2023 Oklahoma Sooners baseball team

The 2023 Oklahoma Sooners baseball team represented the University of Oklahoma during the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Sooners played their home games at L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park as a member of the Big 12 Conference. They were led by head coach Skip Johnson, in his 6th season at Oklahoma.

2023 Oklahoma Sooners baseball
Charlottesville Regional, 1–2
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	32–28 (11–13 Big 12)
Head coach	Skip Johnson (6th season)
Associate head coach	Reggie Willits (2nd season)
Assistant coaches	Clay Overcash (6th season) Russell Raley (1st season)
Home stadium	L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park
Seasons ← 2022 2024 →

2023 Big 12 Conference baseball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 14 Texas ‍†‍‍y	15	–	9		.625			42	–	22		.656
Oklahoma State ‍†‍‍y	15	–	9		.625			41	–	20		.672
West Virginia ‍†‍‍y	15	–	9		.625			40	–	20		.667
No. 5 TCU ‍‍‡‍y	13	–	11		.542			44	–	24		.647
Kansas State ‍‍‍	13	–	11		.542			35	–	24		.593
Texas Tech ‍‍‍y	12	–	12		.500			41	–	23		.641
Oklahoma ‍‍‍y	11	–	13		.458			32	–	28		.533
Kansas ‍‍‍	8	–	16		.333			25	–	32		.439
Baylor ‍‍‍	6	–	18		.250			20	–	35		.364
† – Conference champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 25, 2023[1] Rankings from D1baseball

Previous season

The Sooners finished the 2022–23 season with a 45–24 overall record and a 15–9 record in Big 12 play. Coming in as the third-seed in the 2022 Big 12 Conference baseball tournament, the Sooners defeated their longtime rivals fifth-seeded Texas to win their third Big 12 conference tournament championship. Receiving an automatic bid for the 2022 NCAA Division I baseball tournament, the Sooners defeated Liberty, Florida, and Virginia Tech in the Blacksburg Super Regional. In the 2022 College World Series, the Sooners defeated Texas A&M in the first round and the semifinals, Notre Dame in the second round, before falling to Ole Miss in the finals, losing both games.^[2]

Offseason

Departures

Outgoing transfers

Player	Position	Height	Year	New team	Ref.
Ben Abram	RHP	6'7"	Redshirt junior	Oklahoma State	[3]
Keegan Allen	RHP/OF	6'0"	Freshman	West Virginia	[4]
Cade Brown	RHP	6'4"	Redshirt junior	Murray State	[5]
Luke Carrell	LHP	6'2"	Freshman	Northwest Florida State	[6]
Brock Daniels	INF	6'1"	Freshman	Missouri	[7]
Luc Fladda	LHP	6'1"	Freshman	Johnson County	[8]
Mason Lowe	INF	5'11"	Redshirt junior	Central Missouri	[9]
Brayden Luikart	LHP/OF	6'0"	Freshman	Johnson County	[10]
Max McGwire	INF	6'2"	Freshman	San Diego	[11]
Hudson Polk	C	6'1"	Sophomore	Arkansas	[12]
Creed Watkins	RHP	6'5"	Redshirt sophomore	NC State	[13]

See also: 2022 MLB draft

Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Height	Team	Ref.
1	7	Cade Horton	IF/RHP	6'1"	Chicago Cubs	[14]
2	45	Jake Bennett	LHP	6'6"	Washington Nationals
2	51	Peyton Graham	INF	6'4"	Detroit Tigers
4	127	Jimmy Crooks	C	6'0"	St. Louis Cardinals
7	224	Blake Robertson	INF	6'5"	Tampa Bay Rays
10	290	Tanner Tredaway	OF	6'0"	Pittsburgh Pirates
10	297	Trevin Michael	RHP	6'2"	Detroit Tigers
11	325	David Sandlin	RHP	6'4"	Kansas City Royals
17	505	Chazz Martinez	LHP/OF	6'3"	Kansas City Royals
18	536	Javier Ramos	RHP	6'6"	Colorado Rockies
19	579	Jaret Godman	RHP	6'1"	Boston Red Sox
Undrafted
		Brett Squires	IF/OF	6'3"	Kansas City Royals	[15]

