All Sooners

OU Baseball: Oklahoma Takes Down Ole Miss in Opener

The Sooners weren't great at the plate but got another huge night on the mound from ace Kyson Witherspoon to outlast the Rebels on Friday night.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma Pitcher Kyson Witherspoon
Oklahoma Pitcher Kyson Witherspoon | Carson Field, Sooners on SI

Kyson Witherspoon turned in his best game as a Sooner, and Oklahoma opened its weekend series Friday with a big victory.

OU rode Witherspoon to a 2-0 victory over Ole Miss on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman.

No. 21-ranked Oklahoma improved to 31-13 overall and 12-10 in SEC play, while the No. 18 Rebels fell to 32-14 and 12-10.

Witherspoon threw seven shutout innings and gave up just one hit. He struggled at times with control, as he tied his season high by walking three and hitting three. But he also struck out eight of the 27 batters he faced. 

oklahoma sooners

Witherspoon (8-2) commanded his fastball and slider, throwing 67 of his 103 total pitches for strikes. He also went over 100 strikeouts for the season.

Jason Bodin gave up a single in relief but pitched a scoreless eighth. Closer Dylan Crooks threw the ninth inning and pitched around a two-out, four-pitch walk to earn his 11th save.

The Sooners didn’t get much offense — but with Witherspoon dealing and the bullpen dialed in, they didn’t need to.

OU managed just three singles all night, but scratched across a pair of runs in the fifth inning.

Kyle Branch and Mason Hamlin led off the inning with back-to-back walks. Drew Dickerson laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line and beat the throw to load the bases for Dawson Willis, who reached on a fielder’s choice that forced Dickerson at second but scored Branch.

Trey Gambill then delivered an RBI single to right field to score Hamlin and put the Sooners up 2-0.

Witherspoon only had one 1-2-3 inning all night, but he saved it for the seventh inning.

This weekend marks a rematch of the 2022 CWS Championship Series where the Rebels beat the Sooners in two games for their first national title. Ole Miss comes to Norman for the first time since a two-game series in 1994. The Rebels hold the all-time advantage 6-2 over OU and have won the last four contests against the Sooners.

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.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Baseball