Baseball Opens Postseason at SEC Tournament in Hoover

HOOVER, Ala. – 12-seed Oklahoma (33-19, 14-16 SEC) begins postseason play Tuesday at 1 p.m. CT in Hoover, Ala., at the SEC Baseball Tournament with a first-round matchup vs. 13-seed Kentucky (29-23, 13-17).

• The tournament can be seen via SEC Network with the championship game airing on ESPN2. All OU games can be heard on the radio in Oklahoma on 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF or nationwide on The Varsity app. This weekend's radio crew includes Toby Rowland, Kendall Pettis and Carly Murray.

THE BASICS

• Oklahoma enters the postseason at 33-19 with nine ranked wins, including a pair of top-10 non-conference victories, and five SEC series wins on its resume. The Sooners went 5-5 in SEC series on the season, with four of their five series losses coming to top-15 opponents, three of which were to top-10 squads.

• The Sooners currently sit at No. 27 in the NCAA RPI and 17th in SOS. OU heads into the postseason unranked in the D1 Baseball top 25 for just the second week since Feb. 18.

• OU meets Kentucky for the second time in the last three weeks as the Wildcats swept the Sooners in the first meeting in the history of the two programs, May 9-11, in Lexington. It was just OU's second time being swept this season.

#12 Seed Oklahoma at SEC Tournament
Dates: May 20-25
Location: Hoover, Ala.
Ballpark: Hoover Metropolitan Stadium

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HOOVER MET FIRST TIMERS

• OU makes its inaugural appearance in Hoover this week for the SEC Baseball Tournament. The Sooners have never played at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. OU is 3-6 in the state of Alabama in program history. OU dropped two of three in a series at Alabama earlier this season in Tuscaloosa.

• This year's tourney will be the 26th consecutive year and 28th overall that the event has been held at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. This season, all 16 league members will participate in the tournament, a change from years past where 12 of the previous 14 conference schools played in the event.

• A season ago as members of the Big 12 conference, Oklahoma raced their way to the Big 12 Championship Game for the second time in three years, beating TCU and Kansas en route to the championship. The Sooners fell to Oklahoma State 9-3 in the title game.

GOLDEN ARM: KYSON A GOLDEN SPIKES SEMIFINALIST

• OU's pitching rotation is headlined by 2025 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist Kyson Witherspoon, who is 9-3 this season in 14 starts with a 112-to-20 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Witherspoon was named one of 25 semifinalists on Sunday, May 18.

• His nine wins rank tied for first in the SEC and 12th nationally. His K/BB ratio (5.60) is fourth in the conference and 19th nationally.

• The All-SEC First Team honoree has struck out a career-high 12 batters in two of his 14 starts and recorded double-digit strikeouts in four outings. He has seven or more strikeouts in 10 of his 14 starts and has surrendered more than three earned runs in just two appearances and six hits or less in all 14 games. The righty has one individual shutout on the season, a seven-inning complete game performance in a run-rule win over Vanderbilt. He has combined on two other shutouts.

• Witherspoon ranks seventh in the country and fourth in the SEC in strikeouts with 112 and seventh in the conference and 24th in the nation in K/9 (12.10).

• The righty is first in the SEC with a 2.48 ERA which sits at 23rd in the nation. His 0.94 WHIP is good for second in the league (15th nationally).

• Witherspoon has been the pitcher of record in 12 of his 14 starts (9-3). Two of his three losses came vs. fellow elite arms in Mississippi State's Pico Kohn (10 K; 3/21) and LSU's Kade Anderson (14 K; 4/3). OU lost the games by narrow margins of 2-1 and 2-0, respectively. His other loss, May 9 at Kentucky, was a one-run game, 4-3.

TRIO OF SOONERS NAMED ALL-SEC

• Named to the All-SEC First Team as a starting pitcher was junior right-handed pitcher Kyson Witherspoon. Junior catcher Easton Carmichael claimed All-SEC Second Team honors, while freshman Kyle Branch was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team at second base.

• Witherspoon, a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, has been dominant on the mound for Oklahoma this season. The righty ranks first in the SEC and 23rd nationally in ERA (2.48), tied for first in the league and 12th in the country in victories (9) and and fourth and seventh in the conference and nation, respectively, with 112 strikeouts.

