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Bayou Bengals flex against OU baseball, win series

Eddie On3by:Eddie Radosevich•04/04/25
Oklahoma baseball coach Skip Johnson
© Nathan J Fish/The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK

If this weekend’s showdown with No. 7 LSU was a barometer or measuring stick for the OU baseball program? Well, it has got a ways to go. 

LSU scored four runs with two outs in the top of the second en route to a 10-2 victory on Friday night, clinching a winning weekend in Norman. 

Oklahoma’s struggles offensively bled over from the Thursday night opener as the Sooners mustered just five hits Friday. Oklahoma is now 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the series. 

After the game my first question to Skip Johnson was simple. What’s the message to the team after losing back-to-back games for the first time all season? 

“You’re the same team as you were a week ago, a month ago, two weeks ago. It’s a baseball game. It doesn’t define who you are as a man,” said Johnson. 

Another missed opportunity early 

It was a theme from Thursday night’s opener. Oklahoma’s inability to land the first punch. And it happened again in the first inning Friday. Trey Gambill walked. Easton Carmichael singled. Oklahoma had a little bit of momentum with the guys you’d want headed to the plate. Jaxon Willits flew out to center. Easton Carmichael struck out. Inning over. 

“Just separating balls from strikes. Trying too hard. When you try in this game, you fail. I thought they tried really hard last night. They tried really hard tonight. We lost the momentum in the second inning today. (Cade Crossland) made some quality pitches. We just couldn’t sustain a rally. When you play a good team, you’ve got to be able to sustain a rally and separate balls from strikes,” said Johnson. 

LSU starting pitcher Anthony Eyanson didn’t match Kade Anderson’s Thursday night complete game performance but did more than enough. The Tigers dipped into the bullpen for the first time this weekend with two outs in the sixth. LSU pitching staff has struck out 27 batters in the first 18 innings.

Second inning killer, two-out hits

Crossland’s second inning is one he’d like to forget. The Sooners starter walked Steven Milam to start the frame. Then hit Josh Pearson. And much like Johnson alluded to above, you simply can’t do that against a good team. 

Even after bouncing back with a pair of strikeouts, the third out in the frame became elusive. 

Chris Stanfield opened the scoring with a double to left. Derek Curiel followed with a double of his own. Jared Jones poked a single back through the box. All of the sudden it was 4-0 following a trio of two-out run-producing hits. 

Crossland was certainly not terrible against one of the best lineups in the country. But it’s the small things. Free bases are always costly. 

“I thought (Cade) was good except for the second inning. He went out there and kind of lost his rhythm. Walked a guy. Hit a guy. You can’t do that against good teams. You can’t give free bases away. We lost the free base war all night long,” said Johnson. 

Now you have to salvage the weekend 

Saturday’s series finale in Norman certainly isn’t a must-win but it’d be nice to salvage a game in the series with Oklahoma having now lost back-to-back conference series against a pair of top 10 teams in Alabama and LSU. Friday night’s setback was the first time Oklahoma had lost consecutive games all season. 

“It’d be huge. It’s about bouncing back. We hadn’t lost two games back to back all year. Last week was the first time we had lost a weekend series. For some of those sophomores, it was the first time they had lost a weekend series was last weekend. It’s just about turning things around, changing your perspective and getting back to the way you play. That’s baseball,” said Johnson. 

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