After a weekend that couldn’t have gone much better in Stillwater, the Red Raiders return to Dan Law Field to host the Oklahoma Sooners starting Thursday and ending Saturday, televised on ESPN+.
With TCU in the clubhouse at 16-8 in Big 12 play, the Red Raiders control their own destiny for the regular season Big 12 title at 14-7 in conference play, needing a sweep this weekend.
The Sooners, along with Oklahoma State, are sitting at 13-8 in conference play which leaves the door open for those teams to tie the Horned Frogs atop the board with sweeps of their own.
The weekend will be the Red Raiders second look at the Sooners with the first coming in what was sort of a nightmare for Tech in Amarillo. The Red Raiders couldn’t find a real answer for mid-week pitching at the time, but the game wasn’t all bad for Tech.
Newly minted Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, Owen Washburn, homered against the Sooners in Amarillo and Andrew Devine started his ascent into stable bullpen arm in the 14-9 loss on April 12.
Pitching:
Speaking of Devine’s ascent into a solid piece for Tadlock to deploy, he along with a few other Red Raiders in the bullpen were critical during the sweep of the Cowboys in Stillwater.
Devine closed the first two matchups of the weekend, the first involving some very high stress outs and a big break from some bad baserunning.
Meanwhile, Derek Bridges took a step over the weekend. The sophomore tossed two high pressure innings on Friday and recorded a massive strikeout to end the eighth with two runners on during Saturday's game.
Tech’s starting pitching was headlined by the 1-2 punch of Andrew Morris and Brandon Birdsell, who were excellent once again, but it was Chase Hampton on Sunday who gathered my attention. The sophomore tossed five innings of one run ball while striking out nine.
This weekend, I’d expect those three to face the Sooner trio of Jake Bennett (3.66 ERA, 1.07 WHIP), David Sandlin (5.86 ERA, 1.41 WHIP), and Cade Horton (5.59 ERA, 1.71 WHIP).
Tadlock stated on Wednesday that the rotation would stay the same this weekend.
The Sooner’ bullpen is formidable but lacks standout pieces as the best reliever for Oklahoma is Trevin Michael who carries a 3.07 ERA in 18 appearances this season. Michael works in long relief mostly as he has garnered 44 innings in his 18 appearances.
Hitting:
The Sooner lineup gave the Red Raiders trouble in April, scoring 14 runs on four home runs including two from right fielder Brett Squires.
Squires tallied a 5-5 day with four RBIs and three runs scored while first baseman Blake Robinson was 5-6 with three RBIs including a homer. Sooner shortstop Peyton Graham, along with Robinson and Squires, carry most of the load for Oklahoma, all leading the team in OPS.
Oklahoma will be very active on the basepaths, so Cole Stillwell and Hudson White will be busy this weekend. The Sooners are second in the Big 12 in stolen base attempts, only trailing West Virginia, and nabbed three bags in four attempts on White in April.
The Red Raider’ offense was alive and well over the weekend in Stillwater, led by Stillwell and Washburn who both hit a grand slam in the series. Jace Jung also broke out of his mini-slump on Sunday with a home run and three hits on the day.
