Sooners Begin Charlottesville Regional Friday

First Pitch

• No. 3 seed Oklahoma (31-26) opens the 2023 NCAA Charlottesville Regional against No. 2 seed East Carolina (45-17) at 6 p.m. CT Friday at Davenport Field at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville, Va.
• The winner of Friday's game between OU and East Carolina will play the winner of No. 1 seed Virginia and No. 4 seed Army at 5 p.m. CT Saturday. The respective losing teams will play at 11 a.m. CT Saturday. Virginia and Army play at 11 a.m. CT Friday on ESPN+.
• This is the fifth time since 2010 that Oklahoma will play postseason games in the state of Virginia. The Sooners won the 2010 Charlottesville Super Regional, the 2012 Charlottesville Regional, the 2013 Blacksburg Regional and the 2022 Blacksburg Super Regional.
• Oklahoma is celebrating its 125th anniversary season in 2023. The program was established in 1898, and OU has competed in 118 seasons since (including 2023).

Watch/Listen/Follow

• The game will be televised on ESPN2, with Anish Shroff and Devon Travis calling the action. TV networks for remaining regional games will be determined later.
• Toby Rowland will have the radio broadcast, which will be carried on the Sooner Radio Network (locally in Norman on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF, Sportstalk1400.com and the Varsity Network app anywhere).
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com and NCAA.com.

Leading Off

• Oklahoma is making its 40th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and second straight. The Sooners are 94-80 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, have reached a Super Regional five times, appeared in 11 College World Series (including 2022) and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
• Oklahoma, which has 15 wins this season against teams in the NCAA Championship field, has won 12 of its last 19 contests entering the postseason, and is 10-2 following a loss since March 31. The Sooners have won 13 road games and three neutral-site games, and have 10 victories over teams that won a conference regular season title.
• Oklahoma is in its sixth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (including the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 188-130 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2022 Big 12 tournament championship and the 2022 College World Series finals since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.
• Due to various injuries and illness, Oklahoma has played only 26 of its 57 games with every position player on the roster fully available for action — the first 12 games of the season and the last 14 games. OU is 15-11 in those 26 contests. With Brooks Wallace Award semifinalist Dakota Harris in the lineup, OU is 26-17.
• Oklahoma has drawn 102 more free passes this season than its opponents. OU batters have drawn 338 walks and been hit by a pitch 70 times this season, totaling 408 free passes (an average of 7.2 per game). The Sooners have allowed 257 walks and 49 hit batters (306 free passes).
• Oklahoma ranks 11th nationally and third in the Big 12 with its 338 walks. Bryce Madron has registered 59 walks this season, which ranks sixth nationally (first in the Big 12) and is tied for fourth-most in program history. Jackson Nicklaus ranks 24th nationally (third in the Big 12) with 51 walks. Last season, Blake Robertson set a school record with 69 walks. This is first time since the 1975-76 seasons that OU has had at least one player record 56 or more walks in consecutive seasons. This is also the first season since 1976 in which at least two players have registered 50 or more walks in the same season (three in 1976; see chart on page 3).
• Oklahoma ranks 24th nationally and fourth in the Big 12 with its 109 stolen bases, and 27th nationally by averaging 1.9 stolen bases per game. OU also ranks 12th with its 36 sacrifice flies (second in Big 12), 27th with its 18 triples (second in Big 12) and 36th nationally with its .404 team on-base percentage.

Series History vs. East Carolina

• This will be the first meeting between Oklahoma and East Carolina in baseball.

Series History vs. Virginia

• Oklahoma leads the all-time series against Virginia, 5-3. The Sooners and Cavaliers last played to open the 2020 season Pensacola, Fla. UVA won the first game of that series, before OU took the final two in a Saturday doubleheader.
• The Sooners beat the Cavaliers once while winning the 2012 Charlottesville Regional, and also won the final two of three games over Virginia during the 2010 NCAA Super Regional in Charlottesville.

Series History vs. Army

• Oklahoma won its only meeting against Army, 2-1 in 10 innings, during the 2012 NCAA Charlottesville Regional.

