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Oklahoma Baseball: What to Make of OU’s Series Meltdown at Michigan

By Chip Rouse

Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; An Oklahoma Sooners fan in the crowd against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; An Oklahoma Sooners fan in the crowd against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Oklahoma baseball squad went staggering into Ann Arbor, Mich., this weekend, having lost three of its previous four games, and found no relief up north for the team’s sudden downward swoon.

The Sooners were swept at Michigan this weekend and have now lost six of their last seven games, all on the road while on an eight-game road trip. Oklahoma scored eight runs total in its three games with Michigan and was outscored 25-8 by the 17th-ranked Wolverines in the series.

OU stood at 26-6 and was off to one of its best season starts in years heading into its three-game series at Texas nine days ago. After being swept at Michigan, the Sooners’ season record fell to 27-12.

So what should we make of the Sooners recent downturn on the diamond?

Oklahoma has one more game on the current road trip, a Tuesday date at Dallas Baptist, before returning home for a brief three-game series at home against Kansas, which sits just one spot below the Sooners in the Big 12 standings. Following that series with the Jayhawks, OU is right back out on the road for successive weekend series at West Virginia and Kansas State.

Michigan is the fourth ranked opponent Oklahoma has faced this season. The Sooners are 19-38-1 against ranked teams under head coach Pete Hughes.

So in the short term, things get even more dour before they get better.

OU played the series finale at Michigan on Saturday without the services of ace pitcher Jake Irvin, the teams top two relievers and senior second baseman Jack Flansburg, all sidelined with injuries.

The Sooners led the Big 12 in hitting for much of the season, but in the last two weeks, their bats have gone quiet.  OU managed no more than five hits in all three games against Michigan and have had as many as eight hits just once its last seven outings.

The three-game sweep by the Wolverines is the first registered against the Sooners since this time a year ago, when then-No. 7 TCU did the same against visiting OU.

The Wolverines torched Sooner pitching for 17 hits in game two. OU pitching had not given up 15 or more hits in a game since May 21 last season, when Austin Peay posted a 19-hit game.

Oklahoma own a 12-3 advantage in the all-time series with Michigan going into the series this weekend.

Despite the negative outcome on the scoreboard, there actually were a few Sooner highlights from the Michigan massacre:

  • Senior first baseman Austin O’Brien hit his fourth home run of the season in game one, a 5-2 OU loss.
  • Sooner starter Dylan Grove didn’t make it out of the first inning in game one, but sophomore right-hander Ryan Madden came on in relief and pitched the next five and a third innings, giving up just two runs on two hits.
  • There was nothing positive to report about the Sooners’ non-performance in game two, a 14-4 Michigan rout.
  • Sophomore outfielder Steele Walker went two for four in the series finale on Saturday, his 15th multi-hit game of the season.
  • Kyle Tyler pitched the first five innings for the Sooners, his first start in over a month. He gave up just one run on three hits over that time. The Wolverines scored five runs in the sixth of reliever Braidyn Fink to put the game on ice.
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