Baseball Back to Big 12 Play vs. KSU

Friday, April 12

Norman

6:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Kansas State

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April 11, 2024 | Baseball

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Oklahoma

Kansas State

April 12-14 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park

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FIRST PITCH

• OU returns to conference play to host Kansas State (21-10, 7-5 Big 12). Friday's first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT before a 4 p.m. start Saturday and 2 p.m. finale on Sunday.

• The game can be watched via SoonerVision on ESPN+ and heard locally in Oklahoma on SportsTalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM or nationwide on The Varsity app. Toby Rowland and Rich Hills will be on the TV call, while Josh Helmer will be on the OU radio call. Live stats can be found at OUStats.com.

• The Sooners enter the weekend with a 18-14 record and 8-4 record in conference play, good for a tie of first place in the Big 12 standings.

FOR THE FANS

• Series promotions abound for this weekend's series, highlighted by Party at the Ballpark on Saturday featuring music, food trucks and more beyond the outfield fences on Asp Ave. from 12 p.m. until first pitch at 4 p.m. CT.

• Sunday will be the annual Bark in the Park game where fans are encouraged to bring their dogs. A waiver must be signed at the front gate.

• Friday and Saturday will also feature "Winning Every Inning" contests with Pit Viper sunglasses, iPads, Stanley cups, coolers and more being given away every inning. Also Saturday, one lucky fan will take home $1,000 thanks to an Oklahoma Lottery giveaway.

• Single game tickets and mini-plan options for home games at L. Dale Mitchell Park are available via SoonerSports.com/tickets. This weekend only, fans can bring the whole family to the ballpark with the 'Family 4 Pack' ticket deal, where $50 gets you four general admission tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and one popcorn.

LEADING OFF

• Now over the halfway mark of the season, the Sooners hold a 18-14 record, highlighted by a top-10 win over then-No. 9 Tennessee, a walk-off victory over former conference foe Nebraska and a 7-2 start to Big 12 play with sweeps over UCF and then-No. 12 TCU.

• The Sooners started 6-0 in Big 12 play, good for the best start in conference play since the 2018 team started 8-1. The Sooners sit tied for first in the conference standings and are tied for the most Big 12 wins of any conference team with eight (8-4).

• 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 207-146 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.
Lead, Mackenzie

THE NUMBERS

• On the season, the Sooners are batting .305 as a team, paced by senior John Spikerman's .394 average and junior Jackson Nicklaus' .380 clip. Graduate transfer Michael Snyder leads the team with 37 RBIs, while Nicklaus has seven home runs on the year to pace OU. Senior Bryce Madron has drawn a team-best 30 walks. Snyder holds the team lead with 12 doubles, followed closely by Madron's 10.

• On the mound, the Oklahoma pitching staff has a 5.34 team ERA with 316 strikeouts to 162 walks.

• 11 Sooners have homered so far in the early season for a total of 39 team blasts, led by Nicklaus' seven, while eight other Sooners have three or more.

• Fourteen Sooners have brought in at least one run, with nine plating at least 10 runs.

• Junior LHP transfer Braden Davis has been solid in his eight starting appearances as a Sooner, leading OU with 49 strikeouts in 40.0 innings pitched.

• Sophomore righty transfer Kyson Witherspoon paces the starting pitchers with a 3.03 ERA in 35.2 IP to go with 39 strikeouts, while junior transfer Brendan Girton has 33 strikeouts in 25.0 innings pitched.

• Graduate transfer LHP Grant Stevens leads OU with five wins (5-0 record), good for third in the conference and 29th in the country.

• The pitching staff has recorded double-digit strikeouts in 16 of OU's 32 games with a season-high 15 three times (vs. Tennessee [2/17], vs. Wright State [2/24], vs. West Virginia [3/22]).

• The Sooner arms have thrown three shutouts in 32 games played in 2024, already surpassing last season's total of two in 60 games. The three shutouts rank second in the Big 12 and 15th nationally.

• The Sooners have had 18 pitchers make appearances so far in 2024, with 12 registering 10-or-more strikeouts and six surpassing the 20 K mark, led by junior LHP Braden Davis' 49 and sophomore RHP Kyson Witherspoon's 39.

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

MORE NOTES & NUGGETS

• Kendall Pettis currently sits one stolen base outside of the program top-10 list with 53 career stolen bases. Coincidentally, Pettis is currently tied with OU assistant coach Todd Butler who had 53 in his two seasons at OU from 1987-88 (including a program record 46 in '87). Pettis is one shy of tying OU associate head coach Reggie Willits' career mark of 54 that ranks 10th in program history.