Cade Horton, Jake Bennett, and Peyton Graham's draft selections marked the first time the Sooners ever had three players selected in the first two rounds of the MLB draft. Under head coach Skip Johnson, the Sooners have produced three first-round draft picks in five years with Horton being selected seventh overall. Horton became the Sooner's highest draft pick since Jon Gray in 2013.^[16]

Additions

Incoming transfers

Player	Position	Height	Year	Former team	Ref.
Blake Bales	RHP	6'5"	Graduate student	Virginia	[17]
Will Carsten	RHP	6'7"	Junior	McLennan	[18]
Kale Davis	RHP	6'3"	Redshirt junior	Oklahoma State	[19]
Braxton Douthit	RHP	5'10"	Graduate student	Lamar	[20]
Dakota Harris	IF	6'0"	Junior	Polk State	[21]
Gray Harrison	RHP	6'1"	Junior	McLennan	[22]
James Hitt	LHP	6'0"	Redshirt sophomore	Texas Tech	[23]
Anthony Mackenzie	IF	5'11"	Junior	Sam Houston	[24]
Bryce Madron	OF	5'8"	Junior	Cowley	[25]
Peyton Olejnik	RHP	6'9"	Sophomore	Triton	[26]
Carson Pierce	RHP	6'3"	Junior	Cowley	[27]
Mason Strong	C	5'11"	Sophomore	BYU	[28]
Gray Thomas	RHP	6'3"	Sophomore	TCU	[29]
Adam Walker	RHP	6'2"	Junior	Dodge City	[30]
Aaron Weber	RHP	6'4"	Sophomore	Cowley	[31]

Incoming recruits

Player	Position	Height	Hometown	High school	Ref.
Easton Carmichael	C	6'1"	Prosper, Texas	Prosper High School	[32]
Camden Chalfant	RHP	6'1"	Edmond, Oklahoma	Edmond Memorial High School	[33]
Patrick Engskov	IF	6'0"	Little Rock, Arkansas	Pulaski Academy	[34]
Rocco Garza-Gongora	OF/1B	6'2"	Laredo, Texas	John B. Alexander High School	[35]
Julien Hachem	LHP	6'7"	Oak Park, Illinois	Mount Carmel High School	[36]
Gabe Murrell	RHP	6'1"	Edmond, Oklahoma	Edmond North High School	[37]
Caden Powell	IF	6'2"	Clinton, Oklahoma	Clinton High School	[38]
Carson Turnquist	RHP	6'5"	Paso Robles, California	Paso Robles High School	[39]
Eric Van Valkenburg	RHP	6'2"	Solana Beach, California	Torrey Pines High School	[40]
Tavion Vaughns	OF	6'1"	Grand Prairie, Texas	Cedar Hill High School	[41]

Preseason

Big 12 media poll Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place) 1 TCU 61 (5) 2 Oklahoma State 59 (4) 3 Texas Tech 48 4 Texas 43 5 Oklahoma 38 6 West Virginia 28 7 Kansas State 17 8 Kansas 16 9 Baylor 14 Source: 2023 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Poll

Preseason Big 12 Awards Position Player Class All-Big 12 Team Jackson Nicklaus IF Sophomore John Spikerman OF Sophomore Source: 2023 Big 12 Baseball Preseason Awards