• Carmichael has paced the Sooner offense in 2025, leading OU with 14 home runs, 26 extra-base hits and 54 RBIs. His .593 slugging percentage and .981 OPS are good for first on the team and the junior also paces OU with 14 multi-RBI games and 19 multi-hit games. In SEC play, the Prosper, Texas, product ranked fourth in hits (42), sixth in RBIs (32) and 10th in total bases (73). The junior has been a speedster on the base path as well with 11 stolen bases on 16 attempts. In SEC play, Carmichael ranked second among catchers in runners caught stealing with six.

• Making a name for himself as a freshman has been Branch, starting all 52 games for the Sooners at second base. The frosh ranks second on the team in hits (58) and batting average (.304). Branch has batted in 26 runs and hit two home runs and 12 extra-base hits. The Lucas, Texas, native has flashed the leather, helping turn 26 of OU's 39 double plays as the Sooners paced the league in SEC play with 24 double plays. In league play, Branch's 71 assists ranked fifth and his 16 double plays fielded ranked ninth.

• The Sooner trio collect Oklahoma's first SEC baseball annual awards in program history as the Sooners near the completion of their inaugural season in the conference. It marks consecutive all-conference seasons for Carmichael and Witherspoon as the two were first and second team All-Big 12, respectively, a season ago.

AT THE PLATE

• The Sooners are outscoring opponents 352-264. Two starters are batting above .300 on the season in junior Easton Carmichael (.321) and freshman Kyle Branch (.304).

• OU has utilized the long ball, hitting 60 home runs on the year. The Sooners have homered in 35 of OU's 52 games, including 28 of the last 40 and have 16 multi-homer games. Carmichael paces OU with 14 long balls on the year, followed by Willits' nine.

• Oklahoma ranks first in the SEC with 17 triples on the year (21st nationally). Carmichael, Willits and Jason Walk are tied for the team lead with three each, good for a tie of fourth in the SEC.

GOOD EYE

• OU ranks eighth in the SEC in walks drawn, averaging 5.3 BB per game.

• Trey Gambill and Sam Christiansen rank third and fourth in the conference with 44 and 43 walks drawn, respectively. The two rank third and fourth, respectively, in the league in BB/game with Gambill drawing .92 BB/game followed by Christiansen's .88.

• In league play, OU ranks second with 151 walks drawn, just two behind first-place Arkansas' 153.

• A direct correlation, OU ranks sixth in SEC play in on-base percentage (.374).

• Number to note: When Oklahoma draws five or more walks this season, the team's record is 25-7.

ON THE MOUND

• The pitching staff ranks 37th in the country with a 4.58 team ERA. Kyson Witherspoon's 2.48 ERA ranks first in the conference and 23rd nationally.

• OU's pitchers have struck out 521 batters on the year and have 25 double-digit strikeout games on the season. Kyson Witherspoon paces all Sooners with four double-digit K games individually.

• OU has surrendered double-digit runs just six times on the year. This season marked the first time in program history the Sooners have started a season 11-0 and held each opponent to five runs or less.

• As a team, OU ranks 15th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.5) and 13th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.77), striking out 521 batters to 188 walks.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• Oklahoma dropped out of the D1 Baseball top 25 after its series loss at Kentucky, marking the first week the Sooners have been unranked since Feb. 16, the second week of the season. OU spent 11 weeks ranked across all five major polls. After starting the season unranked, Oklahoma vaulted into the polls, including spending weeks in the top 10. The Sooners made their debut at No. 16 on Feb. 24 after the Round Rock sweep, and have been among the top 25 10 of the past 12 weeks, holding ranks of 13th, 12th, 10th, 9th , 10th, 19th,18th, 14th, 21st and 17th.

• The Sooners are 9-12 in ranked matchups in 2025, including a 4-7 mark vs. top-10 opponents.

UP NEXT

• The field of 64 teams competing for the 2025 NCAA college baseball championship will be announced tentatively at 11 a.m. CT on Monday, May 26 on ESPN2.

• The 64 teams will be placed in 16 different four-team regions, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.

• The Sooners look to participate in the NCAA postseason for the 42nd time in program history. A postseason berth would mark four of the past five seasons OU has made the tournament, highlighted by a run to the CWS Championship Series in 2022.

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