Oklahoma heads to the Bluegrass State this weekend for its final road trip of the regular season and a series against the unranked Kentucky Wildcats.
The No. 17 Sooners (32-14, 13-11) have two regular-season series remaining. Following the series at Kentucky (25-20, 10-14), the Sooners close out the regular season at home against and Red River rival No. 1 Texas.
The weekend series at Kentucky Proud Park in Lexington is the first meeting in baseball between the two schools. The Sooners come into the weekend as a consensus top-20 team with eight wins over ranked opponents on their resume this season and five SEC series wins.
In eight SEC series this season, five have been against teams ranked in the top-25 nationally. Kentucky is one of three unranked conference teams the Sooners will have faced. OU is 4-2 against the two unranked SEC opponents and 9-9 against ranked SEC teams.
The Sooners won two of three at home against No. 23 Ole Miss last weekend. Meanwhile, Kentucky was swept at Mississippi State.
Friday's contest will start at 4:30 p.m. CT. The game on Saturday will be at 11:30 a.m. and game time for the series finale on Sunday is noon. Friday and Sunday's game will be streamed on SEC Network+. The middle game in the series on Saturday will be on SEC Network.
What fans need to know ahead of Oklahoma vs. Kentucky
Oklahoma
- Probable Friday starter Kyson Witherspoon leads the SEC with an earned run average of 2.12 and innings pitched with 72 and is fourth in strikeouts (nine per game) and opponents' batting average (1.81). As a pitching staff, Oklahoma ranks 26th nationally with a 4.31 ERA.
- The Sooners rank first in the SEC in walks drawn in conference games at 134. When OU draws five or more walks in a game this season, the Sooners are 25-6.
- Oklahoma ranks second in SEC play with an on-base percentage of .390, and two Sooner players, Jaxon Willits and Trey Gambill, rank in the top-10 in the conference in that category. Willits (.464) ranks sixth and Gambill (.458) ninth.
- Junior catcher Easton Carmichael had four runs batted in and two home runs, both in the same game last weekend against Ole Miss. He leads the team with 12 home runs, 23 extra-base hits and 49 RBI. He also has 11 stolen bases in 15 attempts.
Kentucky
- Twelve of Kentucky's 20 losses this season have been by two or less runs. Nine of the Wildcat's 14 SEC losses are by a total of 13 runs.
- Kentucky's 14 conference losses and 12th-place in the SEC standings belies the competitive nature of the team. But the Wildcats have wins over some good SEC teams, including a series win over then-No. 2 Tennessee.
- The Wildcats are 17-3 this season when they allow opponent to score four or fewer runs and 21-3 when they outhit their opponent.
- Kentucky tops the SEC and is tied for 21st nationally with 109 stolen bases this season. OU ranks second in the SEC with 101 stolen bases.
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