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Oklahoma baseball: Sooner pitching lagging behind OU lumber

By Chip Rouse

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 01: Matt Chapman #26 of the Oakland Athletics hits a sacrifice fly that scored a run in the seventh inning of their Opening Day game against the Houston Astros at RingCentral Coliseum on April 01, 2021 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 01: Matt Chapman #26 of the Oakland Athletics hits a sacrifice fly that scored a run in the seventh inning of their Opening Day game against the Houston Astros at RingCentral Coliseum on April 01, 2021 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Eight of the 24 Oklahoma baseball games this season have been against ranked teams, and they face another ranked opponent this weekend in No. 11 TCU.

The Sooners (13-11, 1-2) host the Horned Frogs at L. Dale Mitchell Park for a three-game series beginning on Friday. It will be OU’s first home Big 12 series since 2019. Oklahoma was just a week away from hosting Texas in the 2020 Big 12 home opener when the NCAA cancelled all spring sports activities because of the nationwide COVID-19 outbreak.

TCU (17-7, 3-0) comes in leading the Big 12 after sweeping three games with Baylor last weekend and outscoring the Bears 24-4 in the process. The Sooners lost two of three at Texas a week ago.

Oklahoma has played eight games against ranked opponents this season and is 3-5 in those games, including an 8-5 road victory over then-No. 1 Arkansas.

The Sooners are 62-37 all-time against TCU. Since the 2017 season, OU is 5-6 in games with TCU. The Horned Frogs won three of four games in 2019, the last time the two teams played each other.

While the OU baseball team is not enjoying a record start to the season like their No. 1-ranked softball compatriots, who are off to their best start in program history at 26-0, the Sooner men can boast some noteworthy accomplishments of their own, both individually and as a team.

Behind the sizzling bat of junior first-baseman Tyler Hardman, Oklahoma leads the Big 12 in hitting with a .305 team average. Since Feb. 28, Hardman has 37 hits in 68 plate appearances for a .544 average. His 44 hits are tied for best in the nation and he ranks third with 67 total bases and 13th with 27 runs scored.

Only Arizona (274) and Vanderbilt (264) has more hits this season than the Sooners (260).

Redshirt freshman third baseman Peyton Graham has reached base safely in 20 consecutive games, including at least one hit in 12 of the past 13 games.

Senior shortstop Brandon Zaragoza has 22 runs batted in in 24 games this season. His career high for a season is 30 in 2019.

While the Sooners are averaging 7.6 runs per game, though, the pitching is allowing a 6.0 runs per outing. As a result, OU’s staff ERA is a Big 12-worst 5.51. There have been some encouraging signs recently that things might be improving for the Sooners on the pitching mound.

In six games the past two weekends, Oklahoma starting pitchers have allowed just 24 hits and eight earned runs for a 2.18 ERA, and collected 37 strikeouts.

Senior closer Jason Ruffcorn has allowed just one earned run in 12.2 innings and has a team-best 0.71 ERA among Sooner pitchers with at least 10 inning pitched.

Oklahoma begins a nine-game homestand against TCU. That included a game with Oral Roberts next Tuesday, a three-game weekend series with Kansas and two games the following week against Texas Southern.

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