Photo Courtesy of Big 12
Arlington, Texas – During the second game of the third day of the 2024 Big 12 Tournament under the roof at Globe Life Field, the No. 1 seed, the University of Oklahoma Sooners, beat the University of Kansas 7-5.
Oklahoma won their first Big 12 Conference regular season title in 2024 since they joined in 1997.
The Sooners overall record is currently at 36-18 in the final week of the regular season.
Oklahoma is ranked No. 8 in the Top 25 NCAA Division I Rankings. It coughed seven errors in the field against Kansas on Thursday afternoon during their second win at the 2024 Big 12 Conference tournament.
All of Kansas’s seven runs were unearned on Thursday afternoon.
“Well I’ve been to three goat ropings, four chili cook offs, five rodeos, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that. I think starting pitcher Kyson Witherspoon tried hard. When we made a couple errors, we tried to pitch out the jam. You can’t do that. You have to just get back to execute one pitch at a time. It’s a good learning lesson for him to stay in the moment and just make pitches”, Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson said during his opening statement during the post-game press conference.
Kyson Witherspoon threw four innings and did not allow an earned run during his outing. He allowed two hits, six walks, and six strikeouts while facing 25 batters. Kyson Witherspoon dialed 107 pitches and plated 63 strikes on Thursday.
“The seven guys behind me have been great for me all season, and I got the most trust in any team I’ve played with before. I know the next outing, they’re going to make all those plays, no doubt”, Kyson Witherspoon told World Baseball Network during the post-game press conference about the defense limiting the amount of errors.
The Oklahoma pitching staff combined for four hits, seven walks, and eight strikeouts during their second win in the Big 12 Conference tournament.
The Sooners offense did not back down early with a big spark in the bottom of the first inning with sophomore designated hitter Easton Carmichael lifting a sacrifice fly to Jayhawks freshman right fielder Ty Wisdom, resulting in junior center fielder John Spikerman coming in to score the game’s first run.
Kansas got their first run of the game in the top of the second inning after Oklahoma senior left fielder Kendall Pettis overran a routine pop-up off the top of his glove. At the same time, Wisdom reached first base with senior designated hitter Lenny Ashby coming in to score to tie the game at 1-1.
Oklahoma made two more errors in the top of the second inning behind Witherspoon with a fielding error by third baseman Anthony Mackenzie in Kansas first baseman John Nett’s at-bat which resulted in the Jayhawks taking a 2-1 lead with Wisdom coming into score and Kansas third baseman Kodey Shojinaga reaching on a fielding error by Sooners shortstop Jaxon Willits to make it 3-1 with left fielder Mike Koszweski scoring.
The Sooners cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the second inning with junior catcher Scott Mudler lacing a single into center field with Mackenzie coming in to score to cut it by one at 3-2.
In the top of the third inning, the Jayhawks extended the lead to two runs with Koszweski roping a single into center field, scoring senior shortstop Collier Cranford to make it 4-2.
Mudler continued his hot bat on Thursday and rocked an RBI single into right field during the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring Pettis to cut the lead at 4-3.
A few batters later, Willits came to the plate looking to spark the Sooner’s dugout as he whacked a two-run home run over the right-center field wall, scoring Mudler to help Oklahoma capture a 5-4 lead.
Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald took out starting pitcher Reese Dutton at the bottom of the sixth inning, and he called on relief pitcher Ethan Lanthier.
“Not very thrilled with the outcome today, but you just got to come tomorrow and show up and ready to go. We got to fill up that strike zone, and we got guys behind us who can play defense. We got all the confidence in the world, and that’s all that matters,” Dutton told World Baseball Network during the post-game press conference on Thursday.
Dutton threw 5.1 innings and allowed nine hits, four earned runs, one walk, and struck out six while releasing 105 pitches and facing 27 batters.
The Oklahoma offense added more insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, with senior first baseman Michael Snyder roping an RBI single to left field, scoring Carmichael to extend the lead to 6-4.
A few batters later, junior second baseman Jackson Nicklaus helped the Sooners offense cash in their seventh run on Thursday by driving a triple to center field, scoring Snyder to make it 7-4.
In the top of the ninth inning, Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson called on sophomore relief pitcher Malachi Witherspoon to shut the door for the Sooners as he got Koszewski to fly out to freshman right fielder Jason Walk for the final out of the game to beat Kansas 7-5.
Oklahoma aims for its second Big 12 Conference tournament championship in program history. The Sooners have not won the conference tournament since 2022, the first year the event was held at Globe Life Field. The Sooners have also won the Conference tournament in their first two years in the conference, in 1997 and 2013.
Kansas is ranked 72nd with the RPI in the final week of its regular season, and its overall record is 30-22.
Kansas must win two games on Friday to qualify for the Big 12 Conference Championship, which will be held on May 25 at 6 p.m. EST at Globe Life Field on ESPNU.
Kansas will play against the No. 9 seed Texas Christian University at 10 a.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ on May 23 at Globe Life Field.
Oklahoma will play the winner of Kansas and TCU at 1:30 p.m. EST on May 23 on ESPN+ Life Field.