• Senior Bryce Madron has drawn 91 career walks as a Sooner in just two seasons in Norman. His 91 number currently ranks inside the top 20 in program history and is just 14 BB shy of the top 10. Madron's 61 walks drawn in 2023 ranked fourth in program single-season history.

• Redshirt senior LHP Carter Campbell currently sits ninth in program history with 77 career appearances. Fellow senior Carson Atwood holds 73 career appearances, good for 11th in school annals.

• Junior Jackson Nicklaus has hit 24 career home runs in his three years as a Sooner, good for 19th in program history. Nicklaus is just six shy of cracking the program top-10 list.

• Before junior John Spikerman went down due to injury after the TCU series, the veteran outfielder was on an 11-game hit streak, good for a team-best. Upon his return, it will take seven consecutive games for Spikerman to break into the program top 10 list for hit streaks.

• 6-4, 226-pound redshirt senior Michael Snyder has stolen four bases on four attempts already in 2024 after not registering a stolen base in four seasons at the University of Washington, a testament to OU and associate head coach Reggie Willits' 'CHAOUS' brand of baseball, creating havoc on the base paths.

• Four Sooners hold double digit multi-hit games on the season, led by sophomore Easton Carmichael's 14 games with multiple hits. Bryce Madron and Jackson Nicklaus are close behind with 11 game marks and Anthony Mackenzie has 10. Nicklaus holds OU's single-game high of four hits (vs. Lamar, 3/28).

RECAPPING THE SEASON'S START

• 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 season-opening 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.

• The Sooners opened Big 12 play 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.

• Oklahoma stayed unbeaten in conference play with an impressive three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU in Fort Worth. It marked OU's first sweep of TCU at Lupton Stadium and first sweep over the Horned Frogs since 2013.

• The Sooners have suffered a pair of injuries to starters CF John Spikerman (hand) and DH/OF Carter Frederick (thumb). The two sustained injuries following the TCU series (March 15-17) but are expected to return by the end of the regular season if not before.

• OU has fallen in three straight series after the hot start to Big 12 play, dropping home series' to West Virginia and Lamar and narrowly being edged by OSU in Stillwater last weekend.

• Fans have tuned in and showed out for the trending Sooners, with attendance records being set at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. On home-opening weekend, the fan base set records for: largest opening day attendance, largest student attendance and largest opening series attendance.

• 4,177 fans attended the midweek Bedlam matchup on March 12, ranking second all-time in program single game attendance.

LAST TIME OUT

• Oklahoma returned to the win column with a 11-9 win Tuesday night over UT Arlington at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.

• The OU offense racked up 11 runs on 13 hits, while the Sooner pitching staff utilized 11 pitchers on the night, combining for 12 strikeouts.

• The Sooners raced out to a 9-0 lead through three innings before hanging on for the 11-9 win as the Mavericks plated five at the top of the ninth.

• Freshman Isaiah Lane registered his first multi-hit game, going 3-for-4. Senior Anthony Mackenzie matched Lane's line, going 3-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBIs.

LED BY THE VETS

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

• The six combine for 916 career games played and 860 starts. Production at the plate includes a combined 96 home runs, 164 doubles and 537 RBIs.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners made their season debut in the polls the week of March 18, earning spots in all five major polls. In last week's polls, the Sooners held top-25 spots in three of the five rankings before falling April 1 after the series loss to Lamar.

• Oklahoma holds the No. 2 strength of schedule in the nation, already playing seven ranked opponents, going 5-2 in such games.

• OU ranks 25th in the latest NCAA RPI, having been as high as third this season.

• OU is an undefeated 5-0 in games vs. 2023 Men's College World Series participants, beating No. 9 Tennessee, a three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU and a run-rule win over Oral Roberts.

THE SKIPPER SURPASSES 200 WINS AT OU

• OU head coach Skip Johnson collected his 200th career victory at Oklahoma on March 15 with OU's 7-3 win at No. 12 TCU.

• Oklahoma is in its seventh season under the direction 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 207-146 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.

• Johnson holds 621 career wins as a head coach, earning 414 at Navarro (TX) College before making the jump to Division I baseball where he's won 207 at OU.

UP NEXT

• OU continues conference play next weekend in Provo, Utah, for its first conference series vs. new Big 12 member BYU.

• The series runs Thursday through Saturday with game times at 7 p.m., 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. (all CT). The series can be seen via Big 12 NOW on ESPN+.

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 more information and to donate to the L. Dale Mitchell project, visit The Sooner Club.

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