Tag: Oklahoma Baseball

Oklahoma baseball earns pair of commitments over the weekend

The transfer portal continues to be kind to Oklahoma as they land two commitments over the weekend.

Skip Johnson has been busy since Oklahoma’s season ended in Charlottesville, Virginia. The portal and high school recruiting have been highly advantageous to the Sooners this summer, and Johnson continues to reap the benefits from both.

While Sooner fans were head over heels after elite tight end prospect Davon Mitchell chose Oklahoma this weekend, the Sooners baseball team also landed new talent.

Jacob Lapham, formerly of Hudson Valley Community College in New York, committed to the Sooners. Lapham is another pitcher to add to the Sooner’s mix. He earned all-conference honors this past season as a starter.

It remains to be seen if he’ll start at Oklahoma. However, someone that can start or work in long or middle relief is always valuable for the college baseball grind.

Staying on the diamond, Johnson deviated from his run on pitchers to add Carter Frederick. Frederick is a massive bat from Snead State, where he posted an NJCAA-best .493 batting average with 14 home runs and 53 RBIs. He swiped seven bags for good measure and was named ACCC-North Player of the Year.

Snead is a physically imposing player, standing 6 feet, 4 inches and more than 215 pounds. He likely slots as a middle-of-the-order bat to add some much-needed pop to an Oklahoma team that finished tied for 210th nationally in home runs with 47 in 60 games. His on-base percentage is a few ticks shy of .600. Needless to say, Frederick’s addition to this Sooner lineup will be very welcome.

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Oklahoma’s season ends in Charlottesville in 8-5 loss to ECU

Oklahoma was eliminated by the ECU Pirates 8-5 in the NCAA Tournament to end their season Sunday afternoon.

Oklahoma’s 2023 baseball season has come to an end. Oklahoma lost on Sunday in its second elimination game of the Charlottesville Regional to the East Carolina Pirates, 8-5.

Oklahoma entered the day with a tall task ahead of it to advance to the super regionals. It needed to beat ECU and then regional hosts UVA twice. The first step was beating the Pirates, but Oklahoma failed Sunday just as it did when the programs faced off Friday.

ECU cashed in both games with timely hitting with runners in scoring position, whereas Oklahoma failed to convert across both games against ECU. On Sunday, left-hander James Hitt took the mound for the Sooners. Hitt entered the game 6-1 with a 4.50 ERA.

Oklahoma started great, loading the bases and threatening to put up a crooked number. Yet, the Sooners scored only one run, on a sacrifice fly from Anthony McKenzie in the bottom of the first.

Hitt retired the first six batters he faced. The top of the third inning proved much more problematic. ECU plated three runs on RBI singles from Jacob Starlin and Cam Clonch and a fielder’s choice.

Oklahoma produced nothing in response. The Sooners put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the third, but ECU got out of trouble with an inning-ending double play.

After loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, Oklahoma lined into a double play. A John Spikerman groundout ended the inning with Oklahoma still down 3-1.

The top of the fifth is when ECU took control. ECU ripped off five runs to build an 8-1 lead. Two of ECU’s best bats, Carter Cunningham and Josh Starling, highlighted the eruptions with an RBI double and an RBI single, respectively.

Oklahoma did its best to answer in the bottom of the fifth. Shortstop Dakota Harris brought in a run with an RBI single. The Sooners made it 8-3 on a balk by Pirates pitcher Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman.

Easton Carmichael had an RBI double in the seventh, and Bryce Madron homered in the bottom of the ninth to draw the Sooners closes, but it wasn’t enough.

Harris and Madron each finished 3-for-4 at the plate for the Sooners, while Carmichael had two hits.

Oklahoma’s lack of success with runners in scoring position kept it from making this game more competitive. The two missed opportunities with the bases loaded and the third-inning double play were absolutely crushing.

ECU (47-18) takes on Virginia in the regional final. It must win twice to move on to the super regionals.

For Oklahoma (32-28), its season ends in Charlottesville. It heads back to Norman as a team that should be proud of all it accomplished. After a magical run to the 2022 College World Series in Omaha, the team was decimated by the MLB draft and graduations.

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Watch: Handshake line turns violent between Oklahoma baseball teams

Nowhere do they take high school baseball more seriously than in the state of Oklahoma.

High school baseball playoffs continue to make significant headlines for the wrong reasons in 2023. This time, two Oklahoma were at the forefront of an altercation last weekend.

Just after Oklahoma Christian beat Bethel for the second time in three days during the OSSAA 3A Regional Tournament, the players lined up for the customary handshakes. One player decided not to take the classy road, though.
Watch as this Bethel player throws a nasty right hand at Oklahoma Christian’s catcher as he passes by.

Oklahoma Christian has advanced to the state playoffs.

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Oklahoma tops No. 14 Texas 2-1 in series opener

Texas’ bats went silent against Oklahoma on Friday.

Oklahoma silenced No. 14 Texas’ offense on Friday night to take game one of the series with a 2-1 victory.

