Carmichaels Experience Omaha 30 Years Apart

Thirty years ago, Darby Carmichael ventured to Omaha, Neb., home to the NCAA Men's College World Series and the mecca of Division I baseball.

His eldest son, Braden, is now bound for the same destination.

Both qualified as members of the Oklahoma baseball team.

"He would tell me stories all the time just how amazing an experience it was," said Braden, a redshirt junior lefthanded pitcher for the Sooners. "Hearing him still talk about it (30 years later) just shows what it meant to the university. Now to be a part of it and to have that common ground with him, it's amazing."

The Carmichael clan will not experience the same venue, however.

Darby played at historic Rosenblatt Stadium, home of the minor-league Omaha Royals that hosted the CWS from 1950-2010. As the popularity of collegiate baseball grew, so did the size and significance of Rosenblatt, a 23,145-seat facility that became the country's largest minor-league park at the time. "He (Darby) was telling me about the baseball feel of that place,'' Braden said of Rosenblatt.

The MCWS is now staged at Charles Schwab Field (formerly TD Ameritrade Park) in downtown. Before this week, neither Carmichael had stepped on the field. "Obviously, the new stadium is super nice, modern, clean," Braden said. "I'm sure he likes that one (Rosenblatt) better, but either one is awesome."

The venture of Braden and his teammates began with a 13-8 win over Texas A&M on Friday and continues tonight in a winner's bracket game against Notre Dame at 6 p.m. CT.

"He would tell me stories all the time just how amazing an experience it was. Now to be a part of it and to have that common ground with him, it's amazing."
-- Braden Carmichael

Following a loss at No. 4-ranked Oklahoma State on April 10, the Sooners were 18-12 (.600) and a long way from Omaha. Since then, they've gone 24-10 (.706) and captured the Big 12 Tournament, the Gainesville Regional and the Blacksburg Super Regional.

Darby was a catcher at OU for the 1992 and 1993 teams. The '92 Sooners experienced OklahOMAHA by capturing the Midwest Regional in Starkville, Miss. At Rosenblatt, they suffered two losses against rival Texas that were sandwiched between an elimination game victory over Wichita State.

Darby also was part of the 1994 national championship team, serving as an assistant coach in the weight room. He eventually rejoined former OU assistant Pat Harrison at Mississippi, where they remained together from 1996-2000.

Darby left Oxford the same year Braden was born. "That's when I thought I might need to re-think making $24,000 a year," deadpanned Darby, who has since become a successful beverage distributor in the Dallas area.

Braden said he always knew he was OU-bound.

"Growing up, I'd always come to football games (in Norman)," said Braden, who resides in Prosper, Texas, north of Dallas. "I joke about it now, but I was kind of brainwashed into it. Both my parents went to OU (his mother, Julie, was a cheerleader), so I was wearing the crimson and cream coming out of the womb. I always dreamed of playing here. As soon as I had the opportunity to walk on here, I've gotten to make this dream come true."

Braden spent the two previous seasons in Denison, Texas, at Grayson College, which amazingly had five former players qualify this year for Omaha – Carmichael, Arkansas' Braydon Webb, Auburn's Blake Rambusch, plus Jordan Thompson and Taylor Smith of Texas A&M.

"Four of those guys (everyone but Webb) were on the COVID team (in 2020)," Braden said. "We're still kicking ourselves COVID came that season because we were so talented as a team. It was amazing there. It was perfect for me, setting me up for the next stage now."

Interestingly, Braden throws left, but bats right – not that he bats all that often. "I still get on the fungo stick a little bit, play a little fungo golf," Braden said jokingly. "Nah, I try not to touch those things (bats) that much."

Someone who bats righty and throws lefty often is the creation of a parent with a strong baseball background (particularly an ex-pitcher or -catcher) influencing their offspring toward becoming a southpaw pitcher, a position frequently rewarded with a higher pay scale.

Carmichaels - Easton, Darby, Braden

Easton, Darby and Braden Carmichael.

Such wasn't the case here, however. It just worked out that way.

"He's a pretty strange kid," Darby said with a chuckle. "He drinks righthanded, he eats righthanded, he bowls righthanded, he hits righthanded. He does everything righthanded – except throw a baseball. We tried to switch-hit for a long time (a quest that ended his freshman year in high school). I didn't purposely do it (make Braden a lefty), but I was kind of blessed that it happened."

Braden, who led OU pitchers in victories last season (a 6-3 record with 68 strikeouts in 68 innings pitched), can best be described as "crafty."

A father who is a former catcher playing catch with a son who is a pitcher? Could there possibly be a better combination?

"Braden's hands are bigger than mine," Darby said. "He has some things that are better than mine. He's always had a skill for taking his accelerator finger off the back of the baseball. His changeup was pretty good when he was a kid. I kind of had a feeling he was not going to light up a radar gun up, so he was going to have to figure out how to get guys out differently. We really emphasized that. Braden figured out how to do that pretty quickly and has had a lot of success. I told him, 'You've got one Division I pitch and that's what you're going to try to have to do if you want to get to where you want to go.' "

Braden and OU softball player Lynnsie Elam were chosen as 2021-22 winners of the prestigious Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship worth $10,000. Braden is the first Sooners baseball player to receive the honor. After earning his bachelor's degree in sports business in December, Braden said he will return to OU next season for his COVID senior year and start working on his master's degree. A future teammate will include yet another Carmichael with incoming freshman recruit Easton, a Texas All-State selection as a catcher.

It's entirely possible we might see an all-Carmichael battery at times in 2023. It will mark the first time Braden and Easton have been teammates thanks to the extra year COVID provided college athletes. The brothers are 3½ years apart in age, but five years apart academically.

Braden said, "We'll get to play together next year so I'm really looking forward to that. Right now, I'm just kind of riding the wave. Just soaking it all in. Whatever happens, happens."