Sooners' baseball goes 5-0 last week to improve to 11-1

NORMAN— Oklahoma's baseball team continued its hot start to the season last weekend with a fourgame sweep of Columbia at L. Dale Mitchell Park after beating ArkansasPine Bluff earlier in the week. Week record: 5-0 Overall record: 11-1 The week ahead: Wednesday at Dallas Baptist; Friday-Sunday at Rice

Staying hot

For the second time in three seasons, the Sooners are 11-1 to start the season. In 2017, when Skip Johnson joined the team as pitching coach, Oklahoma started the season 13-1. Things get a bit more difficult this week when the Sooners hit the road for a Wednesday game at Dallas Baptist and a three-game weekend set at Rice. The Owls are 5-7, but are 2-1 against Big 12 competition.

Cold weather, hot bats

Oklahoma entered last week hitting just .232, with the pitching carrying the Sooners to a hot start. But in five games last week at home, Oklahoma's bats came alive as the Sooners outscored their opponents 44-6, beating UAPB 8-0 and Columbia 12-3, 9-1, 9-0 and 6-2. OU raised its batting average more than 50 points over the week, rising to third in the Big 12 with a .284 average. Oklahoma shortstop Brandon Zaragoza was 11 of 20 with seven runs and eight RBI during the week, while first baseman Tyler Hardman was 10 of 24 with five runs and eight RBI. Hardman is now hitting .388 and in just 49 at-bats games has 21 RBI, five more than he had last year in 145 at-bats.

Pitching continues to roll

The Sooners' relief pitching was also strong all week, putting together a 1.59 ERA with only one pitcher surrendering any runs. Overall, Oklahoma had a 1.20 ERA last week, giving the Sooners a 1.58 ERA, good for fifth in the country. Starter Cade Cavalli has a 1.04 ERA in 17 1/3 innings, while Nathan Wiles has a 1.35 ERA in 20 innings. Freshman Ben Abram went 2-0 with 11 strikeouts in 10 innings last week, allowing a pair of runs on eight hits with no walks.