The Sooners took the lead on a two-out bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning. Oklahoma lefty Carter Campbell was excellent in relief, tossing three shutout innings to earn the win.

Texas’ bats squandered a few opportunities to break the game open early on. A bases-loaded strikeout and a double play ball ended Texas rallies. The Longhorns finished hitless with runners in scoring position on the night.

Despite the loss, Lucas Gordon delivered another fantastic Friday night start for the Longhorns. Gordon gave Texas seven innings of one-run ball with a season-high nine strikeouts.

Travis Stehle gets the ball for the Longhorns in game two of the series on Saturday. Texas looks to force a rubber match with a bounce-back performance.

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No. 14 Texas vs. Oklahoma preview and pitching matchups

Texas welcomes Oklahoma for a rivalry baseball series this weekend.

No. 14 Texas (27-12, 8-4) hosts Oklahoma (19-19, 4-8) this weekend for a Big 12 Conference rivalry series.

The Longhorns jumped up five spots in the polls this week after a road series victory over Baylor. It was not the prettiest display of baseball by Texas, but it was good enough to hold on to first place in the Big 12.

Oklahoma is in the middle of a sluggish season. Skip Johnson’s squad is looking to recreate the magic they had last season. The Sooners dropped a tight home series to Texas Tech last week to fall into the league cellar.

Despite being on opposite ends of the Big 12 standings, Texas and Oklahoma matchup up fairly even from an offensive standpoint. The difference is Texas’ pitching staff has an ERA of 3.68 compared to Oklahoma’s 5.95.

Texas can benefit from working the Oklahoma pitch counts, testing the depth of the Sooners’ bullpen.

Here is a look at the probable weekend starters for Texas and Oklahoma. Both teams are shaking up their regular rotation.

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No. 14 Texas vs. Oklahoma preview and pitching matchups

Texas welcomes Oklahoma for a rivalry baseball series this weekend.

No. 14 Texas (27-12, 8-4) hosts Oklahoma (19-19, 4-8) this weekend for a Big 12 Conference rivalry series.

The Longhorns jumped up five spots in the polls this week after a road series victory over Baylor. It was not the prettiest display of baseball by Texas, but it was good enough to hold on to first place in the Big 12.

Oklahoma is in the middle of a sluggish season. Skip Johnson’s squad is looking to recreate the magic they had last season. The Sooners dropped a tight home series to Texas Tech last week to fall into the league cellar.

Despite being on opposite ends of the Big 12 standings, Texas and Oklahoma matchup up fairly even from an offensive standpoint. The difference is Texas’ pitching staff has an ERA of 3.68 compared to Oklahoma’s 5.95.

Texas can benefit from working the Oklahoma pitch counts, testing the depth of the Sooners’ bullpen.

Here is a look at the probable weekend starters for Texas and Oklahoma. Both teams are shaking up their regular rotation.

Contact/Follow us @LonghornsWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas news, notes and opinions.

Oklahoma Baseball’s Skip Johnson named Central Region Coach of the Year

After the program’s best season in over a decade, Skip Johnson was named the Central Region’s Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

After OU Baseball’s best season in over a decade and a magical run all the way to the national championship, Manager Skip Johnson has been named the 2022 Central Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

OU won their first Big 12 title since 2013 and made it to the College World Series for the first time since 2010. While the team did have its flaws, they got hot in April and carried that momentum all the way to Omaha to finish as the national runner-up after losing to Ole Miss.

Johnson will go into his sixth season in Norman with some more hardware on his mantle.

Oklahoma head baseball coach Skip Johnson was named 2022 Central Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association after leading the Sooners to a campaign that surpassed the expectations of many prior to the season.

In his fifth season at the helm, Johnson guided Oklahoma to the Big 12 Championship title, the program’s 11th NCAA Men’s College World Series appearance and a national runner-up finish in the MCWS Finals. OU became only the second Big 12 school to participate in an MCWS Championship Series, and the first since Texas in 2009.

The Sooners ended their season with a 45-24 record, including a 27-12 mark since April 12, and a 15-9 mark in Big 12 Conference play. Oklahoma, which was picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason poll, tied for second in the regular season league standings. OU posted a 12-4 record after the end of the regular season and an 8-4 mark in the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma won its final six series of the regular season, then tore through the Big 12 Championship with a perfect 4-0 record, won the NCAA Gainesville Regional with a 3-1 mark and won the NCAA Blacksburg Super Regional 2-1 before advancing through MCWS bracket play in three games. In total, OU spent the entire postseason (and the final six weeks of the season overall) away from home, compiling a 14-5 record in that span. – OU Baseball

The Sooners will go into next season with a lot to prove as defending Big 12 Tournament champions.

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OU Baseball finishes 2022 season at No. 2 in D1Baseball Top 25

OU Baseball finishes the 2022 season at no. 2 in D1Baseball’s Top 25 Rankings after magical Omaha run.

