By Kaden Boyd
The Sooners dropped their midweek game to No. 15 Dallas Baptist in what would be the second matchup for both teams this season. Dallas Baptist came into this game with a record of 16-3 and they looked to continue their hot streak on the road in Norman, OK. The game was pretty tight the whole game, except for the 9th inning where Oklahoma would give up three runs that were easily avoidable with just a little help with some better pitching and defense.
To start the game, both teams were very good defensively for the most part. Dallas Baptist was able to get things going early in the second inning where Mann was able to get himself a homerun to left field taking the lead 1-0. Oklahoma would fire back, but could sadly not get anything going in the bottom of the second inning. Dallas Baptist again was able to strike back in the fourth inning where they were able to get a 2-run homerun off the bat of Krauss to right field to take an early lead in the 4th inning with a score of 3-0. The rest of the game however was really quiet with a little bit of action coming from the bat of Oklahoma but sadly, not getting anything to go their way. Dallas Baptist on the other hand was able to get 3 more runs to come across the plate in a 6-0 victory for the Patriots.
Oklahoma ran a “whole staff” bullpen tonight so we got to see a lot of action from a lot of pitchers that we typically do not get to see a lot of, and for the most part, I was very impressed. Could we have been better? Absolutely. Did we see a lot of solid outings against an incredible ballclub? Again, Absolutely. I truly feel that the pitching staff did everything in their power (minus the 9th inning) to keep us in the ballgame to win it, and the offense just was not able to execute on the opportunities that they were given. The offense left 7 runners on base throughout the whole game which is no bueno. I think that the offense is having to work some things out, especially with the new change in the lineup with Spikerman now out and everyone being shuffled around. On top of that, it is really easy for us to be riding the high of being ranked and coming off another sweep in conference play. I truly believe that Skip will get the boys ready for this weekend against West Virginia.
West Virginia is coming into Norman, OK this weekend with a record of 11-9 as well as having a conference record of 2-1 with their series win coming against BYU. Last week West Virginia was able to host Ohio State which is someone that the Sooners are also familiar with. West Virginia would drop the series to Ohio State at home with the series being 1-2 in favor of the Buckeyes.
On paper, it is looking like the Sooners will be facing Aidan Major who has pitched a total of 32 innings this season. Aidan is by far the best arm that they have starting rotation-wise coming into this weekend with an ERA of 2.81, as well as being 3-0 on the season. Through the 32 innings this season, he has been able to rack up a total of 38 strikeouts as well. This is going to be a true challenge for the Sooners lineup which has just recently gone through some lineup changes with Spikerman now being out for an extended period of time. I believe that with it being a right-handed pitcher, we should fair well against Major with the majority of our lineup being left-handed batters as well as some being able to switch hit.
In game two the Sooners will be going up against a Left-handed pitcher Derek Clark who has pitched a total of 10 innings this season for West Virginia. Clark comes into this weekend with an ERA of 1.80, and has stacked up a total of 11 strikeouts and only walking one. Keep in mind though that 7 of his 11 total strikeouts came against BYU where he would also only allow one hit. Against a solid team in Ohio state, he was only able to get 4 strikeouts while also allowing 7 hits in a span of 5 innings. I would assume that the Sooners would be able to jump on top of him early and quick in the ballgame. This is the pitcher that I personally feel like the Sooners will favor best against even though he is a lefty pitcher. Skip has done extremely well of getting the right matchup set up for whoever the opposing team throws our way. I truly am not blown away by Derek Clark, however, if we are unable to get things going early, I believe that Clark will be able to take that momentum and keep him going throughout the game just like what happened when he faced BYU.
In game three, the Sooners as of right now are going to face Tyler Swaitalski who has seen 18 total innings this season with his longest start being 5 innings long. Through 18 total innings, Switalski has an ERA of 6.00. Switalski is another left-handed pitcher that the Sooners are going to be facing this weekend, but again, I truly feel that we are going to fair well against Switalski. On the season Switalski has got a total of 15 strikeouts through those 18 innings. On the flip side, he also has 15 walks on the season. I believe that the Sooners are going to be able to have a really good day against him, just as long as we are going up with great plate discipline like we have all season long. I am personally not impressed with what Switalski is bringing to the table this weekend for West Virginia. It seems as if he gets rattled easily, and on top of that, I just don't think he has anything that can overpower our lineup.
A key player that the Sooners need to look out for is JJ Wetherholt who has not been playing due to an injury but is expected to play this weekend from what I have been told. In 2023 Wetherholt ended the season with a batting average of .449 with 101 hits as well as getting 16 homeruns in the process. Many people have Wetherholt as a first rounder (some first pick) in the upcoming MLB draft due to how talented Wetherholt is in all aspects of the game.
Games this weekend will be March 22 (Friday) at 7 PM, March 23 (Saturday) at 4 PM, and March 24 (Sunday) at Noon. This is a big weekend for the Sooners and is also the first weekend that the berms will be hosting “Doc B’s Pizza Party”! Come out to the ballgame to cheer on the #1 team in the Big 12 as they look to extend their lead in the Big 12. Lets go have ourselves a weekend! BOOMER!!
Comentários