takeaways from Oklahoma’s big series win over No. 13 TCU

Oklahoma wins a big-time series against conference foes TCU at home to start Big 12 play. Here are our five takeaways.

Oklahoma’s baseball team started the year in a rough spot as they struggled to gain consistency and dropped some games to opponents they knew they should have beaten. While the past is the past, all the Sooners could do moving forward is lock in as Big 12 play starts.

The Sooners started Big 12 play with a weekend series at L. Dale Mitchell Park. They hosted No.11/13 TCU, which was always expected to be a tight series. The three-game set lived up to the hype as Oklahoma lost Friday before doubling up with wins on Saturday and Sunday to take the series. A hard-fought effort brought Oklahoma’s record to 13-7 as they take Monday off before hosting Dallas Baptist midweek.

With the TCU series over, here are five takeaways from the weekend set.