Oklahoma baseball: Monday mound visit
Editor's This article was written by contributor Cameron Black. It is part of his regular weekly Oklahoma baseball commentary taking a look back at the weekend performance of the Sooners' pitching staff.
The Sooners traveled to Fort Worth Texas, this past weekend, to face off against the No. 12-ranked Horned Frogs of TCU.
The Sooners (13-6) broke out the brooms for a second consecutive weekend, registering a conference series sweep over nationally ranked TCU and doing so on the Horned Frogs' home diamond. OU had done the same at home last weekend, taking the three-game series against Big 12 newcomer UCF.
The Sooners depart from Fort Worth sitting in first place in the Big 12 standings with an undefeated 6-0 record.
Oklahoma fared well against the Horned Frogs (15-5, 1-5), but let's take a walk out to the mound and see how the pitching performed.
Game 1: Friday, March 15
Oklahoma 7, TCU 3
The first game of the three-game series, featured two members of the Oklahoma pitching staff. Sam Houston State transfer Braden Davis drew the starting assignment in the series opener against the Horned Frogs. Davis worked four innings, allowing all three of the Frogs runs on three hits, walking four and striking out a trio of hitters. His day's work consisted of 80 pitches.
Kyson Witherspoon, himself a fellow transfer, from Northwest Florida State College, entered the game in the fifth inning in relief of Davis and shut down a good-hitting TCU offense the rest of the way, allowing just three hits. Witherspoon threw 90 pitches in his 5.0 innings of work, striking out eight and walking two, and earned the win, his second of the season against one loss.
Game 2: Saturday, March 16
Oklahoma 7, TCU 5
Brendan Girton, a right-handed transfer from Texas Tech, took the mound for the Sooners on a soggy Saturday evening. Girton worked four innings, allowing two runs on one hit, striking out two and walking three. But he also threw three wild pitches and hit two batters.
Carter Campbell and Malachi Witherspoon (brother of Kyson) came out of the bullpen to finish off the home team Horned Frogs, combining for three runs allowed on six hits, striking out six and issuing just one free pass.
For the game, the Sooner pitching totals in the middle game of the weekend series were five runs on seven hits, eight strikeouts along with four walks. The win went to Malachi Witherspoon (1-1) after Oklahoma scored twice in the visitor's half of the ninth inning to take a 7-5 lead. Witherspoon retired the side in order in the bottom half of the ninth to secure the win.
Game 3: Sunday, March 17
Oklahoma 9, TCU 4
Redshirt-junior right-hander James Hitt, a Texas Tech transfer, earned the starting role for Sunday afternoon against the Horned Frogs. Hitt worked his way through 5.2 innings. All four of the TCU runs were charged to Hitt, who gave up seven hits and a walk on 92 pitches.
Dylan Crooks, Carson Atwood and Ryan Lambert followed Hitt to the hill. The three relievers failed to allow a run, giving up only two hits while striking out four and walking two. For the full nine innings, the Oklahoma pitching line read four runs on nine hits, four strikeouts and three walks. The win was awarded to Hitt, his second of the season with one loss.
Through the first two weekends of the 30-game Big 12 schedule , Oklahoma remains undefeated in conference play in large part to timely offensive production, and strong performances from the Sooners' bullpen.
Before moving forward with conference play, let's check in with the voice of the Sooners, Toby Rowland, to see what he has to say about the Crimson and Cream.
Talk with T-Row
A weekly commentary by the voice of the Sooners, Toby Rowland.
One of the biggest reasons for the Sooners' tremendous 6-0 start in Big 12 play has been the pitching mound. They have been sensational in every way in league play. OU hasn’t allowed more than five runs in any conference game and has a team ERA of 3.46 in those six Big 12 wins.
Against TCU, Kyson Witherspoon was lights out on Friday night with five scoreless innings out of the pen. Carter Campbell showed his dominant form from the left side again Saturday. And Carson Atwood and Ryan Lambert were rock solid out of the bullpen on Sunday.
The three starters were not necessarily dominant but were steady and didn’t allow anything big early from the Frogs. It has been an extremely encouraging start to Big 12 play in every way, especially on the bump!
Upcoming
The West Virginia Mountaineers (11-9, 2-1) are on their way to Norman for a 3-game series this weekend.
Boomer Sooner!