University of Oklahoma Athletics

FIRST PITCH

• No. 22 OU returns to the road for a three-game Big 12 series at Texas Tech this weekend, May 3-5, in Lubbock. Game times are set for 6:30 p.m. CT Friday and 2 o’clock CT starts on Saturday and Sunday.

• The series can be seen via Big 12 NOW on ESPN+ with John Harris and Mike Gustafson on the call. All games can be heard locally in Oklahoma on SportsTalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM or nationwide on The Varsity app with OU’s Toby Rowland on the call.

• The Sooners enter the weekend with a 26-17 record and 15-6 record in conference play, sitting atop the Big 12 standings by one game.

LEADING OFF

• Nearing the end of the regular season, the Sooners hold a 26-17 record, highlighted by a top-10 win over then-No. 9 Tennessee, four ranked victories and four Big 12 sweeps for the first time in program history.

• Before the streak was snapped last Sunday, the Sooners went on a nine-game win streak, good for the longest win streak since the 2017 team won 12 straight.

• The Sooners started 6-0 in Big 12 play, good for the best start in conference play since 2018, and currently hold a 15-6 record in Big 12 play, sitting in first place in the conference standings. OU’s four sweeps on the year mark the first time in program history that OU has swept four series in a season since the Big 12’s inception in 1996.

• Oklahoma is in its seventh season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (including the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 215-149 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2022 Big 12 tournament championship and the 2022 College World Series finals since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season. 

THE NUMBERS

• The Sooners are batting .304 as a team, good for second in the Big 12, paced by sophomore Easton Carmichael’s .358 clip (6th in Big 12) while junior Jackson Nicklaus leads the team and ranks second in the Big 12 with his .478 on-base percentage.

• Graduate transfer Michael Snyder leads the team with 45 RBIs and 17 doubles (5th in B12 & 33rd in the country) while senior Bryce Madron has a team-best nine home runs and 35 walks, also leads the team and Big 12 with 54 runs scored (38th in nation). Sophomore Easton Carmichael paces OU with 62 hits, good for fourth in the conference.

• 11 Sooners have homered for a total of 53 team blasts, led by Madron’s nine, while eight other Sooners have three or more. 

• 10 Sooners have brought in at least 10 runs, with eight plating 20 or more. 

• On the mound, the Oklahoma pitching staff has a 5.39 team ERA with 415 strikeouts to 198 walks.

• Junior LHP transfer Braden Davis has been consistent in his Friday night role with nine starts as a Sooner, leading OU with 76 strikeouts in 58.0 innings pitched. 

• Sophomore righty transfer Kyson Witherspoon (6 GS) paces the starting pitchers with a 4.21 ERA in 51.1 IP to go with 59 strikeouts, while transfer Brendan Girton has 41 K’s in 31.2 innings pitched, seeing time as a starter and reliever.

• Graduate transfer LHP Grant Stevens leads OU with five wins (5-1 record), good for sixth in the conference. 

• The pitching staff has recorded double-digit strikeouts in 21 of OU’s 43 games with a season-high 15 four times (vs. Tennessee [2/17], vs. Wright State [2/24], vs. West Virginia [3/22], at BYU [4/18]).

• The Sooner arms have thrown three shutouts in 42 games played in 2024, already surpassing last season’s total of two in 60 games. The three shutouts rank fifth in the Big 12 and 33rd nationally.

• The Sooners have had 18 pitchers make appearances so far in 2024, with 13 registering 10-or-more strikeouts and 10 surpassing the 20 K mark, led by junior LHP Davis’ 76 and sophomore RHP Kyson Witherspoon’s 59.

• Head coach and pitching coach Skip Johnson and the Sooners have 22 pitchers on the roster in 2024.  

RECORD WATCH & NUGGETS

• Kendall Pettis currently sits 10th on the the program top-10 list with 55 career stolen bases. Coincidentally, Pettis has recently passed OU associate head coach Reggie Willits‘ career mark of 54 and OU assistant coach Todd Butler‘s 53 in his two seasons at OU from 1987-88 (including a program record 46 in ’87).

• Senior Bryce Madron has drawn 96 career walks as a Sooner in just two seasons in Norman. His 96 BB currently ranks inside the top 20 in program history and is just nine shy of the top 10. Madron’s 61 walks drawn in 2023 ranked fourth in program single-season history. 

