Oklahoma baseball opens weekend with first shutout of the season, 9-0

Friday nights are going to be fun for Oklahoma baseball fans with Kyson Witherspoon on the mound. 

There’s a certain presence that comes along with the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week. You can feel it in the stadium. His teammates can feel it, too. 

“He’s the best in the country. When we give him a little boost. Give him a lead. We know he’s going to get after it for us. It’s good to give him a little boost and let him work,” said centerfielder Jason Walk.

And that’s exactly what they did. Thanks in part to Walk, who stroked a first-inning solo shot over the right field wall to open this weekend’s set with CSUN. It was his first big fly of the season.

Oklahoma improved to 9-0 on the season with a series-opening 9-0 victory over CSUN on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Ballpark. Easton Carmichael, Dayton Tockey and, of course, Kyle Branch each delivered multi-hit performances. 

For Branch, it was another big outing offensively, blowing the game wide open with a bases clearing, three-run double in the seventh. He finished the night posting his team-leading sixth multi-hit game. Not bad just nine games into his career. 

“Just his maturity and the way he goes about his work on and off the field. Just seeing him work. He works hard. Glad to see him succeed,” said Walk, who found himself in the same spot a year ago playing as a true freshman. 

Carmichael finished the night, going 2-for-3 with an RBI, scoring Trey Gambill with a third inning triple. He added a double in the sixth. Dayton Tockey collected his fifth multi-hit game of the season, driving in a run with a single to left three batters later in the inning. 

WITHERSPOON PICKS UP THIRD WIN

It’s not always going to be that simple, of course. One run won’t necessarily win you games every Friday in the mighty Southeastern Conference, but there’s certainly something of a boost when he’s given the ball. 

Unlike his previous two starts to begin the season, Witherspoon was forced to navigate traffic on the bases. He stranded a runner at third in the second. He stranded a pair in scoring position in the third. In the fourth, he worked around a leadoff hit batsman. And again in the fifth worked around a leadoff triple. 

It certainly wasn’t a dominant performance like Oklahoma saw last weekend in Round Rock when Witherspoon struck out a career-high 12. But each Matador run scoring threat was met with a forceful slamming of the door by Witherspoon. Inning after inning. 

“They did a good job with a good offensive plan against Kyson,” said head coach Skip Johnson. “They were fouling a lot of balls off, but when he started landing his curveball, that was the separator. He started punching them out. They couldn’t put the ball in play. So it was really good to see that.” 

Following a fifth inning leadoff triple, Witherspoon struck out three of the final five batters he faced. He finished the night picking up his third win of the season and now boats a healthy 28-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio in 18 innings. 

“His focus level tends to go up a little bit,” said Johnson on Witherspoon’s ability to pitch out of mini-jams. “He’s really competitive. He’s got a fire burning inside of him that is really hot. Can really control it. That’s what makes him who he is besides working extremely hard on his skillset.”  

A continued evolution for Witherspoon as he begins taking steps to become, like Walk said, the best pitcher in the country. 

DON’T LOOK NOW … BUT HELLO JAMIE HITT? 

We’re not ready to make any declarations but – wait for it – Jamie Hitt has looked really good. His seventh inning was dominant, striking out the side on *just* 11 pitches. 

It’s still a small sample size throwing just 5.2 innings this season but there’s signs of the guy Oklahoma wanted to see a year ago. Better late than never. He’ll be a weapon for Skip Johnson if this trajectory continues. 

“I thought Jamie might’ve been the best he’s been all year. That was dominant. His stuff was electric. The fastball and the cutter was really good tonight. I thought he stayed with conviction of throwing the ball to the target. He threw a wipe out cutter that they had no chance at. It was good to see,” said Johnson. 

NEXT UP

Malachi Witherspoon will get the ball on Saturday as Oklahoma looks claim the weekend series against CSUN. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Ballpark.