No. 12 Sooners Close Regular Season at Cincinnati

Oklahoma

Cincinnati

May 16-17 / Cincinnati, Ohio / UC Baseball Stadium

ESPN+ / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

FIRST PITCH

• No. 12 OU (32-17, 21-6) closes the regular season with a conference series at Cincinnati (30-21, 16-11), May 16-17.

• The three-game set has been shifted to a doubleheader starting at 1:30 p.m. CT Thursday and 4 p.m. CT finale Friday.

• The series can be seen via Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ with Anthony Mazzini, Billy Hatcher and Zach Segal on the call.

• All games can heard locally in Oklahoma on SportsTalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM or nationwide on The Varsity app with OU play-by-play voice Toby Rowland calling the action.

• The Sooners enter the final week of the regular season with a 32-17 record and 21-6 record in conference play, winning their first Big 12 regular season title in program history last weekend.

BIG 12 CHAMPS

• The Sooners have put together an historic season, highlighted by a top-10 win over then-No. 9, and current No. 1, Tennessee, four ranked victories, six Big 12 sweeps for the first time and the first Big 12 regular season crown in program history.

• OU's six conference sweeps are the most in the program's history in the Big 12 era and the most across conference play since 1994 (6, Big 8).

• OU holds 21 wins in Big 12 play, the most for the program in the Big 12 era and tying the most in program history with the 1994 and '95 teams.

• The Sooners have won 13 of their last 15 conference games, including sweeps in four of the last five weekend series.
• Oklahoma had a wire-to-wire lead over the Big 12 standings, sitting in first or a tie for first place after every weekend of Big 12 play.

• OU was named outright champions after second-place Oklahoma State's series finale vs. Texas Tech was canceled, ensuring the Sooners will win the title by at least a half-game by the end of the regular season.

• The program previously had finished as close as a half-game out of first place in 2004 and '09, and most recently finished T2nd in 2022. The Sooners have won three Big 12 postseason championships in 1997, 2013 and 2022.

• Oklahoma is in its seventh season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson. Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 221-149 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2024 Big 12 regular season title, 2022 Big 12 tournament championship and the 2022 College World Series finals since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

Lead, BSB BIG 12 CHAMPS

THE NUMBERS

• The Sooners are batting .311 as a team overall and .326 in league play, both good for first in the Big 12.

• Six Sooners with at least 30 GP hold batting averages over .300, paced by John Spikerman and Easton Carmichael's .407 and .360 averages, respectively.

• In conference play, OU leads the Big 12 in nine major categories: BA (.326), SLG (.546), OB% (.420), runs scored (261), hits (308), RBIs (236), doubles (65), triples (10) and total bases (516). The team ranks in the top five in numerous other categories including second in stolen bases (44) and walks (136) and T4th in home runs (41).

• Graduate transfer Michael Snyder leads the team with 54 RBIs and 20 doubles (1st in B12 & 17th in the country) while senior Bryce Madron has a team-best 11 home runs and 39 walks, also leads the team and Big 12 with 65 runs scored (17th in nation). Sophomore Easton Carmichael paces OU with 72 hits, good for second in the Big 12.

• 11 Sooners have homered for a total of 60 team blasts, led by Madron's 11, while nine other Sooners have three or more.

• Nine Sooners have brought in at least 20 runs, with five plating 30-plus.

• On the mound, the Oklahoma pitching staff has a 5.20 team ERA with 454 strikeouts to 222 walks.

• Junior LHP transfer Braden Davis has been exceptional in his Friday night role with 13 starts as a Sooner, leading OU with 90 strikeouts in 70.2 innings pitched. The OU ace has won five straight Friday night starts and is 6-1 in Big 12 play (7-3 overall).

• Sophomore righty Kyson Witherspoon (8 GS) paces the starting pitchers with a 3.88 ERA in 65.0 IP to go with 69 strikeouts, while transfer Brendan Girton has 43 K's in 32.2 innings pitched, seeing time as a starter and reliever.

• The pitching staff has recorded double-digit strikeouts in 22 of OU's 49 games with a season-high 15 four times (vs. Tennessee [2/17], vs. Wright State [2/24], vs. West Virginia [3/22], at BYU [4/18]).

• The Sooner arms have thrown four shutouts in 49 games played in 2024, the most since five in 2019. The four shutouts rank third in the Big 12 and 17th nationally.

• The Sooners have had 18 pitchers make appearances so far in 2024, with 10 surpassing the 20 K mark.

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

RECORD WATCH & MORE NUGGETS

• Kendall Pettis currently sits 10th on the the program top-10 list with 56 career stolen bases. Coincidentally, Pettis has recently passed OU associate head coach Reggie Willits' career mark of 54 and OU assistant coach Todd Butler's 53 in his two seasons at OU from 1987-88 (including a program record 46 in '87).

• Senior Bryce Madron has drawn 100 career walks as a Sooner in just two seasons in Norman. His 100 BB currently ranks inside the top 20 in program history and is just five shy of the top 10. Madron's 61 walks drawn in 2023 ranked fourth in program single-season history.

• Redshirt senior LHP Carter Campbell is currently third in program history with 87 career appearances. Fellow senior Carson Atwood has 81 career appearances, good for sixth in school annals.

