No. 17 OU Heads to Kentucky for Final Regular Season Road Series

NORMAN – No. 17 Oklahoma (32-14, 13-11 SEC) plays its final road series of the regular season this weekend in Lexington, Ky., as the Sooners meet Kentucky (25-20, 10-14) at Kentucky Proud Park.

Friday and Sunday's game will be streamed via SECN+ with Dick Gabriel and Doug Flynn on the call, while Saturday will be shown to a national audience on SEC Network with Lowell Galindo and Todd Walker calling the action.

All games can be heard on the radio in Oklahoma on 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF or nationwide on The Varsity app with OU play-by-play voice Toby Rowland on the call.

THE BASICS

• Oklahoma enters the game at 32-14 with eight ranked wins, including a pair of top-10 non-conference victories, and five SEC series wins on its resume. The Sooners are 5-3 in SEC series on the season, with all three series losses coming to top-15 opponents, two of which came on the road.

• OU is coming off a series win at home over No. 23 Ole Miss in which the Sooners took the first two games before the Rebels salvaged the series on Sunday by avoiding a sweep. Kyson Witherspoon fanned eight in the Friday night win before lefty Cade Crossland struck out eight Saturday and Easton Carmichael hit two home runs to secure the series.

• The Sooners head into the penultimate weekend of the regular season as a consensus top-20 team in the nation, ranking No. 17 in this week's D1 Baseball poll. The team holds its highest rank in the Perfect Game rankings at 13th, while holding 14th in the NCBWA poll and No. 16 in both USA TODAY and Baseball America polls. The Sooners currently sit at No. 22 in the NCAA RPI and No. 21 in SOS.

• This weekend's series will be the first time Oklahoma and Kentucky have faced off on the diamond.

• Probable Pitching Matchups: FRI: OU RHP Kyson Witherspoon (9-2, 2.12 ERA) vs. UK RHP Nate Harris (4-2, 4.23 ERA); SAT: OU LHP Cade Crossland (4-3, 6.12 ERA) vs. UK RHP Nic McCay (4-0, 3.68 ERA); SUN: OU RHP Malachi Witherspoon (3-6, 5.28 ERA) vs. UK LHP Ben Cleaver (5-3, 3.32 ERA).

#17 Oklahoma at Kentucky
Dates: May 9-11
Times (CT): 5:30 p.m./11:30 a.m./12 p.m.
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Ballpark: Kentucky Proud Park

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Game Notes

LAST TIME OUT

• In a rematch of the 2022 CWS Championship Series, Oklahoma took two of three over No. 23 Ole Miss at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman to clinch its third SEC series over the past four weekends and fifth overall.

• Behind another exceptional performance from righty ace Kyson Witherspoon, OU shut out the Rebels 2-0 Friday night as Witherspoon fanned eight and allowed just one hit in his seven innings. Relievers Jason Bodin and Dylan Crooks completed the shutout.

• Saturday, lefty starter Cade Crossland turned in a quality start with eight K's across six innings of two-run ball to help OU secure the series with a 5-3 victory. The offense was powered by a two-homer day from Easton Carmichael, his second multi-homer game in the last three weekends.

• The Rebels took the finale 7-3 despite a pair of triples from OU center fielder Jason Walk and seven strikeouts from OU righty starter Malachi Witherspoon. After not committing any errors in the first two games of the series, the OU defense surrendered a pair Sunday.

AT THE PLATE

• The Sooners are outscoring opponents 329-223. Four starters are batting above .300 on the season in junior Easton Carmichael (.316), junior Trey Gambill (.315), sophomore Jaxon Willits (.306) and freshman Kyle Branch (.306).

• OU has utilized the long ball, hitting 54 home runs on the year. The Sooners have homered in 30 of OU's 46 games, including 23 of the last 34 and have 16 multi-homer games. Carmichael paces OU with 12 long balls on the year, followed by Willits' nine.

• Oklahoma ranks first in the SEC with 17 triples on the year (17th 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 seventh in the SEC and 44th in the country in walks drawn, averaging 5.6 BB per game.

• Sam Christiansen ranks third in the conference and 29th in the country with 43 walks drawn. Christiansen ranks third in the league and 26th nationally in BB/game, drawing .98 BB per contest. Junior Trey Gambill is close behind, ranking fourth and 30th in the league and country, respectively.

• In league play, OU ranks first with 134 walks drawn, the next closest team is over 10 walks behind in Arkansas (121).

• A direct correlation, OU ranks second in SEC play in on-base percentage (.390) and a pair of Sooners rank among the top of the league in the category in Jaxon Willits (6th, .464) and Trey Gambill (9th, .458),

• Number to note: When Oklahoma draws five or more walks this season, the team's record is 25-6.

ON THE MOUND

• The pitching staff ranks 26th in the country with a 4.31 team ERA. Kyson Witherspoon's 2.12 ERA ranks first in the conference and ninth nationally.

• OU's pitchers have struck out 463 batters on the year and have 22 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 16th in the country in strikeouts per nine innings (10.5) and 12th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.82), striking out 463 batters to 164 walks.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• Oklahoma jumped to No. 17 in this week's D1Baseball poll after its ranked series win over Ole Miss last weekend. After starting the season unranked, Oklahoma has 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 since, holding ranks of 13th, 12th, 10th, 9th , 10th, 19th,18th, 14th, 21st and 17th this week.

• The Sooners are a consensus top-20 squad across the board, holding their highest ranking in the Perfect Game poll (No. 13).

• The remaining regular season schedule for the Sooners features a ranked rivalry matchup vs. No. 1 Texas (5/15-17) in Norman.

• The SEC leads all conferences with 10 of this week's D1Baseball top 25 teams, including two of the top five, five of the top 10 and eight of the top 20.

• The Sooners are 8-10 in ranked matchups in 2025 after going 4-1 in such games throughout the regular season in 2024, with all four wins coming against top-15 opponents.

UP NEXT

• OU meets Red River rival and No. 1 Texas, May 15-17, at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman for the regular season finale. The series can be seen via SECN+. Tickets are available via SoonerSports.com/tickets.

K'S WITH KYSON

• OU's pitching rotation is headlined by 2025 Preseason All-SEC RHP Kyson Witherspoon, who is 9-2 this season in 12 starts with a 100-to-17 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

• His nine wins rank first in the SEC and second nationally. His K/BB ratio (5.88) is third in the conference and 17th nationally.

• The Golden Spikes Midseason Watch List honoree has struck out a career-high 12 batters in two of his 12 starts and recorded double-digit strikeouts in four outings. He has seven or more strikeouts in nine of his 12 starts and has surrendered more than three earned runs in just three appearances and six hits or less in all 12 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 eighth in the country and fourth in the SEC in strikeouts with 100 and sixth in the conference and 18th in the nation in K/9 (12.50).

• The righty is first in the SEC with a 2.12 ERA which sits at ninth in the nation. His 0.89 WHIP is good for second in the league (7th nationally).

• Witherspoon has been the pitcher of record in 11 of his 12 starts (9-2) and his two 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.

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