Oklahoma won its fifth of eight SEC series, taking two of three from No. 23 Ole Miss at L. Dale Mitchell Park over the weekend.
It was the first meeting of the two schools on the baseball diamond as members of the SEC and the first meeting since the championship series of the 2022 College World Series, which Ole Miss won and earned the Rebels' their first baseball national title.
The 21st-ranked Sooners (32-14, 13-11) won the first two games of the series with Mississippi, 2-0 on Friday and 5-3 on Saturday, before falling 7-3 in Sunday's series finale. The series win gave Oklahoma five series wins out of eight in its first season in the SEC.
Sooners beat Ole Miss in SEC series
OU pitching ace Kyson Witherspoon threw a gem in the Sooners' series-opening win on Friday. The junior right-hander went seven innings, allowing no runs and just one hit with eight strikeouts, and improved his season record to 9-2. Relievers Jason Bodin and Dylan Crooks finished off Oklahoma's third shutout of the season, and Crooks earned his league-leading 11th save of the season.
The Sooners were also held in check offensively themselves in Friday's win, scoring both of their runs in the fifth inning on two of their three hits for the game.
The offense for both teams was back in form in Saturday's middle game in the series. The Sooners jumped out in front with three first-inning runs on four hits, including a two-run home run by catcher Easton Carmichael.
Ole Miss got a run back in the second inning on a solo home run by Ole Miss catcher Austin Fawley. But the Sooners scored twice more in the fifth on a leadoff home run by Carmichael, his second of the game, and a bases-loaded walk to Dawson Willis. The Rebels added two runs in the seventh to make it 5-3, but that was as close as they would get as the Sooners clinched the series with a 5-3 win.
Carmichael was 4-for-5 on Saturday with a pair of home runs and three runs driven in.
Sophomore left-hander Cade Crossland picked up the win, turning in a quality start while going six innings, giving up just two runs and five hits and registering a career-high eight strikeouts. Crooks closed out the win with his 12th save of the season.
Ole Miss (32-15, 13-11) averted the sweep with the win on Sunday. The Sooners scored first again in the series finale with Carmichael driving in Jason Walk, who had led off the game with a triple. Ole Miss tied the game in the top of the second on a home run by Fawley, his second in as many games, and took its first lead in the series with two more runs in the third.
Oklahoma was never really in the game after the Rebels went in front 3-1 in the third. Ole Miss scored a single run in the fourth, two more in the fifth and one in the seventh to finish off a 7-3 win.
Walks recorded three of OU's seven total hits, including his second triple of the game in the seventh. He scored the Sooners' third and final run, coming home on a sacrifice fly by Trey Gambill.
Kyson Witherspoon's brother, Malachi, started Game 3 in the series. He went 4.2 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and striking out seven. The Sooners used six relievers after that, none facing more than five batters. Witherspoon was charged with the loss, his sixth to go with three wins.
OU currently sits in a four-way tie with three other teams (Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss) for seventh place in the SEC standings.
Oklahoma has two SEC series remaining in the regular season. The Sooners will be at Kentucky this weekend and finish up at home the following weekend with a Red River Rivalry series against conference-leading Texas.
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