Roster and personnel

Roster Oklahoma Sooners Roster[42]   Pitchers 13 – Peyton Olejnik – Sophomore (6'9", 174) 17 – Aaron Calhoun – Sophomore (5'10", 165) 21 – Carson Pierce – Junior (6'3", 215) 22 – Aaron Weber – Sophomore (6'4", 222) 23 – Braxton Douthit – Graduate (5'10", 200) 29 – Jett Lodes – Junior (5'10", 172) 32 – Colton Sundloff – Sophomore (6'5", 200) 34 – Carson Atwood – Junior (6'0", 195) 35 – Gray Thomas – Sophomore (6'3", 212) 37 – Carson Turnquist – Freshman (6'5", 224) 40 – Kale Davis – RS Junior (6'3", 217) 41 – Gray Harrison – Junior (6'1", 165) 45 – Will Carsten – Junior (6'7", 226) 50 – Gabe Murrell – Freshman (6'1", 178) 52 – Griffin Miller – RS Senior (6'2", 187) 55 – Adam Walker – Junior (6'2", 184) 58 – Camden Chalfant – Freshman (6'1", 204) 99 – Eric Van Valkenburg – Freshman (6'2", 189)   Catchers 2 – Easton Carmichael – Freshman (6'1", 189) 19 – Mason Strong – Sophomore (5'11", 183)' 31 Kade Fletcher – RS Junior (6'1", 196)' Infielders 3 – Anthony Mackenzie – Junior (5'11", 182) 6 – Wallace Clark – Sophomore (6'0", 192) 9 – Patrick Engskov – Freshman (6'0", 182) 10 – Dakota Harris – Junior (6'0", 197) 15 – Jackson Nicklaus – Sophomore (6'0", 182) 18 – Caden Powell – Freshman (6'2", 208) Outfielders 7 – Kendall Pettis – RS Junior (5'11", 190) 8 – John Spikerman – Sophomore (6'0", 177) 11 – Sebastian Orduno – RS Junior (5'10", 190) 12 – Bryce Madron – Junior (5'8", 175) 16 – Tavion Vaughns – Freshman (6'1", 208) 20 – Rocco Garza-Gongora – Freshman (6'2", 167) Utility Players 1 – Diego Muniz – 5th (5'8", 205)

Personnel Oklahoma Sooners Coaching Staff[43]   Skip Johnson – Head coach Reggie Willits – Associate head coach Clay Overcash – Assistant coach Russell Raley – Volunteer assistant Ryan Gaines – Director of operations Britt Bonneau – Director of player development Reggie Willits was promoted to associate head coach after joining the Sooners staff as a volunteer assistant during the 2022 season.[44] After five seasons as an assistant coach for the Sooners, Clay Van Hook was named head coach of the UT Arlington baseball program.[45]

