Bedlam Highlights Baseball Midweek Matchups

Oklahoma

OSU

March 12 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park

FIRST PITCH

• Oklahoma closes a five-game homestand with a midweek Bedlam matchup Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. CT at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners continue a busy week Wednesday night in Arlington, Texas, facing off against the UTA Mavericks at 6 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark.

• Both games can be watched via ESPN+ and heard locally in Oklahoma on SportsTalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM or nationwide on The Varsity app. Live stats can be found at OUStats.com. Chris Mycoskie and Rich Hill will be on the call for Bedlam in Norman Tuesday night.

• Single game tickets and mini-plan options for home games at L. Dale Mitchell Park are available via SoonerSports.com/tickets.

• For the Fans: Tuesday's Bedlam matchup will feature a reversible bucket hat giveaway and Two's Day, as is every Tuesday throughout the season, where fans can get $2 beer, soda, popcorn and hot dogs.

• The Sooners enter Tuesday at 9-5 following a 4-0 week last week that saw OU beat Wichita State and sweep UCF on conference-opening weekend. Now in its 27th and final season in the Big 12 conference, Oklahoma is 355-318-2 all time in conference play.

LEADING OFF

• The Sooners have opened the season with a 9-5 record, highlighted by a top-10 win over then-No. 9 Tennessee, a walk-off victory over former conference foe Nebraska and a Big 12-opening sweep of then 9-1 UCF.

• Oklahoma is in its seventh 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 198-137 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.

• The Sooners returned 13 letterwinners from the 2023 squad and brought in 26 newcomers for the 2024 season.

• Oklahoma finished the 2023 season by making its 40th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history, playing in the NCAA Charlottesville Regional.

• The Sooners ended the 2023 season with a 32-28 record and an 11-13 mark in Big 12 Conference play.
Lead, L. Dale Mitchell

SERIES HISTORY

• OSU: The Cowboys hold the Bedlam baseball all-time lead, 169-148, as the teams enter their final season together in the Big 12 conference. The teams met six times a season ago with OSU taking four of the six contests. The two last met in Arlington at the Big 12 Baseball Championship, where OU won the first meeting 9-5 before OSU defeated the Sooners 8-3 in the rematch to advance to the semifinals.

• Tuesday's midweek non-conference matchup between the squads marks the first midweek meeting at L. Dale Mitchell in Norman since 2018.

• UTA: The Sooners hold the all-time edge, 25-12, over the Mavericks. The last meeting between the teams came in Norman in 2021, a 15-5 OU victory.

• Second-year UTA head coach Clay Van Hook spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Oklahoma, helping the Sooners to the 2022 Big 12 Tournament title and the 2022 College World Series finals.

RECAPPING THE START TO THE SEASON

• After dropping the season opener to Oregon, the Sooners bounced back in a big way with a pair of wins vs. No. 9 Tennessee and Nebraska in dramatic fashion at the Shriners Children's College Classic at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

• Opening the home slate vs. Wright State, the Sooners came sprinting out of the gates on offense, putting up a combined 46 runs on the weekend, highlighted by a 20-0 home-opening day win on Friday.

• After dropping a 19-9 decision in seven innings to Pittsburgh in OU's first game of the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic, the Sooners fought back with a tough matchup vs. Ohio State on Sunday. Holding a lead into the ninth inning, the Buckeyes were able to rattle off a pair of runs to edge the Sooners, 4-3.

• In last Tuesday's midweek matchup vs. Wichita State, sophomore catcher Easton Carmichael homered and had 3 RBIs to pace OU. On the mound, Will Carsten was productive in his first start of the season, going three innings and allowing no runs and just one hit.

• The Sooners opened Big 12 play last weekend in dominant fashion, sweeping a UCF team that came to Norman at 9-1 and fresh off a win at No. 4 Florida. The Sooners pitching and hitting was firing on all cylinders as OU outscored the Knights 29-8 on the weekend, capped by a 14-2, seven inning run-rule on Sunday.

THE NUMBERS

• On the season, the Sooners are batting .343 as a team, paced by sophomore Easton Carmichael's .472 average. Graduate transfer Michael Snyder leads the team with 20 RBIs and three home runs. Carmichael paces OU with seven doubles and a .755 slugging clip. Senior Bryce Madron has drawn a team-best 13 walks.

