Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma baseball: Last-place Sooners visit first-place Texas in Red River baseball showdown

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma infielder Dakota Harris (10) celebrates with teammates after a home run during a college baseball game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners at OÕBrate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday, April 18, 2023.Bedlam Baseball
Oklahoma infielder Dakota Harris (10) celebrates with teammates after a home run during a college baseball game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Oklahoma Sooners at OÕBrate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., on Tuesday, April 18, 2023.Bedlam Baseball /
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On paper, this weekend’s Oklahoma baseball series with the Texas Longhorns appears to be a giant mismatch.

Texas is ranked No. 14 in the latest D1Baseball.com poll and sits atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-4 record and a 27-12 mark overall. The Sooners, meanwhile, reside in last place in the conference currently with a 4-8 league mark, a game and a half behind the closest team (Texas Tech). OU is 19-19 overall this season.

Moreover, OU is just 1-5 against Big 12 teams away from home, and the Longhorns are 21-4 this season at home and 5-1 against visiting Big 12 teams.

This will be the third time in four seasons that the Sooners and Longhorns have played the regular-season Red River rivalry series in Austin (the 2020 series scheduled for Norman was cancelled due to the COVID-19 nationwide breakout). Texas has dominated the baseball rivalry between the two schools with a 156-65 record overall and 107-39-2 in Austin.

Texas ranks fourth in the Big 12 offensively this season, but where the Longhorns have really stood out is in the pitching department. Junior starting duo Lucas Gordon and Charlie Hurley rank one and two in the Big 12 in ERA and runs allowed. The lefty Gordon has a record of 4-0 and an ERA of 1.92 in nine starts and Hurley owns a 3.42 ERA and is 3-0 in four starts along with two saves.

Gordon will draw the starting assignment for Texas in the series opener on Friday. He will go against Braxton Douthit for OU (4-2 with a 4.24 ERA. Southpaw Braden Carmichael (2-0, 2.56) is the scheduled Sooner starter on Saturday, and James Hitt (2-0, 4.25) is expected to be on the mound for OU in Sunday’s series finale.

What fans should know about the OU-Texas baseball series this weekend

  • Texas ranks fourth in the Big 12 in hitting (.286) and first in pitching (3.68 staff ERA). The Sooners are fifth in the Big 12 in hitting (.283), but next to last in pitching (5.95 ERA).
  • Twenty-four of Texas’ 39 games this season have been decided by three runs or less. The Longhorns are 14-10 in those contests.
  • Redshirt-junior Kendall Pettis leads the Sooners in hitting with a .330 batting average. That ranks 22nd in the Big 12. His teammate, Easton Carmichael, is hitting .325, 23rd-best in the Big 12. Peyton Powell is the Longhorns’ best hitter (.344), 13th best among Big 12 hitters, and his teammate, Porter Brown ranks 15th in the conference in terms of batting average (.340).
  • OU junior right fielder Bryce Madron leads all of Division I baseball with 42 walks in 38 games.
  • Madron and junior teammate Anthony Mackenzie have each reached base in 29 consecutive games.
  • Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson was an assistant at Texas for 10 season before coming to Oklahoma in 2017. He became the OU head coach in 2018.
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