Schedule

2023 Oklahoma Baseball Game Log
Legend:        = Win        = Loss        = Canceled      Bold = Oklahoma team member
Regular Season (30–24)
February (4–4) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record Big 12 Record Sources Feb. 17 3:00 pm ESPN+ vs. California Baptist* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 5–2 Davis (1–0) Mattox (0–1) Calhoun (1) 1,405 1–0 — Stats Recap Feb. 18 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. California Baptist* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 2–5 Downer (1–0) Harrison (0–1) Olsen (1) 1,261 1–1 — Stats Recap Feb. 19 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. California Baptist* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 3–6 Wilson (1–0) Calhoun (0–1) Delgado (1) 1,635 1–2 — Stats Feb. 20 3:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Air Force* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 8–6 Pierce (1–0) Peters (0–1) – 1,250 2–2 — Stats Recap Feb. 22 6:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Abilene Christian* — Globe Life Field Arlington, TX L 3–4 Huffling (1–0) Thomas (0–1) – — 2–3 — Stats Recap Feb. 24 3:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Rider* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 3–6 Sachais (2–1) Campbell (0–1) Kirwin (2) 377 2–4 — Stats Recap Feb. 25 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Rider* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 7–2 Carsten (1–0) Doelling (1–1) Pierce (1) 378 3–4 — Stats Recap Feb. 26 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Rider* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 11–1 Douthit (1–0) Young (0–1) – 908 4–4 — Stats Recap March (10–9) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record Big 12 Record Sources Mar. 1 6:30 pm — vs. UT Arlington* — Clay Gould Ballpark Arlington, TX Canceled due to weather and field conditions.[46] Mar. 3 2:00 pm D1Baseball vs. California* — Dr. Pepper Ballpark Frisco, TX W 9–5 — 5–4 — Stats Mar. 4 1:00 pm D1Baseball vs. Mississippi State* — Dr. Pepper Ballpark Frisco, TX W 15–9 — 6–4 — Stats Recap Mar. 5 3:00 pm D1Baseball vs. Ohio State* — Dr. Pepper Ballpark Frisco, TX L 9–12 — 6–5 — Stats Recap Mar. 7 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. UNLV* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 11–6 301 7–5 — Stats Recap Mar. 8 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. UNLV* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 8–7 304 8–5 — Stats Recap Mar. 10 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Houston* — Schroeder Park Houston, TX W 13–1 1,150 9–5 — Stats Recap Mar. 11 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Houston* — Schroeder Park Houston, TX W 8–3 1,483 10–5 — Stats Mar. 12 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Houston* — Schroeder Park Houston, TX W 7–6 1,439 11–5 — Stats Recap Mar. 14 6:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Wichita State* — Eck Stadium Wichita, KS L 2–6 1,784 11–6 — Stats Recap Mar. 17 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. TCU — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 5–13 1,591 11–7 0–1 Stats Recap Mar. 18 4:00 pm ESPN+ vs. TCU — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 3–1 1,704 12–7 1–1 Stats Recap Mar. 19 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. TCU — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 7–5 1,479 13–7 2–1 Stats Recap Mar. 21 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Dallas Baptist* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 6–8 1,093 13–8 — Stats Recap Mar. 24 6:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas State — Tointon Family Manhattan, KS L 1–7 1,389 13–9 2–2 Stats Recap Mar. 25 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas State — Tointon Family Manhattan, KS L 6–7 1,626 13–10 2–3 Stats Recap Mar. 26 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas State — Tointon Family Manhattan, KS L 7–8 1,337 13–11 2–4 Stats Recap Mar. 28 6:00 pm — vs. Wichita State* — Riverfront Stadium Wichita, KS L 7–8 2,094 13–12 Stats Recap Mar. 30 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Stanford* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 11–23 1,434 13–13 Stats Recap Mar. 31 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Stanford* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 2–0 1,669 14–13 Stats Recap April (10–7) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record Big 12 Record Sources Apr. 1 4:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Stanford* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 6–5 2,031 15–13 — Stats Recap Apr. 2 1:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Stanford* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 5–16 1,604 15–14 — Stats Recap Apr. 4 6:00 pm — vs. Oral Roberts* — J. L. Johnson Stadium Tulsa, OK W 12–2 1,941 16–14 — Stats Recap Apr. 6 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Baylor — Baylor Ballpark Waco, TX L 6–10 1,619 16–15 2—5 Stats Recap Apr. 7 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Baylor — Baylor Ballpark Waco, TX W 6–3 1,835 17–15 3—5 Stats Recap Apr. 8 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Baylor — Baylor Ballpark Waco, TX L 3–5 2,176 17–16 3—6 Stats Recap Apr. 11 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Wichita State* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 8–1 1,751 18–16 — Stats Recap Apr. 14 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Texas Tech — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 7–13 2,577 18–17 3—7 Stats Recap Apr. 15 4:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Texas Tech — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 5–9 3,074 18–18 3—8 Stats Recap Apr. 16 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Texas Tech — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 12–2 2,426 19–18 4—8 Stats Recap Bedlam Series Apr. 18 6:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State* — O'Brate Stadium Stillwater, OK L 8–19 6,769 19–19 – Stats Recap Apr. 21 7:00 pm LHN vs. Texas — UFCU Disch–Falk Field Austin, TX W 2–1 7,156 20–19 5—8 Stats Recap Apr. 22 2:30 pm LHN vs. Texas — UFCU Disch–Falk Field Austin, TX W 9–6 7,345 21–19 6—8 Stats Recap Apr. 22 6:30 pm LHN vs. Texas — UFCU Disch–Falk Field Austin, TX W 6–4 7,887 22–19 7—8 Stats Recap Apr. 25 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Oral Roberts* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK Canceled due to inclement weather.[47] Apr. 28 12:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 2–8 501 22–20 7—9 Stats Recap Apr. 29 3:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 11–6 1,876 23–20 8—9 Stats Recap Apr. 30 2:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Kansas — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 7–4 1,894 24–20 9—9 Stats Recap May (6–4) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Rank Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attendance Overall Record Big 12 Record Sources May. 2 6:30 pm — vs. Dallas Baptist* — Horner Ballpark Dallas, TX W 10–7 1,452 25–20 — Stats Recap May. 5 5:30 pm ESPN+ vs. West Virginia — Monongalia County Ballpark Morgantown, WV L 3–9 3,411 25–21 9—10 Stats Recap May. 6 3:00 pm ESPN+ vs. West Virginia — Monongalia County Ballpark Morgantown, WV W 6–3 4,387 26–21 10—10 Stats Recap May. 7 10:00 am ESPN+ vs. West Virginia — Monongalia County Ballpark Morgantown, WV L 3–9 2,873 26–22 10—11 Stats Recap May. 12 8:00 pm WCCTV vs. Gonzaga* — Patterson BB Complex Spokane, WA W 5–2 1,196 27–22 — Stats Recap May. 13 8:00 pm WCCTV vs. Gonzaga* — Patterson BB Complex Spokane, WA W 19–12 1,315 28–22 — Stats Recap May. 14 5:00 pm WCCTV vs. Gonzaga* — Patterson BB Complex Spokane, WA W 9–1 884 29–22 — Stats Recap May. 16 — — vs. UT Arlington* — Mitchell Park Norman, OK Mutually agreed to cancel.[48] May. 18 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 2–13 2,571 29–23 10—12 Stats Recap May. 19 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State — Mitchell Park Norman, OK W 5–0 3,044 30–23 11—12 Stats Recap May. 20 4:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State — Mitchell Park Norman, OK L 1–11 3,371 30–24 11—13 Stats Recap
Postseason (1–2)
Big 12 Tournament (1–2) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Seed Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attend Overall Record Tourney Record Sources May. 24 4:00 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State — Globe Life Field Arlington, TX W 9–5 Hitt (6—1) Benge (2—2) Campbell (2) — 31–24 — Stats Recap May. 25 7:30 pm ESPNU vs. Texas Tech — Globe Life Field Arlington, TX L 9–10 Sanders (3—1) Douthit (4—6) — — 31–25 — Stats Recap May. 26 6:30 pm ESPN+ vs. Oklahoma State — Globe Life Field Arlington, TX L 3–8 Abram (8—2) Carsten (1—3) — — 31–26 — Stats Recap NCAA Tournament: Charlottesville Super Regional (1–2) Date Time (CT) TV Opponent Seed Stadium Score Win Loss Save Attend Overall Record Tourney Record Sources Jun. 2 6:00 pm ESPN2 vs. East Carolina — Disharoon Park Charlottesville, VA L 5–14 Yesavage (7–1) Carmichael (7–1) — 4,391 31–27 0–1 Stats Recap Jun. 3 11:00 am ESPN vs. Army — Disharoon Park Charlottesville, VA W 10–1 Douthit (5–6) Ruggieri (9–2) — 4,054 32–27 1–1 Stats Recap Jun. 4 12:00 pm ESPN+ vs. East Carolina — Disharoon Park Charlottesville, VA L 5–8 Ginn (6–0) Hitt (6–2) — 3,985 32–28 1–2 Stats Recap
* indicates a non-conference game.

Statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	AB	At-bats
H	Hits	Avg.	Batting average	2B	Doubles
3B	Triples	HR	Home runs	RBI	Runs batted in
IP	Innings pitched	W	Wins	L	Losses
ERA	Earned run average	SO	Strikeouts	BB	Base on balls
SV	Saves	SB	Stolen bases	High	Team high

Individual batting

A darker background denotes not meeting the minimum requirement of 2 PA/G and 75% of games played

Player	GP	AB	Avg.	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
Dakota Harris	46	186	.328	61	12	1	7	48	19	37	5
Bryce Madron	60	219	.320	70	15	3	12	51	61	36	15
Kendall Pettis	54	178	.309	55	6	3	1	24	36	35	17
Anthony Mackenzie	60	242	.306	74	9	1	6	41	39	53	21
Easton Carmichael	51	193	.306	59	8	4	6	48	13	44	4
Rocco Garza-Gongora	51	164	.293	48	6	1	3	27	15	44	4
John Spikerman	60	222	.270	60	14	1	3	33	49	53	27
Wallace Clark	47	139	.237	33	8	2	1	18	31	31	4
Jackson Nicklaus	59	197	.234	46	9	3	6	39	51	78	9
Diego Muniz	37	111	.270	30	6	0	1	17	15	24	4
Caden Powell	16	35	.257	9	4	0	0	3	2	14	0
Sebastian Orduno	38	93	.226	21	3	0	1	8	19	20	3
Patrick Engskov	11	10	.200	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	1
Mason Strong	8	8	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Kade Fletcher	3	1	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Source: 2023 Baseball Cumulative Statistics