• Redshirt senior LHP Carter Campbell is currently tied for third in program history with 84 career appearances. Fellow senior Carson Atwood has 79 career appearances, good for a tie of seventh in school annals. 

• Junior Jackson Nicklaus has hit 25 career home runs in his three years as a Sooner to rank 17th in program history. Nicklaus is just six shy of cracking the program top-10 list.

• 6-4, 226-pound redshirt senior Michael Snyder has stolen 11 bases on 11 attempts in 2024 after not registering a stolen base in four seasons at the University of Washington, a testament to OU and associate head coach Reggie Willits‘ ‘CHAOUS’ brand of baseball, creating havoc on the base paths. 

• Five Sooners hold double digit multi-hit games on the season, led by sophomore Easton Carmichael’s 22 games with multiple knocks. Anthony Mackenzie is close behind with 17. Nicklaus holds OU’s single-game high of four hits (vs. Lamar, 3/28). Eight Sooners have multi-RBI performances, paced by Snyder’s 13. Bryce Madron holds the single-game season high with 7 RBI vs. BYU (4/20), the most by a Sooner since 2010.

A LOOK AT THE OPPONENT

• The Sooners and Red Raiders meet for the last time as conference foes this weekend with OU’s impending move to the SEC in 2024-25. 

• OU narrowly holds the all-time record over Tech, 54-48-1. The Red Raiders lead 23-15 in Lubbock. 

• The last meeting in Lubbock saw the Sooners take two out of three, winning the first two games to secure the series. 

• Longtime friends, OU head coach Skip Johnson and TTU head man Tim Tadlock go back as both are from Denton, Texas, and came up through the junior college ranks in the state of Texas. 

• Tadlock spent time in Norman as an assistant coach from 2006-2011 before heading to Lubbock. 

• Other ties between the program include OU pitchers James Hitt and Brendan Girton transferring to Norman from Tech. 

LAST TIME OUT

• OU dropped a midweek matchup 3-1 at Oral Roberts Tuesday evening as the Golden Eagles tied the season series with the Sooners at one game a piece. 

• A low-scoring affair saw the Sooners register just three hits, tying their lowest total of the season. 

• LHP James Hitt (L, 2-5) took the loss in an otherwise solid showing, going four innings and surrendering two runs on four hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. Grant Stevens (1.0 IP), Carter Campbell (1.2) and Dylan Crooks (1.1) saw action out of the pen with Stevens striking out one. 

• At the plate, Spikerman, Walk and senior Anthony Mackenzie recorded OU’s three hits on the night, while Carmichael brought in OU’s run. Senior Bryce Madron drew a pair of walks.  

DAVIS NAMED BIG 12 PITCHER OF THE WEEK

• Oklahoma junior left-handed pitcher Braden Davis was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, the conference announced the weekly honors Monday. 

• Davis earned his first career Big 12 weekly award after an exceptional Friday night start vs. Texas in OU’s 9-4 series-opening win. The Keller, Texas, product surrendered just one run in six innings while striking out nine, including striking out the side to finish his night in the sixth inning. 

• Davis scattered seven hits and three walks, collecting his fifth win of the season and third straight start with a victory. 

• The lefty has struck out eight or more batters in six of his nine starts on the year and ranks fourth in the Big 12 with 54 strikeouts in conference play. Additionally, Davis is tied for second in the conference with four wins (4-1) in Big 12 play. 

• On the year, Davis has 76 strikeouts in 58 innings pitched, allowing the opposition to bat just .220. 

UP NEXT

• OU returns to L. Dale Mitchell Park next week for its home regular season finale vs. Baylor, May 10-12.

• Sunday will be Senior Day, honoring OU’s nine outgoing seniors. 

• Tickets and group deals are available via SoonerSports.com/tickets. 

LED BY THE VETS

• Veteran leadership highlights the 2024 Oklahoma squad, paced by redshirt seniors Kendall Pettis and Michael Snyder, seniors Anthony Mackenzie and Bryce Madron, and juniors Jackson Nicklaus and John Spikerman.

• The six combine for 974 career games played and 914 starts. Production at the plate includes a combined 104 home runs, 182 doubles and 583 RBIs.