• Junior Jackson Nicklaus has hit 25 career home runs in his three years as a Sooner to rank 17th in program history. Nicklaus is just six shy of cracking the program top-10 list.

• 6-4, 226-pound redshirt senior Michael Snyder has stolen 13 bases on 14 attempts 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.

• Six Sooners hold double digit multi-hit games on the season, led by sophomore Easton Carmichael's 25 games with multiple knocks. Anthony Mackenzie and Michael Snyder are close behind with 19 each. 13 Sooners have multi-RBI performances, paced by Snyder's 15. Bryce Madron holds the single-game season high with 7 RBI vs. BYU (4/20), the most by a Sooner since 2010.

LAST TIME OUT

• OU clinched its first Big 12 regular season title in sweep fashion over Baylor, outscoring the Bears 47-15 in three games, including a doubleheader sweep Saturday, capped by a 19-7 run-rule win in the finale.

• Friday's Game 1 featured the same score as the finale, 19-7. Game 2 saw OU win 9-1.

• OU's offense was exceptional yet again, batting .412 on the weekend with 16 extra-base hits, including a pair of grand slams.

• Senior Bryce Madron provided the highlight of the weekend on his senior day, racing around the bases in the finale for an inside-the-park grand slam.

• Saturday was an eventful day, featuring the doubleheader, senior ceremony and the jersey retirement of OU's all-time winningest coach, Enos Semore.

• Semore's No. 24 was honored with a wall decal in left field.

• OU honored nine outgoing seniors playing in their final home regular season game at L. Dale Mitchell Park: Carson Atwood, Jason Bollman, Carter Campbell, Will Carsten, Jett Lodes, Anthony Mackenzie, Bryce Madron, Kendall Pettis and Michael Snyder.

SPIKERMAN NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

• Oklahoma junior John Spikerman has been named the Big 12 Player of the Week, the conference announced the weekly honors Monday.

• Spikerman led the Sooners to their first Big 12 regular season title in sweep fashion, going 9-for-14 (.643) with five extra base hits, including his first career grand slam.

• The Sooner leadoff hitter had 10 RBIs, 17 bases and nine runs scored on the weekend, slugging 1.214. The centerfielder also made nine putouts in the field.

• Spikerman is batting .407 on the season and .391 in league play, hitting three homers and plating 27 runs in just 29 starts due to a hand injury throughout the months of March and April.

• The weekly accolade is Spikerman's first career Big 12 weekly award and OU's seventh of the season.

UP NEXT

• OU clinched the No. 1 seed in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship next week at Globe Life Field in Arlington, May 21-25.

• The top-seeded Sooners receive a first-round bye and will wait for the lowest-seeded winner out of the two games between the No. 4 vs. No. 9 and No. 6 vs. No. 7 seeds.

• OU's opening contest is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. CT Wednesday and can be seen on Big 12 NOW on ESPN.

• OU is looking for its second Big 12 tournament title in the past three years and fourth overall, previously winning the conference tourney in 1997, 2013 and 2022.

LED BY THE VETS

• Veteran leadership 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 1,009 career games played and 948 starts. Production at the plate includes a combined 110 home runs, 192 doubles and 627 RBIs.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners made their season debut in the polls the week of March 18, earning spots in all four major polls. After falling out briefly, OU made its return to the ranks April 22 and has been ranked each of the past four weeks.

• This week's rankings have the Sooners the highest they have been this season at: No. 12 (D1Baseball), No. 15 (NCBWA, USA TODAY Coaches) and No. 16 (Baseball America).

• The Sooners are 4-1 in ranked contests this season, all four wins being against top-15 opponents.

• Oklahoma holds the No. 11 strength of schedule in the nation, having been as high as No. 1 for a number of weeks.

• OU ranks 16th in the latest NCAA RPI, having been as high as third this season.

• OU is 5-1 in games vs. 2023 Men's College World Series participants, beating No. 9 Tennessee, a three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU and splitting the season series with ORU.

RECAPPING 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 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.

• Oklahoma stayed unbeaten in conference play with an impressive three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU in Fort Worth, March 15-17. It marked OU's first sweep of TCU at Lupton Stadium and first sweep over the Horned Frogs since 2013.

• OU dropped home series' to West Virginia and Lamar and was narrowly edged by OSU in Stillwater but rebounded with a seven-game conference win streak, including back-to-back Big 12 sweeps of Kansas State in Norman and BYU in Provo.

• After a series loss to Texas in which the rubber match was called short in the seventh inning with OU trailing by two, the Sooners responded with a three-game sweep at Tech for the first time since 2006.

• In the final home regular season series, OU won yet again in sweep fashion, capping the three-game sweep of Baylor by clinching the program's first Big 12 regular season crown.

• The Sooners are 5-4 in midweek contests in 2024, highlighted by a season sweep of Wichita State.

• 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.

• In 2024, OU has set the top three single-game attendance marks in program history, recently breaking the all-time mark with 4,812 in attendance for OU's Friday night win over Texas on April 26. It broke a 29-year-old attendance record of 4,544 vs. Texas in 1995

• In addition, the OU-Texas series in Norman set a single-series program attendance record with 12,335 fans attending the three-game set, shattering the previous record of 7,269 vs. Texas in 2014.

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 221-149 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 635 career wins as a head coach, earning 414 at Navarro (TX) College before making the jump to Division I baseball where he's won 221 at OU.

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.