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OU Baseball: Oklahoma Sweeps Doubleheader With Another Rout of Lehigh

The Sooners got some more big numbers on offense, but Skip Johnson really loved getting to debut big southpaw Cameron Johnson.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma catcher Easton Carmichael
Oklahoma catcher Easton Carmichael | STEVE SISNEY / USA TODAY NETWORK

On a brisk Valentine’s Night at L. Dale Mitchell Park, Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson gave Sooner Nation a gift they’re going to absolutely love.

Johnson unwrapped his present on Friday night — 6-foot-6, 256-pound, flame-throwing left-hander Cameron Johnson — as OU closed out a season-opening, doubleheader sweep of Lehigh with a 13-3 run-rule victory over the Mountain Hawks.

Cam Johnson, a sophomore from Maryland, was one of the prize transfers in all of college baseball this season. As a high school recruit at IMG Academy in Florida, Johnson was rated by Perfect Game as the No. 2 left-handed high school pitcher in the country and the No. 11-ranked overall prep recruit. He was picked in the 20th round by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2023 MLB Draft.

After pitching just nine innings last year as a true freshman at LSU — he struck out 12, walked 16 and posted a 12.00 ERA in 13 appearances — he transferred to OU. 

Friday night in Norman, Johnson hit 97 mph out of the gate and needed just nine pitches to get through his first inning in Crimson and Cream. He recorded his first strikeout as a Sooner to open the second inning, but got into trouble to start the third when he gave up two singles and three walks that produced two Lehigh runs.

Johnson quickly regained control and finished the fifth inning, giving up two runs on two hits and five walks with three strikeouts and one wild pitch. He faced 20 batters, didn’t give up an extra base hit and threw 71 pitches with 38 strikes.

Meanwhile, the Sooners’ bats stayed hot against the Mountain Hawks. Catcher Easton Carmichael had three hits, including a home run, and five RBIs, while center fielder Jason Walk had three hits and left fielder Trey Gambill had two. Gambill finished the twin bill with nine plate appearances and reached base all nine times: four hits, three walks and two hit-by-pitch. After stealing six bases in Friday’s season opener, Oklahoma added nine steals in the nightcap and is now 15-of-15 on the young season.

The Sooners improved to 2-0, while Lehigh is 0-2.

OU won the first game 11-3 behind a strong start from ace Kyson Witherspoon — and plenty of offensive fireworks. The teams rematch in the series finale on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Oklahoma got on the scoreboard early as shortstop Jaxon Willits led off with a one-out error and hustled his way to second base. Carmichael singled to right to send Willits home and stake the Sooners to a 1-0 lead. 

Carmichael then stole second, and after right fielder Sam Christiansen walked, third baseman Dawson Willis roped an RBI single into center field that put OU up 2-0. 

Willis then stole second, and he advanced to third as Carmichael jogged home on the high throw to second, giving the Sooners a 3-0 edge.  First baseman Dayton Tockey’s sacrifice fly to center scored Willis and made it 4-0.

Walk and Willits each walked to start the second inning, and Carmichael hammered the next pitch deep over the fence and off the left field foul pole for a three-run home run and a 7-0 Oklahoma lead.

OU baseball
Final box | OU Stats

Lehigh cut it 7-2 in the third as Johnson wobbled a bit in his first collegiate start. But after loading the bases with the two hits, three walks and a fielder’s choice, he cleaned up his own mess by inducing a ground ball double play, then pitched around baserunners in both the fourth and fifth innings.

Gambill’s leadoff walk to start the bottom of the third was paid off when he swiped second and then scored on Scott Mudler’s RBI single up the middle that extended OU’s lead to 8-2. 

Second baseman Kyle Branch walked and Walk beat out an infield single to load the bases with one out in the third, but the Sooners couldn’t extend the lead. OU also left the bases loaded in the fifth.

Walk opened the seventh with a walk and took second on a balk, then moved to third on Willits’ groundout to second base. Carmichael brought Walk home with a double down the left field line that made it 9-2.

Lehigh got a run back in the eighth as Jake Whitlinger greeted reliever Reid Hensley with a single and then scored on Edwin Betances’ double down the left field line. But Hensley struck out two batters looking with a big curveball, and Walk finished the inning with a sliding catch in right-center field.

The Sooners made it 11-3 in the eighth as Mudler reached on a fielder’s choice, Branch blooped a single to center, Mudler came home on a wild pitch, and Walk again hustled two bases from a fielding error at second base that allowed Branch to score from third.

Pinch-hitter Christian Hoffman’s two-run double to the gap in right-center made it a 10-run deficit and finished off the game via run-rule.

After closing out opening weekend on Saturday, the Sooners play UT-Arlington on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field, then gather at Dell Diamond in Round Rock, TX, for three games next weekend against Minnesota, Oregon State and Virginia.

Published | Modified
John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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