Oklahoma baseball: First-place in play in Sooners’ final regular-season weekend

There’s plenty on the line as Oklahoma baseball gets set for a weekend series in Lubbock, Texas against No. 5 Texas Tech.

Head coach Skip Johnson’s Sooners have ridden the wave of a late-season surge that has them tied for third place with Oklahoma State in the Big 12 standings and with even a higher placement in their sights as they enter the final weekend of the 2022 regular season.

Oklahoma (31-19, 13-8 Big 12) begins a three-game series at Texas Tech on Thursday in what could determine the Big 12 regular-season champion. TCU currently sits atop the conference standings with a 16-8 record, but the Horned Frogs have completed their conference schedule.

What that means is, if OU were to sweep its series against the Red Raiders, the Sooners would clinch at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season crown. The same is true for Texas Tech, however.

Depending how Oklahoma State does over the weekend in its series against Baylor, the greater likelihood is the OU-Texas Tech series outcome will determine at least a share of second place in the standings. That would be the prize should the Sooners win two of the three games in Lubbock.

Since opening Big 12 play losing two of three games to both Texas and Oklahoma State, both on the road, the Sooners have won four straight Big 12 series and five overall. OU won two of three at TCU last weekend to put themselves in prime position to move up further in the standings on the final weekend of the regular season.

Oklahoma leads the overall series with Texas Tech 50-44-1, but the Red Raiders have the edge in the Big 12 era with a record of 37-36-1 over the Sooners. More importantly, Oklahoma is just 1-8 in its last three trips to Lubbock.

Oklahoma and Texas Tech have already met once this season, in early April on a neutral field in Amarillo. in a game that did not count in the conference standings. The Sooners won that encounter against the then-No. 4 Red Raiders 14-9.

All three games will be available via Big 12 Now on ESPN+. The Thursday night and Friday night games at Rip Griffen Park are at 6:30 p.m., and the series finale on Saturday is at 2 p.m.

What fans need to know about the Oklahoma-Texas Tech weekend series

• Texas Tech and Oklahoma rank two and three, respectively, in the Big 12 in hitting. The Sooners have a team batting average of .297, one percentage point lower than Texas Tech.
• Oklahoma has two starters hitting above .300 (Blake Robertson, .348; Tanner Tredaway, and Peyton Graham, both at .337).
• OU’s Robertson leads NCAA Division I softball with 60 walks this season (1.2 per game) and ranks 13th with an on-base percentage of .512.
• Texas Tech, meanwhile, has five starters with batting averages above .300, led by Jace Jung, who owns the Big 12’s sixth best average at .358.
• Oklahoma has scored double-digits in runs in seven of its last 12 games and in 10 of its last 20.
• OU starter Jake Bennett, who will start for the Sooners on Thursday night is 5-3 with a 3.66 ERA. He has gone at least six innings in 8 of his 13 starts and has allowed three or fewer runs in nine starts.
• This best pitching matchup of the series will be in the series opener on Thursday, when the left-hander Bennett will face Texas Tech right-hander Andrew Morris (7-0, 3.71 ERA).
• The long-ball hitters on both sides are Peyton Graham of OU with 13 home runs this season. Jace Jung leads Tech with 13 and Kurt Wilson has 12.
• Texas Tech is 20-3 at home this season. The Red Raiders are 19-0 at home when they score three or more runs, 17-0 when they limit the opponent to five runs or less and 14-1 when they score first.

Prediction

Oklahoma fans don’t want to hear this, but Texas Tech is the better team. I don’t think the Red Raiders will sweep the series, however. I see the Sooners winning one of the three games.