The Oklahoma Sooners finished the 2022 season with much to be proud of. They won the Big 12 Tournament, made it to the Men’s College World Series, and were two wins away from being national champions.

For this amazing season, they were rewarded with the No. 2 ranking in D1Baseball’s final Top 25 of the 2022 season. That’s a jump up of seven spots from D1Baseball’s previous ranking.

The first-time national champion Ole Miss Rebels will finish the season atop the rankings after a magical run of their own to Omaha. All of the top eight are teams that made it to the MCWS.

The Big 12 is well-represented, with Texas at No. 8, Oklahoma State at No. 17, TCU at No. 23 and Texas Tech at No. 24.

Meanwhile, from the SEC, Ole Miss leads the way at No. 1 with Texas A&M at No. 2, Arkansas No. 3, Auburn at No. 7, Tennessee at No. 9 (more on that later), Florida at No. 21 and LSU bringing up the rear at No. 25.

So in both OU’s current and future conferences, there is a lot of stiff competition.

As for Tennessee, they had an extremely disappointing tournament after being the best team in the country for most of if not the entire regular season. The Volunteers went 57-9 and won their regional, but ended up losing to Notre Dame in three games in Super Regionals.

The future for OU Baseball is without a doubt very bright. However, the Sooners will have to deal with something they have not in a long time next season.

Expectations.

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A controversial interference rule took a run off the board for Oklahoma in the College World Series

A rule’s a rule, but come on!

In a captivating college baseball postseason across the board, Ole Miss and Oklahoma are the last two squads standing. And despite all of the underpinned narratives and team spirit on the Rebels’ side, the Sooners would not go down without a fight in the Finals.

Even after taking a 10-3 beating in Game 1, Oklahoma refused to go away with their backs against the wall on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, the officiating (or rule book?) probably could’ve helped them out more.

Let’s fast forward to the sixth inning in a 0-0 game. To get a runner at third across home plate, Oklahoma’s John Spikerman laid down a quality bunt that made it 1-0 and brought the other runner over to third.

Or did he?

According to the umpires, Spikerman (or his body) interfered with the pitcher’s throw to first base by running inside fair territory and not in the runner’s lane. Because a player — whether it’s inadvertent or not, obviously can’t do that — the call was overturned, and Oklahoma lost the crucial run as all baserunners have to return to the base where they started.

Ole Miss would get out of the inning without any further damage after recording the third out on the next batter.

College baseball fans on Twitter weren’t happy about the controversial rule that cost Oklahoma in a clutch spot.

Oklahoma is one win away from the championship series after a wire-to-wire 6-2 victory over Notre Dame

The Oklahoma Sooners inch one win closer to the championship series after defeating Notre Dame by a score of 6-2 on Sunday evening.

Oklahoma is one win away from a spot in the championship series of the College World Series. Sunday night they defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Sunday evening in Omaha by a score of 6-2.

The win takes the Sooners to 2-0 in pool play and sends Notre Dame to play an elimination game against the Sooners’ former Big 12 foes Texas A&M.

Oklahoma was paced by an excellent pitching performance from Cade Horton who threw six innings of two-run ball while striking out 11, walking one, and giving up five hits.

Offensively, star shortstop [autotag]Peyton Graham[/autotag] continued his incredible season with a four-hit night that included a walk and a stolen base. [autotag]Tanner Tredaway[/autotag] chipped in with two massive RBIs to pair with three hits himself.

For the Sooners, it wasn’t the home runs that got the job done offensively as Notre Dame, team that ended the regular season with the nation’s seventh-best ERA, kept Oklahoma in the ballpark. Timely base hits, walks, and aggressive base running came together for some excellent small ball for the Sooners.

Oklahoma jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third after struggling the first two innings, stranding four men on base.

A Peyton Graham single and steal was followed by a Tredaway base hit to score Graham from second. Treadway then scored from second on a Wallace Clark single.

Meanwhile, Cade Horton dominated the Notre Dame lineup using a deadly combination of a slider, fastball, and a curveball to keep Notre Dame off balance all evening.

The bottom of the fifth saw Oklahoma hit the gas and pull away for good. A few singles got the Sooners on first and third with one out before what was essentially a safety squeeze turned into two runs as the Notre Dame pitcher fielding the bunt made an errant throw allowing the runner on first to score as well giving Oklahoma a 4-0 lead. Jackson Nicklaus then added an RBI single that extended their lead to 5-0.

Notre Dame would chip into the Oklahoma lead with a two-run home run in the top of the 6th off the bat of Notre Dame’s David LaManna. Horton, who was at 90-plus pitches would finish the inning before giving way to an Oklahoma bullpen that allowed only a walk and to hits to seal the game for the Sooners. Jaret Godman and super senior Trevin Michael pitched three scoreless innings, pushing Oklahoma one win away from the College World Series championship.

The Sooners will be facing the winner of the Notre Dame and Texas A&M elimination game knowing that whoever their opponent is will have to beat them twice to move past them.

Oklahoma’s next game will be Wednesday at 12 p.m. CT.

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