The concept of playing the game of baseball one pitch at a time is both simple and profound. Spend time with Sooner head coach Skip Johnson, and you’ll often hear this philosophy emphasized.
Year after year, Skip Johnson challenges the Oklahoma baseball team to focus on each pitch, staying present in the moment. This message has become a cornerstone of the program, contributing to the team’s ongoing success as a consistent postseason contender.
As the Sooners prepare for the 2025 season and the challenge of the toughest conference in college baseball, a talented pitching staff and a solid core of returning offensive talent has Oklahoma poised to compete at the highest level.
“The game doesn’t care how you feel,” Skip Johnson said. “You can go 0 for 5 or 5 for 5… you just gotta keep playing the game one pitch at a time.”
Last year, during the Sooners’ final season in the Big 12, Oklahoma won the regular season crown, an incredible parting gift as they prepared to move to the SEC.
The Sooners finished one win shy of capturing the Big 12 Tournament title, earning the No. 9-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and returning postseason baseball to L. Dale Mitchell Park for the first time in over a decade.
The Sooners ultimately fell to Connecticut in the Norman Regional after forcing an “if-necessary” game but came up short of the Super Regionals. OU finished its final season in the Big 12 with a 40-21 record.
“Our watermark, what we plan for is to go to Omaha every year, and that’s what we practice every day for, to win the last game of the year,” Skip Johnson said. “We get after it and play hard and that’s what we’re about.”
The Sooners have made the postseason in each of the last three seasons, including a trip to Omaha in 2022 that ended in the Championship Series of the College World Series. As other programs pursued the Sooner skipper, this offseason Skip Johnson renewed his commitment to Oklahoma, thanks to a commitment from the administration and the Kimrey family.
The Sooners received a $20 million donation to the baseball and football programs, the largest in the history of the baseball program. The donation, from Bartlesville residents Brian and Kim Kimrey, came just weeks after the Sooners joined the SEC and days after Skip Johnson signed a new deal with the Sooners.
“It’s a partnership… with the Kimrey family,” Johnson said. “What they’ve done is incredible and we’ve got to continue to get our facility a lot better. That’s going to be the biggest deal going forward, we’re going to be playing in these nice facilities and if we want to be like those guys, we need to recruit to those facilities as well.
“We’ve got to continue trying to raise money to build our facilities because we are the University of Oklahoma. We’ve got to act like that, we’ve got to practice like that, we’ve got to have facilities like that, if we’re going to go all-in, let’s go all-in.”
The Sooners have gone all in as they prepare to compete in the most challenging conference in college baseball.
“We couldn’t be more excited as a group,” Sooner standout Scott Mudler said of the move to the SEC. “This is what you play for. You want to be on the biggest stage, you want to play against the best talent in the world. The SEC, there is no doubt it’s the best conference in the country for baseball. The home series are going to be great for the fans.”
The SEC is loaded with tradition and talent. Georgia was the first SEC team to dogpile in Omaha in 1990 against Oklahoma State. Then one year later LSU won its first of five national championship titles under then-coach Skip Bertman.
Since 2010, the SEC has won eight of the last 13 CWS championship series. 14 SEC teams have appeared in the CWS championship series —finishing either as the national champion or runner-up — in the last 15 years. Since 1990, eight different SEC teams have won a National Championship.
It’s deep, it’s talented, it’s challenging. But the Sooners know the approach – one pitch at a time.
“It’s still business as usual. It’s still 60 feet 6 inches and the bases are 90 feet,” Skip Johnson said. “The difference is going to be in the environment. You’re going to be in a football type environment in a baseball setting.”
The Sooners enter 2025 with plenty of momentum. As has been the case in recent years, the team’s strength should come on the mound, led by twin right-handed prospects Kyson and Malachi Witherspoon. The development of LSU transfer lefty Cameron Johnson under the tutelage of Skip Johnson will be a key factor in the OU rotation.
The Sooners have plenty of other arms, including the likes of JUCO transfers LHP Cade Crossland, RHP Dylan Tate and LHP Beau Sampson. Also returning for the Sooners are senior right-handed pitchers Dylan Crooks and Reid Hensley and sophomore RHP Jacob Gholston.
Newcomers like Cameron Johnson have a chance to make an impact in 2025. Out of high school, he was ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 2 left-handed pitcher and the No. 11 overall player in the nation. He was ranked as the No. 42 overall prospect in the nation entering the June 2023 Draft by MLB Pipeline.
“We have a ton of new guys in the locker room. There are so many that can come in and make a big impact,” Scott Mudler said. “Cam Johnson is a big-time lefty that can really help us out. He’s had experience in the SEC.”
The strength of the pitching staff is in the returning foundation, including the Witherspoon twins. The breakout star of 2024 might have been Kyson Witherspoon. The transfer from Northwest Florida State College excelled in his first season in a Sooner uniform. He was selected as a USA Baseball Collegiate National Team member and named a Midseason All-American by Perfect Game.
Kyson Witherspoon led OU with a 3.71 ERA in 80.0 IP and registered an 8-3 record. Notching 90 strikeouts to 40 walks, he combined one shutout and earned one save finishing with a 6-1 record in conference play with 57 strikeouts to 21 walks.
“He’s done a great job. His competitive spirit and his poise are what make him so good,” Skip Johnson said.
His twin brother Malachi Witherspoon also played for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and stepped up as the Sooner closer. Overall, he made 21 appearances on the mound primarily in the closer role, leading the team with five saves.
Offensively in 2025, the Sooners will have a much different look with several new faces. The OU lineup that was an absolute machine last season will be replacing some big names such as right fielder Bryce Madron, first baseman Michael Snyder, third baseman Anthony Mackenzie and left fielder Kendall Pettis. Add to the mix John Spikerman and Jackson Nicklaus and the Sooners will be replacing six of the nine starters.
OU does return 2024 NCBWA All-American junior catcher Easton Carmichael, sophomore all-conference infielder Jaxon Willits, sophomore outfielder Jason Walk and senior catcher Scott Mudler.
During the fall, the offense was sparked by Carmichael, Walk and Dasan Harris, an impressive surprise as Harris saw limited action in 2024 behind a veteran outfield. JUCO transfers Dawson Willis (INF) and Brandon Cain (OF) showed they should be in the starting mix with their speed and defensive abilities.
With all the new faces, the fall was a learning process to prepare the team.
“We lost a lot and brought a lot of guys in,” Skip Johnson said. “Whether it’s when we show up at the ballpark to how hard we practice, all those little details, we have great leadership to help us along and let them know how we’re going to handle our business.”
One pitch at a time, one practice at a time, one day at a time. That mentality sounds so easy, but as Oklahoma prepares for a ton of “new” in 2025, the consistency of its coaching staff and their approach breeds confidence among its players.
“All the coaches on our staff have a little different way of coaching, but when it’s not time for baseball, we can talk to any of the coaches about anything,” Mudler said of the coaching staff. “They love having a good time and they love cracking jokes.
“But when it’s time to play baseball, they know exactly how to get that fire into us. They turn it up a notch. Motivating the players is the biggest thing they do.
By Chris Plank
