OU Baseball (2017 Season)

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SoonerTraveler

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The women’s message board has a “Softball” thread, so I thought I would post a “Baseball” thread over here on the men’s board.

Here is a good site that updates the RPI rankings on a “real time” basis:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2017/rpi-live

April 5, 2017: After beating ORU last night, the Sooners are 26-6 (4-2 Big-12). The Sooners are currently #19 in the RPI rankings. So far, OU has won 3-game series (2-1) against the following upper-level RPI teams.

#5 Texas Tech – OU won 2 out of 3 games in Norman.
#10 Long Beach State – OU won 2 out of 3 games in Norman.
#12 Baylor – OU won 2 out of 3 games on the road in Waco.

OU has won the two series against highly rated Big-12 opponents without their Ace pitcher (Jake Irvin) and their best power hitter (1st baseman Austin “Stoney” O’Brien). Both have been recovering from injuries.

Last night, Stoney O’Brien returned to the lineup, and it showed ...

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=211546461

Senior first baseman Austin O’Brien (Owasso, Okla.) made a dramatic return to the diamond in a 6-2 win for the No. 9 University of Oklahoma baseball team over Oral Roberts at L. Dale Mitchell Park on Tuesday night. Playing in his first game since tearing his left UCL, O’Brien blasted a seventh-inning grand slam to break a 2-2 tie. The Sooners improved to 26-6 with the win, while the Golden Eagles fell to 19-9.

“You can’t script it any better to have Stoney O’Brien,” began head coach Pete Hughes. “I said, ‘Stoney, thank you for a great memory for us.’ You know, because, I left that hospital [three] and a half weeks ago and I called my wife on my way home. I said, ‘I love that kid, but he’s not playing again for the Sooners’ because his arm was three times the size it was. I knew the extent of the injury, but it’s amazing that he’s in the lineup. I’m just so happy for that kid and for this team. Great memory for all of us. He’s a special, special kid.”

O’Brien, OU’s top hitter at the time and cleanup hitter, last played on March 11 against Buffalo when he was injured with two down in the ninth inning in the final game of a 19-game homestand. He missed a total of 12 games over the course of 23 days.
Click to expand...

Oklahoma travels to Austin this weekend for 3 games against Texas (20-12; 4-5).

This is obviously an important season for head coach Pete Hughes. In his first 3 seasons at OU, his teams have failed to make it into the NCAA tournament.

  • The Sooners’ 26-6 mark is the best since being 27-5 in 1985.
  • Oklahoma now leads the all-time series with Oral Roberts, 39-33.
  • OU has totaled 90 two-out RBI this season after totaling just 98 in all of 2016.

24 .. Games where OU's starting pitcher was a sophomore
_4 .. Games where OU's starting pitcher was a freshman
_4 .. Games where OU's starting pitcher was a junior
 
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I watched the finale of the Texas Tech series this weekend. A very exciting game and a great walkoff win, thanks to a homer by Mendenhall.
 
so what has caused the drastic change in play from last year? recruiting? coaching? growth?
 
SoonerBounce13 said:
so what has caused the drastic change in play from last year? recruiting? coaching? growth?
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I think probably all of the above! I think it can be a fine line between winning and losing. See our men's basketball team. Final 4 one year and don't make the tourney the next. Also, so many close losses that if outcomes were different, season would have been different and player confidence would probably have been lifted. O-Stank acted like they won NC after beating us twice this year but there were a couple of plays in each game, that if had been different, we'd have had another sweep of the pokers.

I think baseball was similar. Had pretty good players, as shown by draft, but just couldn't put it all together. This year I think the early season home stand gave the players confidence and it's grown. Barring a 10-15 game losing streak, I think they are going to make the playoffs this year and that will help player confidence even more. It would be great for this team to finish in top 3 of Big 12 this year!
 
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To echo what Traveler said, i've heard Skip Johnson has had a HUGE impact. I thought I heard he was even running practices or something.
 
Stikboy said:
To echo what Traveler said, i've heard Skip Johnson has had a HUGE impact. I thought I heard he was even running practices or something.
Click to expand...

Regarding your second sentence, I think you can discount what you have heard. Pete Hughes has won more that 600 games as a head baseball coach over a long career.

http://www.soonersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=31000&ATCLID=210378606

It always helps to have top-flight assistant coaches. Pete Hughes did a good job in adding Skip Johnson to his staff. UT's loss is OU's gain.
 
They basically swapped out Joe Dickinson for Lincoln Riley with the changes in pitching coaches.

Skip Johnson became available when Augie Garrido "retired" at Texas following the 2016 season.


There's a lot of discussion about who actually hired Johnson, Pete or Joe C. Pete and his staff weren't expecting to be in Norman this year at the end of the 2016 campaign which is a big reason why his son ended up singing with LSU.
 
I've been waiting on this thread. So jazzed by the 180 the baseballers have pulled this season. I thought Hughes was gone after last year.....but now it's the ultimate "put up" season. So far, so good.

Big series this weekend. Absolutely mandatory to take care of business in Austin after shouldering the heavy load against Baylor and Tech.
 
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that has followed the baseball program over the years, but we simply piss down our legs when we play Texas. We may have won a series or two over the last decade, but for the most part, recent teams just don't play well against Texas (even when Texas has been a little down as of late). For whatever reason, they don't seem to hit well, pitching is subpar, and fundamentals aren't what they need to be. It's especially frustrating this year because we are the better team, but we aren't making the pitches and getting any timely hitting in this series.

Having said that, they are still having an outstanding season and I hope they can bounce back this upcoming week.
 
Yes, OU often seems to under-performs when playing Texas in baseball.
The Sooners won Sunday game to avoid the sweep.

Friday ..... Lost 5-3
Saturday .. Lost 9-3
Sunday .... Won 2-1

Oklahoma is now 27-8 (5-4 in Big-12).

After going 1-2 in Austin, the Sooners actually move up (improve) six spots to #13 in the RPI.
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2017/rpi-live
 
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Was this thread the kiss of death for the 2017 season?
 
Sooner04 said:
Was this thread the kiss of death for the 2017 season?
Click to expand...

I was wondering the same thing, as OU lost 7 out of 8 games on the just completed road trip.

Somehow, OU baseball (27-13) is still rated #23 in the RPI, a few spots higher that Michigan (30-7), even though OU lost all 3 games at Michigan last weekend.
 
SoonerTraveler said:
I was wondering the same thing, as OU lost 7 out of 8 games on the just completed road trip.

Somehow, OU baseball (27-13) is still rated #23 in the RPI, a few spots higher that Michigan (30-7), even though OU lost all 3 games at Michigan last weekend.
Click to expand...

They have series wins against #3 Tech, at #15 Baylor & #19 Long Beach St. They also have only two "bad" losses to #142 Wichita State & #98 ORU. All the rest of their losses have come to teams ranked #61 or higher in the RPI. Before the current slide their RPI was 13.
 
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Sooners took two of three from WVU this weekend, improved to 8-7 in Big 12 and 30-16 for the season.

Sooners played much better than previous two weeks.

Starting pitching more like earlier in the year.
 
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sdcloud9 said:
Sooners took two of three from WVU this weekend, improved to 8-7 in Big 12 and 30-16 for the season.

Sooners played much better than previous two weeks.

Starting pitching more like earlier in the year.
Click to expand...

Bullpen did a much better job too.
 
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