• After missing 20 games due to a hand injury on March 16 at TCU, Spikerman made his return to the starting lineup April 23 vs. WSU. Nicklaus, after missing four games due to a hamstring injury on April 13 vs. KSU, also returned vs. the Shockers.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners made their season debut in the polls the week of March 18, earning spots in all five major polls. OU made its return to the ranks in a big way last week (April 22), leaping back into all five polls. 

• This weekends rankings have the Sooners at: No. 19 (Baseball America), No. 22 (D1 Baseball), No. 23 (USA Today Coaches), No. 24 (NCBWA)

• The Sooners are 4-1 in ranked contests this season, all four wins being against top-15 opponents.

• Oklahoma holds the No. 11 strength of schedule in the nation, having been as high as No. 1 for a number of weeks. 

•  OU ranks 26th in the latest NCAA RPI, having been as high as third this season.

• OU is 5-1 in games vs. 2023 Men’s College World Series participants, beating No. 9 Tennessee, a three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU and splitting the season series with ORU.

RECAPPING THE SEASON

• After dropping the season opener to Oregon, the Sooners bounced back in a big way with a pair of wins vs. No. 9 Tennessee and Nebraska in dramatic fashion at the season-opening Shriners Children’s College Classic at Globe Life Field in Arlington. 

• Opening the home slate vs. Wright State, the Sooners came sprinting out of the gates on offense, putting up a combined 46 runs on the weekend, highlighted by a 20-0 home-opening day win on Friday.

• The Sooners opened Big 12 play in dominant fashion, sweeping a UCF team that came to Norman at 9-1 and fresh off a win at No. 4 Florida. 

• Oklahoma stayed unbeaten in conference play with an impressive three-game sweep of No. 12 TCU in Fort Worth, March 15-17. It marked OU’s first sweep of TCU at Lupton Stadium and first sweep over the Horned Frogs since 2013.

• OU dropped home series’ to West Virginia and Lamar and was narrowly edged by OSU in Stillwater but rebounded with a seven-game conference win streak, including back-to-back Big 12 sweeps of Kansas State in Norman and BYU in Provo.

• The Sooners are 5-4 in midweek contests in 2024, highlighted by a season sweep of Wichita State.

• Fans have tuned in and showed out for the trending Sooners, with attendance records being set at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. On home-opening weekend, the fan base set records for: largest opening day attendance, largest student attendance and largest opening series attendance. 

• In 2024, OU has set the top three single-game attendance marks in program history, recently breaking the all-time mark with 4,812 in attendance for OU’s Friday night win over Texas on April 26. It broke a 29-year-old attendance record of 4,544 vs. Texas in 1995

• In addition, the OU-Texas series in Norman set a single-series program attendance record with 12,335 fans attending the three-game set, shattering the previous record of 7,269 vs. Texas in 2014.

THE SKIPPER SURPASSES 200 WINS AT OU

• OU head coach Skip Johnson collected his 200th career victory at Oklahoma on March 15 with OU’s 7-3 win at No. 12 TCU. 

• Oklahoma is in its seventh season under the direction Johnson (including the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 215-149 record, three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2022 Big 12 tournament championship and the 2022 College World Series finals since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

• Johnson holds 629 career wins as a head coach, earning 414 at Navarro (TX) College before making the jump to Division I baseball where he’s won 215 at OU.

L. DALE MITCHELL PARK EXPANSION PROJECT

• The Oklahoma baseball facility enhancement project will transform the look of the ballpark from both the interior bowl and the exterior of the stadium. New locker rooms, training areas, coaches offices and team meeting areas combined with chairback seating, terraced berms and additional awnings and concourses will provide a first-class facility for fans and student-athletes. In addition, a new, state-of-the-art performance and player development center will be added. A new entry to the team areas will include a Champions Lobby, displaying the success and tradition of the Oklahoma baseball program. 

• More than 35,000 in square-foot-space of new areas benefiting student-athlete performance and recovery including a robust medical services area, weight room and sports science to centralize student-athlete training at the baseball field.

• For more information and to donate to the L. Dale Mitchell project, visit The Sooner Club.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma baseball, follow the Sooners on Twitter and Instagram (@OU_Baseball) and like Oklahoma Baseball on Facebook.