A week ago, Sooner softball hosted South Carolina in the SEC opener for both teams. This weekend, No. 12 Oklahoma makes its SEC baseball debut against the same school, but this time at South Carolina.
The Sooners (15-1) are one of 12 SEC teams ranked in the nation's top 25 this week. South Carolina is one of the SEC teams that is not ranked despite a 15-3 overall record and 13-1 at home at Founders Park, where the two teams will play a three-game series beginning Friday night.
OU is the sixth-highest ranked team in the SEC in the D1 Baseball Rankings, which features four teams from the conference in the top four in LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia, respectively. The Sooners play LSU and Georgia this season. The LSU game is in Norman on April 4-6, and Georgia is an away series on April 24-26.
Oklahoma and South Carolina have played five times previously in their baseball history, with the Gamecocks holding a 4-1 advantage. Four of the five games came in the postseason, including two at the College World Series. The most recent meeting was in 2012, when the Gamecocks took two games from the Sooners in NCAA Super Regionals to advance to the CWS.
The Sooners' 15 wins includes victories over two ranked teams: then-No. 7 Oregon State (8-4 on Feb. 22) and then-No. 2 Virginia (5-4 in 12 innings on Feb. 23). South Carolina's schedule so far has included one ranked team. All three of the Gamecocks' losses came against then-No. 13 Clemson.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- The Sooners rank eighth in the SEC in batting average (.313), 13th in runs scored (7.7 per game), tied for 14th in home runs (16), 11th in on-base percentage (.421) and first in stolen bases (46). On the pitching side, the OU staff earned run average of 3.55 ranks 13th out of the 15 teams that compete in baseball, 10th in strikeouts (170) and second in saves (6).
- Leadoff hitter Jason Walk and Kye Branch lead OU in hitting with identical .357 batting averages, catcher Easton Carmichael is the team leader in home runs (5) and runs batted in (17), and Friday starter Kyson Witherspoon leads the staff with a 1.17 ERA, seventh-best in the SEC, and a 4-0 record. Witherspoon is second in the SEC with 40 strikeouts, and reliever Dylan Crooks ranks first in the conference with six saves.
- This season marks the first time in program history that OU started the season 11-0 while holding each of its first 11 opponents to five runs or less.
- Oklahoma will play 30 conference games in 2025, starting with South Carolina this weekend. The conference slate includes four home series at L. Dale Mitchell Park against four of the past five national champions: Vanderbilt (2019), Mississippi State (2021), Ole Miss (2022, over Oklahoma) and LSU (2023).
South Carolina
- South Carolina ranks 15th and of 15 SEC teams with a batting average of .279 and in on-base percentage (.399), 12th in home runs (19) and 10th in runs scored (7.5 per game). The Gamecocks are 10th in the conference in team ERA (3.17), fifth in opposing batting average (.186), tied for fifth in strikeouts (207) and sixth in saves (5).
- Nathan Hall leads USC in hitting with a .422 batting average, 14th-best in the SEC, and ranks second in the SEC with 27 hits. Ethan Petry ranks second on the team in batting average but leads the team with 20 runs batted in and five home runs. Dylan Eskew is the team's best starter with a 1.69 ERA in four starts, and 10 different Gamecock pitchers have at least one win.