Player Notes

• Since the start of May (14 games): John Spikerman is batting .396 (19 for 48) with 13 walks; Dakota Harris has 13 RBIs and 6 extra base hits (3 doubles, 2 homers); Bryce Madron is batting .385 (20 for 52) with 9 extra base hits (6 doubles, 2 homers), 10 RBIs, 11 runs, 12 walks and 4 steals; Wallace Clark is batting .333 (8 for 24). Spikerman has seven games with multiple hits and is on a 10-game hitting streak and 21-game reached base streak.
• Carter Campbell ranks 11th nationally and first in the Big 12 with his 32 pitching appearances (national leader has made 40 appearances). His 10 pitching decisions (6-4 record) are the most on the team, and he has recorded two saves.
• Braden Carmichael ranks 19th nationally and first in the Big 12 by averaging 1.57 walks allowed per nine innings, and ranks 43rd nationally and first in the Big 12 with his 4.54 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He earned the victory in seven consecutive starts between April 4 and May 19 (got a no decision in his last start on May 25), and pitched a complete-game four-hit shutout against Oklahoma State on May 19.
• Anthony Mackenzie has reached base in 53 of 57 games this season (the only exceptions were March 4 vs. California, and May 18, May 20 and May 26 vs. OSU). He reached safely in 42 consecutive games from March 4 through May 14 (his streak ended on May 18). He has at least one hit in 46 of his 57 contests, and has either scored a run or recorded an RBI in 45 contests. Mackenzie is batting .304 with 52 runs scored, 39 RBIs, nine doubles, six home runs and 21 stolen bases.
• Harris, who was named a Brooks Wallace Award Semifinalist last month, is batting .322 (56 for 174) and leads the team with 46 RBIs. He has 11 doubles, one triple and seven home runs in 43 games, despite missing 14 games from March 21 through April 11 with an injury.
• In his last 25 games, Spikerman is batting .367 (33 for 90) with 19 RBIs, 18 runs scored and 21 walks. Twelve of his 24 stolen bases this season (12 for 13) have come in the last 25 contests. He was 5 for 10 with three RBIs, five walks, two steals and four runs scored in three games during the Big 12 Championship.
• In the last 34 games, Madron has raised his batting average 126 points from .182 to .308 while going 52 for 142 at the plate (.366) and hitting nine of his 11 home runs, 11 of his 14 doubles, recording 37 of his 45 RBIs and 36 of his 53 runs scored. He also has 27 walks in that span. He drew a ton of walks by comparison in the first 20 games of the season (32 walks, 12 hits, five extra base hits). He leads the team with 27 extra base hits (14 doubles, two triples, 11 homers) and 53 runs scored.
• Kendall Pettis leads the Sooners with a .323 batting average (54 for 167) and has scored 46 runs, and notched six doubles, three triples, one home run, 33 walks and 16 stolen bases. He has hit .348 (46 for 132) with 33 runs, five doubles, three triples, a home run, 19 walks and 12 steals in his last 36 games (35 starts) since March 19.
• In three games during the Big 12 Championship, Jackson Nicklaus led the Sooners with a .571 batting average (4 for 7) and notched three walks, one hit-by-pitch, a double and two sacrifices (one fly and one bunt). In nine games since May 12, he is batting .300 (9 for 30) with 11 runs scored, three doubles and nine walks.
• Harris (11 doubles, one triple, seven homers) is second on the team with 19 extra base hits. Nicklaus (nine doubles, three triples, six homers) and Spikerman (13 doubles, one triple, three homers) follow with 18 and 17 extra base hits, respectively.

Oklahoma NCAA Regional History

• This is Oklahoma's 40th NCAA Tournament appearance, 14th since 2000 and second straight. The Sooners are 94-80 all-time in the NCAA postseason.
• Oklahoma has won 14 regionals, appeared in five Super Regionals and advanced to the College World Series 11 times (including in 2022). OU won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
• The Sooners won the 2022 Gainesville Regional in Gainesville, Fla. Prior to last year, Oklahoma last won a regional in 2013 at Blacksburg, Va. OU won three regionals in four seasons (2010, 2012 and 2013), and the '12, '13 and '22 regionals were won on the road.
• This is the sixth straight NCAA postseason in which the Sooners have been sent east: 2012 at Virginia, 2013 at Virginia Tech, 2017 at Louisville, 2018 at Florida State and 2022 at Florida.