• On the mound, the Oklahoma pitching staff has 146 strikeouts to 68 walks.

• Nine Sooners have homered so far in the early season for a total of 15 team blasts, led by Snyder's trio, while four other Sooners have homered twice.

• Thirteen Sooners have brought in at least one run, with six plating at least seven.

• Junior LHP transfer Braden Davis has been solid in his four appearances as a Sooner, leading OU with 25 strikeouts in 19.0 innings pitched.

• Sophomore righty transfer Kyson Witherspoon paces the team with a 1.88 ERA in 14.1 IP to go with 11 strikeouts, while veteran lefty James Hitt has 22 K's in 16.1 innings pitched, highlighted by a single-game high for any OU pitcher with 10 vs. Nebraska (2/18).

• The pitching staff has recorded double-digit strikeouts in eight of OU's first 14 games with a season-high 15 twice (vs. Tennessee [2/17], vs. Wright State [2/24]).

• The Sooners have had 17 pitchers make appearances so far in 2024, with 10 registering seven-or-more strikeouts, led by junior LHP Braden Davis' 25 and senior LHP James Hitt's 22.

• Head coach and pitching coach Skip Johnson and the Sooners have 22 pitchers on the roster in 2024.

LED BY THE VETS

• Veteran leadership in the field highlights the 2024 Oklahoma squad, paced by redshirt seniors Kendall Pettis and Michael Snyder, senior Anthony Mackenzie and juniors Jackson Nicklaus and John Spikerman.

• The five combine for 749 career games played and 692 starts. Production at the plate includes a combined 67 home runs, 122 doubles and 403 RBIs.

CARMICHAEL CLAIMS BIG 12 WEEKLY HONORS

• Easton Carmichael was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Week, the conference announced the weekly honors Monday. The OU catcher/designated hitter helped OU to a 4-0 week, capped by a conference-opening sweep of UCF in Norman. Carmichael hit .615 with four extra-base hits, including two home runs and 8 RBIs.

• The sophomore went 8-for-13 on the week and scored eight runs, drew three walks and stole a base, while only striking out once. In Sunday's 14-2 run-rule win, Carmichael hit a three-run, walk-off home run in the seventh inning to end the game early and send OU to its first Big 12-opening sweep since 2019.

• On the season, Carmichael is second in the league in batting (.472), third in hits (25) and sixth in slugging (.755). He shares the weekly award with Texas' Max Belyeu.

• The honor marked OU's first weekly award of the season and the first since Easton's brother, Braden Carmichael, claimed Pitcher of the Week accolades a season ago (5/22/23). The honor is OU's first Player of the Week nod since Brett Squires on May 16, 2022.

LAST RODEO IN THE BIG 12

• 2024 marks Oklahoma's final season in the Big 12 conference with the school's impending move to the SEC for the 2024-25 academic year.

• All-time, the Sooners are 355-318-2 in Big 12 play dating back to the inaugural baseball season in 1997.

• The Sooners hold a combined 27 conference titles, winning the regular season crown 22 times and the conference tournament five times. Most recently, OU won the tournament in Arlington in 2022.

• With the addition of new Big 12 members UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston, Oklahoma plays 30 conference games in 2024, compared to 24 in years past. OU meets three of the four new additions this season in UCF, BYU and Cincy.

L. DALE MITCHELL PARK EXPANSION PROJECT

• The Oklahoma baseball facility enhancement project will transform the look of the ballpark from both the interior bowl and the exterior of the stadium. New locker rooms, training areas, coaches offices and team meeting areas combined with chairback seating, terraced berms and additional awnings and concourses will provide a first-class facility for fans and student-athletes. In addition, a new, state-of-the-art performance and player development center will be added. A new entry to the team areas will include a Champions Lobby, displaying the success and tradition of the Oklahoma baseball program.

• More than 35,000 in square-foot-space of new areas benefiting student-athlete performance and recovery including a robust medical services area, weight room and sports science to centralize student-athlete training at the baseball field.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma baseball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Baseball) and like Oklahoma Baseball on Facebook.