Baseball: Recap of Midweek versus Wichita State

By Kaden Boyd

On a Tuesday night, where there was a HUGE college basketball game going on across the street, 1635 fans decided to go and attend a OU baseball game instead.  Me being a obsessed with Oklahoma Baseball, that stat makes me extra happy because it shows that we are slowly growing the fanbase.  

The game started out with some really good pitching and defense with the first 2 innings being both scoreless innings.  It looked like we were in for yet another nailbiter of a game with Wichita State like we have seen for the past 4-5 years now.  That would be until the third inning where the Sooners would be able to strike some luck.  Easton Carmichael, who seems to be an RBI machine as of late, was able to hit a sac fly to centerfield which would score Carter Frederick in the process.  The Sooners defense was able to stay dominate going into the top of the fourth inning as well still holding the Shockers offense to no runs.  In the bottom of the fourth inning, Rocco Garza-Gongora would ground out to second base scoring Jackson Nicklaus in the process bringing the Sooners lead to 0-2.  It feels that everytime that Rocco has been in the lineup, he has been able to shine and step up in clutch moments.  I hope we are able to see Rocco more often, but this lineup is so stacked from 1-9 that Rocco truly just does not have a spot right now.  Like I said before in a previous article, that is an INCREDIBLE problem to have, and it is something that OU baseball has not been spoiled with that much. 

In the 5th inning, the Sooners were able to get the bats alive and start a little rally of their own with Carmichael getting it started.  Carmichael would send a missile through the left side of the field scoring Anthony Mackenzie from second base.  On the throw home, Carmichael was able to take advantage of the throw and he would advance to second base in the process.  Carmichael would eventually work his way to third base throughout the inning and would even end up scoring on a wild pitch bringing the Sooners lead to 0-4 on the night.  

Wichita State would not go home quite though, in the top of the 6th inning on a extremely windy night, Williams was able to homer to right field with a runner on base for a 2 RBI homerun.  The score would be 2-4 now and it honestly felt like the Shockers were about to have themselves a comeback to get back into this ballgame at that point.  That would be until the bottom of the 7th inning when Carmichael would be able to hit an absolute MOSTER homeurn to the deepest part of the ballpark in left center field hitting it against the wind.  I am not kidding, without the wind, that ball might still be flying, it was an absolute beaut.  For real though, we need to talk about how insane Carmichael has been at the plate for us…it truly feels as if he is leading the country in RBIs at this point with how many he gets per game.  Dude was just born to hit. 

Wichita State would try to get a late rally going in the top of the 9th where they were able to hit a solo shot to right field cutting the lead back down to 2.  That would be the only noise that they would be able to bring together, and the Sooners would take game one of their 2 game matchup of this season 3-5.  

On another note, there has been a lot of buzz around why Bryce Madron was not playing, and why he did not take his last AB late in the game against Ohio State. From what I have heard, and what I have researched is that Bryce is being sat due to a slight hamstring injury.  This injury does not seem to be anything serious since they expect to have him back for this weekend against Central Florida in what will be the first conference series of the season. Though it does not look to be anything too serious, it is still something that we should keep an eye out on.  

The Sooners will return to L Dale Mitchell to play an impressive ball club in UCF.  UCF just got a big midweek win against the No. 4 Florida Gators. UCF has been someone that we have circled on our schedule for a while just because we know how good they are and we know the importance in a weekend win against UCF.  

I hope to see you this weekend out at the ballpark!  No Doc B Pizza Party this weekend due to weather, but the Berms will still be active all weekend if you would like to join us all out on the hill!  Lets go have ourselves a weekend!!!