OU baseball takes the show on the road

Oklahoma baseball takes the show on the road this week. 

The Sooners closed out a 17-game homestand at Kimrey Family Stadium over the weekend, taking a series victory from Texas A&M in a wild 12-11 rubber game victory. 

The series featured it all. From the bat slam heard ‘round the world that led to Jaxon Willits one-game suspension to A&M head coach Michael Earley profanity-laced tirade to battling the elements of a Sunday finale that featured sustained gusts of over 50 miles per hour. 

The good outweighed the bad, obviously, in the Sooners first conference weekend. 

“It’s a starting point, for sure. Everyone kept battling. That’s what a good team does. We had our ups and downs but to start off the year hot in SEC play is a big thing. The SEC plays tough. I’ve been doing it for three years now. To start it this way is great,” said Oklahoma reliever Jason Bodin. 

BROCK NAMED SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK

If you haven’t been paying attention, Brendan Brock has fit in quite well. He was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday by the league. In four games last week versus UT-Arlington and Texas A&M, Brock hit .444 with five extra base hits, including a pair of home runs and eight RBIs. 

“Really proud to be here. Glad the coaches saw something in me. I love it here. Proud of these guys. I love these dudes and I love the coaches. It’s been a great fit,” said Brock. “Just being versatile. Being athletic. Wherever they need me I’ll be. As long as I’m playing, I’m not going to complain.” 

Versatility is a theme when talking about Brock’s game. He has started behind the plate and in the outfield this season for Oklahoma, while leading the club in hits (25), home runs (6), RBIs (26) and slugging percentage (.718). 

WILLITS WILD WEEKEND

Surely you saw the antics that came from Jaxon Willits Friday night ejection. After hitting a game-tying home run in the seventh inning of Oklahoma’s Friday night come-from-behind win, Willits served a one-game suspension on Saturday.

He returned to the lineup on Sunday, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

“Friday I was really excited and then I was really pissed off. I honestly was more confused than anything. What I was told, the reason I was told for what happened, never really happened. I saw the video. I was behind them (Saturday) and they picked me up and today I got to get back out there and help the team win,” said Willits, following Sunday’s series clinching victory.

A truly bizarre ejection that still has more questions than answers.

SOONERS MOVE UP IN THE POLLS 

The Sooners were rewarded with a 3-1 week moving up in the polls. Skip Johnson’s club is ranked as high as No. 7 in Baseball America’s Top 25. They check-in at No. 8 in Perfect Game, NCBWA and D1Baseball.com.

Perhaps the biggest surge came in Warren Nolan’s RPI where OU now ranks No. 15 nationally with a 17-3 record overall. 

THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE

This week Oklahoma will spend its spring break touring the state of Louisiana. The Sooners will fly to New Orleans on Tuesday and drive over to Hammond, Louisiana, for a Tuesday night midweek tilt with Southeastern Louisiana before heading to Baton Rouge for a Thursday through Saturday series at LSU. 

Southeastern Louisiana (11-9) took two of three from Stephen F. Austin over the weekend. 

As for the defending national champion Bayou Bengals? It’s a tough scene for Jay Johnson’s group, having lost six of its last nine games. While early, I’m guessing there’s angst building for the defending national champions. 

They toppled out of *most* major polls on Monday and certainly are looking for a get-right weekend with the Sooners coming to town and a 1-2 start in conference play. The low point of its season came the last time they hosted a three-game weekend series at Alex Box Stadium, losing a series to lowly Sacramento State. 

LSU allowed 33 runs this past weekend in a series loss at Vanderbilt. 

Are the Sooners catching LSU at the right time or are they due for a big bounceback opening conference play at The Box? We’ll answer that question in time. 

Starting Tuesday, Oklahoma plays its next seven games on the road with back-to-back conference road trips to Baton Rouge and Austin. That’s going to certainly be a new challenge following a fantastic start to the season at home.