Sooners open series against Wildcats
Oklahoma opened its three-game series against Kansas State on Friday night in Norman.
— One day, one game doesn’t cure a slump.
But in the opener of a three-game series against Kansas State on Friday, Oklahoma did the things it needed to do to start working its way out of a three-week funk.
The Sooners’ bats came alive, and starting pitcher Jake Irvin once again looked like the ace of the pitching staff.
Oklahoma blasted the Wildcats 12-0 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
In last weekend’s sweep at the hands of Oklahoma State, the Sooners scored just three runs total.
They’d surpassed that total by the end of Friday night’s second inning.
Oklahoma (29-18, 11-8 Big 12) grabbed the lead in the first on Kyler Murray’s sacrifice fly after back-to-back, one-out hits, including a double by Steele Walker.
Irvin was coming off his first loss of the season and hadn’t earned a win in more than a month.
But after a leadoff walk, he set the tone with three consecutive strikeouts.
Irvin finished having thrown six shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out 10 to improve to 6-1 and lower his ERA to 3.05.
Kansas State junior pitcher Gabe Littlejim, who is from nearby Little Axe and starred at Christian Heritage Academy in Del City, had a rough outing out of the bullpen.
Littlejim pitched just two-thirds of an inning, allowing four hits — including Murray’s two-run home run — and four unearned runs.
The home run was Murray’s seventh of the season.
He finished 2 for 4 with a career-high tying four RBIs.
The series resumes at 2 p.m. Saturday, with a change on the mound.
For the first time this season, a pitcher other than Devon Perez will start the middle game of a three-game series as freshman Levi Prater gets his first start.
“Levi is probably going to be a starter in the future for us,” OU coach Skip Johnson said. “We have three weeks left if we’re going to make him into the starter. We’ve built him to 50-60 (pitches).
“Now let’s jump it up to 60 or 70 pitches and see if he can handle that. Do I think he’ll be a starter the rest of the year? I don’t know that. I’m going to try to do it next weekend and try to give him an opportunity.”
After last Saturday’s 10-1 loss in Bedlam, Johnson said Perez was pressing. Removing him from the rotation, in addition to preparing Prater for an expanded role, is also about giving Perez a break mentally.
“He doesn’t have to think he has to go out and win the baseball game,” Johnson said. “The quicker we can get his mind off thinking about the result (the better).
“He’s very competitive. He’s a kid that overtries. He’s real emotional. That’s what we’re trying to get him back to being him.”