Oklahoma opened the 2025 baseball season taking a pair of games from the Lehigh Mountain Hawks at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Friday.
The Mountain Hawks, who play out of the Patriot League, didn't put up much of a fight against the Sooners, with OU taking the opening game of the twin bill 11-3 and following that with a 13-3 win in eight innings in the nightcap.
Oklahoma was highly efficient on offense, combining to score 24 runs on 24 hits. Eleven of Oklahoma's 24 combined hits in the two games were for extra bases, including four home runs.
Sooner pitching also played a major part against overmatched Lehigh. Six OU pitchers combined for 23 strikeouts and held the Mountain Hawks to six runs on nine hits in the two games.
Key takeaways from OU's season-opening doubleheader sweep
- OU junior catcher Easton Carmichael had four hits and six RBI in the two games, including a three-run home run in the second game. His five runs batted in during the second game of the doubleheader tied a career high and was the fourth time in his career he recorded as many as five RBI in a game.
- Junior right-hander Kyson Witherspoon was the winning pitcher for the Sooners in the first game, going five innings and striking out nine hitters, just two shy of his career high. He has struck out at least six batters in eight of his last nine starts.
- OU sophomore Cameron Johnson earned the win in Game 2. The LSU transfer pitched the first five innings. The southpaw starter allowed two runs on two hits, struck out three and walked five in his Oklahoma debut.
- Junior college transfer Trey Gambill was a combined 4-4 in the doubleheader, reaching base in all nine of his at-bats, which included four walks.
- Junior Dayton Tockey, another junior college transfer, hit a solo home run in the second inning of Game 1 in his first OU at-bat.
- OU freshman Kyle Branch cleared the bases for an inside-the-park home run in the fifth inning of Game 1 with a man aboard. It was the Sooners' second inside-the-park home run in as many seasons.