After a competitive opening weekend, the second weekend looks to be a little less difficult for the Sooners. The Sooners held on to sweep the first weekend despite tough competition. After day 1 the bats came alive for the Sooners as they managed 2 run rule victories in the final two days. Pitching showed to be just as dominate as usual for the Sooners. Here is a look at what this weekends competition has in store.
To start off the weekend they are facing Longwood. This team posted a 34-24 record and are returning their top two hitters. Their batting average as a whole was .282, only two had over .300 averages. They do, however, have 83 stolen bases with a .400 slugging percentage. For their pitching staff they lost their top pitcher who had over 200 innings for them last year. They have two returning pitchers with over 50 innings of work behind them. Combined these two held a 9-10 record, showing that the Sooners might take advantage of the lack of experience.
The next game for the Sooners looks similar to the one against Longwood. Stephen F. Austin had a 31-25 record last season. However, they are returning 5 of their top hitters with 4 hitting over .300. As a team they only had a .260 batting average, but two players had a slugging percentage over .600. Similarly, to Longwood, SFA is not returning their top pitcher with over 200 innings of work. They are returning 4 pitchers, but collectively they only have 100 innings of experience. As a pitching staff their ERA was 4.14 and their opponents’ batting average was .245. This will be a match up where the Sooners could show off their offensive power.
Game 3 is against Army who had a losing record last year at 20-34. This team is lacking in returning talent as only 3 hitters over .300 are returning and their top pitcher is not returning. Hitting as a team was not their strong suit last year as their team average was .239 with an on base percentage of only .292. Their pitching staff held a 3.41 ERA with all the returning pitchers posting over 3 ERAs.
To close out the weekend the Sooners will be facing one of their conference opponents, Baylor. They posted a 32-24 record last year. The Sooners run ruled Baylor 3 out of their 4 competitions last year. They are heavy on returning hitters with 8 out of their 9 top hitters returning. Their team batting average was .290, but expect that to increase this year with more experience behind them. Baylor had 75 stolen bases as a team last year, one player has 27 alone. On the defensive side of the ball they are returning two pitchers with over 100 innings of experience. Both have over 100 strikeouts and the staff had an under 3 ERA. Look for this to be the most competitive game of the weekend for the Sooners.
This weekend will be an easier feat for the Sooner team as every team had around a .500 winning percentage last year. For this weekend it will be a display of the Sooner dominance that they have had on teams. The Sooner pitching staff has the opportunity to increase strike out numbers and record low ERAs against the less dominant offensives than they faced the week before.
Featured photo courtesy of: Sarah Phipps/THE OKLAHOMAN
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