Resume Check: Looking ahead to South Carolina baseball's next opponent, the Oklahoma Sooners

South Carolina baseball has won six games in a row to bounce back from their sweep at the hands of the rival Clemson Tigers. The most recent victory, a 7-1 winning effort against Georgia State, came on Wednesday night.

This weekend, the Gamecocks will move into the SEC portion of the schedule. First on the docket is a new Southeastern Conference foe, the Oklahoma Sooners.

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Resume Check: Oklahoma Sooners

Record: 15-1
D1Baseball Ranking: 12th
Most recent games: 3-0 sweep of Sam Houston State in Norman; mid-week win 9-5 over Louisiana Tech in Norman
Previous Meeting: South Carolina beat Oklahoma in both games of the 2012 Super Regional in Columbia

The Oklahoma Sooners baseball team is one of many quality squads in the SEC. Now in his eighth year in Norman, head coach Skip Johnson looks to have a team ready to compete in their new conference. So far during the 2025 campaign, Oklahoma is 15-1 with their only loss coming to a ranked Dallas Baptist team in Dallas. The Sooners also have wins in a tough out-of-conference slate against Virginia, Minnesota, and Oregon State. Both the Cavaliers and Beavers were top-10 teams at the time.

This preseason, the SEC coaches predicted Oklahoma to finish 11th in the league. However, with 12 teams from the conference in the current D1Baseball top-25, being the 11th-best team in the SEC is still pretty darn good. Starting pitcher Kyson Witherspoon was the only Sooner who earned preseason All-SEC honors.

So far this year, Witherspoon has been lights-out for the crimson and cream at the top of a good rotation. The junior right-hander owns 1.17 ERA and 0.70 WHIP. In 23 innings pitched, his K-BB ratio is a ridiculous 40-5. Cameron Johnson and Malachi Witherspoon (Kyson’s twin) have struggled with walks but have been solid otherwise. The Sooners have five relievers who have multiple appearances but still hold an ERA below 2.00.

On offense, Oklahoma is solid. The Sooners don’t hit many home runs (Easton Carmichael and Jaxon Willits combine for nine; the rest of the team combine for just seven), but they get on base at a decent clip. The lineup owns a .423 on-base percentage, and seven normal contributors are above .400. When on the bases, Oklahoma likes to run, and they do it well. As a team, they are 46-for-53 in swipe attempts this season.

South Carolina baseball coach Paul Mainieri hasn’t revealed his starting rotation yet for the weekend. The last two weekends, Matthew Becker, Jake McCoy, and Dylan Eskew have handled Friday, Saturday, and Sunday duties, respectively. However, Becker pitched an inning on Wednesday night, leaving his status for the weekend unknown. If he doesn’t start this weekend, Brandon Stone seems the most logical candidate to step into the rotation.

The South Carolina Gamecocks and Oklahoma Sooners will begin their series on Friday at 7:00 p.m. First pitch at Founders Park for Saturday’s contest will be at 4:00 p.m. Then, the series finale on Sunday will start at 1:30 p.m. All three games will be available via streaming on SEC Network+ but not broadcast on traditional television.

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