STARKVILLE — The Oklahoma and Mississippi State baseball teams were in similar situations at the beginning of last week — pretty certain of their status as NCAA tournament teams, but knowing their resumes could still be helped or hurt by their results in the conference tournament.
The Sooners (36-23) went into the Big 12 tournament, without their best hitter and lost another starting outfielder in the tournament. Still, it won two games in Oklahoma City; now it takes that lineup to the Tallahassee Regional to face MSU.
When MSU (31-25) opens that event against Oklahoma at 11 a.m. Friday (ESPNU), it will do so against an impressive lineup currently led by third baseman Brylie Ware. Ware has been the team’s engine in recent days, evidenced by his .326 season batting average and 18 doubles, second best on the team.
“There’s no doubt. He’s a guy that’s been here for two years, he was junior college player of the year as a freshman, so he’s a good player for us,” Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson told The Dispatch. “Tough kid, throwback kid, gets after it.”
Ware has stepped up in the absence of outfielders Steele Walker and Kyler Murray. Walker is the team leader in batting average (.352), on-base percentage (.441), slugging percentage (.606) and home runs (13) and is second with seven stolen bases. He missed the entire Big 12 tournament with an oblique injury. Murray — who could start at quarterback on the football team — left the Big 12 tournament with a hamstring injury, hitting .296 with a .556 slugging percentage and 10 steals.
Johnson may not know if they will play against MSU until the day of the game.
“As far as I know they’re day-to-day. We’re trying to get them back on the field, but they’re day-to-day,” Johnson said.
Ware moved up the 3-hole in the absence of Walker and Murray, but he is not the only one that shuffled in the aftermath. Johnson said Oklahoma got more at-bats out of junior catcher Dominic DeRenzo, junior outfielder Blake Brewster and, the one that made the most of his opportunities, junior infielder Thomas Hughes. Hughes went 4-for-10 (.400) in the Big 12 tournament with a RBI and a walk.
Ware has been particularly useful in these times given his ability to generate consistent contact. Through 224 at-bats in 58 games, he has just 16 walks and 25 strikeouts.
“Why do you swing the bat? It’s to make contact. He gets after it,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s specialty lies in the pitching staff, as he was Oklahoma’s pitching coach for a season before being promoted to head coach. He sees the bullpen as the strength of the team, led by a trio of arms with sub-2.50 earned run averages through 20 or more appearances: junior right-hander Connor Berry, sophomore lefty Braidyn Fink and junior righty Austin Hansen. Hansen has been the workhorse, taking on 32 appearances and 37 2/3 innings with 51 strikeouts. Berry has been used less, 20 times for 18 1/3 innings, but he’s been dominant with a 1.47 ERA.
They have been in support of a strong starting pitching staff led by ace Jake Irvin. In 15 starts, he has taken on 91 2/3 innings with a 2.85 ERA, a walks and hits per inning (WHIP) of 1.003 and 109 strikeouts.
Johnson said Irvin relies on his fastball, slider and changeup but also has a split-finger pitch he uses roughly five percent of the time, primarily when he wants to present something different to get a strikeout.
“He should go into next week’s draft pretty good,” Johnson said of Irvin, who is likely to start against MSU.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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