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Oklahoma baseball: Numbers to know from a short season

By Chip Rouse

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of the seats prior to during game three of the College World Series Championship Series between the Michigan Wolverines and Vanderbilt Commodores on June 26, 2019 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: A general view of the seats prior to during game three of the College World Series Championship Series between the Michigan Wolverines and Vanderbilt Commodores on June 26, 2019 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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Like all collegiate spring sports, the Oklahoma baseball team had its season shortened by the nationwide pandemic surrounding COVID-19.

The Sooners were off to a strong start at 14-4 and were ranked in the top-15 in every major D1 college baseball poll. Two of those wins were against a pair of SEC teams ranked in the nation’s top 15 at the time the game was played: No. 14 LSU and No. 6 Arkansas.

Oklahoma’s winning ways through the first 18 games was the result of strong run production, stellar pitching and superlative defense. The Sooners’ 14 wins were also achieved against one of the country’s more difficult early season schedules.

OU was just a week away from the opening of the conference schedule — a home series against Red River rival Texas — when the season was cancelled out of health and safety concerns over the coronavirus.

Here are the notable numbers that tell the story of the unprecedented Oklahoma baseball season that will forever carry an asterisk:

0 — Hits allowed by junior starter Dane Acker in a 1-0 Oklahoma victory over then-No. 14 LSU. It was the first no-hitter thrown by a Sooner pitcher since 1989. Junior catcher Justin Mitchell provided all the offense Oklahoma needed with a solo home run in the OU half of the eighth inning.

.689 — Slugging percentage by junior outfielder Tanner Tredaway, second best in the Big 12.

3 — In the four weeks that the Big 12 honored a Player of the Week in the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season , an Oklahoma Sooner was recognized in three of the four weeks (Tanner Tredaway was Player of the Week Feb. 12, pitcher Dane Acker was Pitcher of the Week and Newcomer of the Week on March 2, and freshman third baseman Peyton Graham was named Player of the Week on March 9).

5 — Saves by senior closer Jason Ruffcorn, which ranked second in the Big 12.

9 — Errors committed by the Oklahoma defense in 629 fielding chances, a .986 fielding percentage that was the best in the Big 12 and the seventh best in the country.

21 — Strikeouts by five OU pitchers in a 13-2 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on March 4. That set a Big 12 record for a nine-inning game.

32 — Stolen bases by the Sooners in 18 games this season. They had a total of 29 steals all of the 2019 season.

67 — Extra-base hits by Oklahoma in 2020, an average of 3.7 per game.

113 — Runs scored by the Sooners in 18 games this season, an average of 6.3 per game, third best in the Big 12.

222 — Strikeouts by Oklahoma pitchers, tied with Texas Tech for the most in the nation.

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