There's no doubt LSU is better than Oklahoma at this point in baseball season

It was a rough weekend for Oklahoma baseball with LSU pitching completely stymying the Sooners' bats and sweeping the series three games to none.

LSU (30-3, 10-2) stormed into Norman as the No. 7 team in Division-I baseball and left little doubt who was the better team. Only three spots separated the two teams in national rankings, but the talent gap in this three-game snapshot, particularly the pitching, was a much wider difference.

LSU Tigers sweep Sooners in SEC series

Oklahoma (23-8, 5-7) now finds itself in the throes of a stretch of SEC games in which it has lost five of its last six, and it was the first series sweep suffered at home since the 2021 season. It was also the first time LSU had swept an opponent in an SEC road series since 1997.

The Sooners won their first two conference series over South Carolina and Mississippi State in their first season as new members of the SEC, but have since lost two straight to Alabama and LSU.

The story of the series is told in the complete domination by the LSU pitching staff. Oklahoma scored just four runs on 15 total hits in the three games combined, with no more than five hits in any game in the series.

The Sooners' opponent batting average against five LSU pitchers faced in the three games was an anemic .156 (15-for-96). That's probably not going to win you a game under any conditions. Situationally, Oklahoma was 3-for-26 in the three games with runners in scoring position.

The Sooner offense was as cold as the outside temperature throughout the series. On Saturday afternoon, the temperature was around 30 degrees at the start of the early afternoon game with wind gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

Oklahoma's best chance for a win was in the series finale on Saturday, which was a day earlier than scheduled because of anticipated bad weather on Sunday. The Sooners had a run in and runners on first and second with two outs, trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, but Trey Gambill flew out to centerfield to end the rally and finish off the series sweep for LSU.

Incredibly, OU never led at any point in the three games. The Sooners loaded the bases in the first inning of the series opener on Thursday, but failed to score against LSU starter Kade Anderson, who didn't allow an Oklahoma run to score the entire game while pitching a complete-game, five-hit shutout that included a career-best 14 strikeouts.

The Tigers scored single runs in the third and fifth innings off OU starter Kyson Witherspoon and made that stand up in a 2-0 shutout.

Witherspoon worked six innings and struck out four, but absorbed his second straight loss after going 5-0 to begin the season. James Hitt worked a perfect final three innings in relief.

The Sooners were never in the game on Saturday as LSU got another stellar performance from starter Anthony Eyanson, who was matched on the mound against OU left-hander Cade Crossland. The Tigers put up a four-spot in the second on three hits, added single runs in the sixth and seventh, and finished off the route with four more runs in the ninth.

LSU pounded seven different Oklahoma pitchers for 15 hits in the middle game of the series. Crossland (1-2) was charged with the loss, allowing five runs on six hits and striking out six in five innings of work.

In Saturday's series finale, the Tigers scored a couple of runs in the second inning on an error by OU second baseman Kyle Branch to take the early lead. The Sooners cut into the LSU lead with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

LSU added what proved to be the winning run in the fourth inning to go up 3-1 and held on from there. The Sooners collected just two hits after the fourth inning, both off oLSU reliever Zac Cowan in the eighth and ninth innings.

Like his brother in Thursday's opener, Malachi Witherspoon worked through the sixth inning, giving up all three LSU runs on five hits. He struck out four and walked three, and was charged with the loss, his third in five decisions.

OU continues a seven-game homestand with a midweek contest against Dallas Baptist on Tuesday before hosting No. 23 Vanderbilt (24-8, 7-5) for three games next weekend. Tuesday's game is a rematch of a game in early March that Dallas Baptist won 11-0, handing the Sooners their first loss after 11 straight wins to begin the season.