Oklahoma baseball: Sooners need some offense against 1st-place Baylor

The Oklahoma baseball team delivered perhaps its best four-inning stretch of the season to close out a 10-2 win on Tuesday, and the Sooners will need that same kind of offensive productivity at Baylor this weekend.

The Sooners were hitless through the first four innings against Texas Southern, but the OU bats came to life in the fifth inning, with 10 runs crossing the plate over the next three innings. Complementing the awakened OU offense was another strong pitching performance by freshman starter Ben Abram, who allowed just one run and five hits over six innings and was credited with his sixth win of the season without a loss.

Oklahoma has been battling through a rough stretch the past couple of weeks, losing five of their last eight games, including the last two series against Big 12 opponents.

Tuesday’s game with Texas Southern was the last time OU will play at home (a second game on Wednesday was cancelled because of weather) until a weekend series with Texas Tech beginning on May 3.

OU begins a lengthy road swing with three games at Baylor

The Sooners begin an 11-game road swing this weekend at Baylor (22-9, 6-2), currently perched atop the Big 12 standings. Baylor is coming off of a series split with Texas last weekend (the final game on Sunday was cancelled because of bad weather), but the Bears dropped a 2-1 pitching battle with the University of Texas-Arlington earlier this week.

Oklahoma is 45-39 in the all-time series with Baylor, but the Bear are 41-37 against the Sooners as a member of the Big 12. The Sooners swept the Bears a year ago in Norman, but are just 5-7 in the last four trips to Waco.

OU was ranked 19th in the country with a record of 21-4 just two weeks ago. Since then, the Sooners have gone just 3-6 and are struggling to find consistency in their offense. And 24th-ranked Baylor is not the opponent you want to face, and on the road, when looking to break out of a slump.

The Bears’ 6-2 start to the Big 12 season is no fluke. They lead the conference in hitting with a composite batting average of .312 and are second in pitching with a staff ERA of 3.25 and an opponents’ batting average of .209.

Sooners need to beef up run support to counter an explosive Baylor lineup

One factor going in Oklahoma’s favor in this series may be on the mound. The Sooner starters have been sharp as a tack this season, and OU owns a Big 12-best staff ERA of .311. OU is going to need more of the same this weekend from Cade Cavalli, Nathan Wiles and Levi Prater. Pitching alone, though, isn’t going to get it done against a well-balanced Baylor team that not only limits its opponents’ run production, but whose lineup averages nearly eight runs a game.

Six Baylor position players are hitting above .300. led by Davis Wendzel, whose .383 batting average is second in the Big 12. Bears’ shortstop Nick Loftin is also among the top-five hitters in the conference with a .363 average.

First baseman Tyler Hardman and Cavalli, who doubles as the Sooners DH when he isn’t starting a game on the mound, are the only two Oklahoma regulars batting above .300 through 34 games. Hardman has swung the big bat in the Sooners’ lineup this season. He’s batting a team-best .348 and ranks in the top-10 in several Big 12 offensive categories.

Baylor has not only been getting it done at the plate and on the mound, but defensively as well. The Bears have committed the fewest errors in the conference this season (24 in 840 fielding attempts) in the conference.

In summary this is going to be a tough series for the Sooners. They are going to have to score some runs and hold down the hot Baylor bats, two areas that haven’t been in synch the past couple of weeks.