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College  | Story  | 3/16/2020

Scout Take: Oklahoma

Brian Sakowski     
Photo: Cade Cavalli (OU Athletics)

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Oklahoma Sooners

What Happened: Oklahoma headed into the Shriners College Classic in Houston riding a strong start to the season at 7-2, and took two of the three games at Minute Maid Park to leave at 9-3. They got wins over Arkansas on Friday and LSU on Sunday (thanks in large part to Dane Acker's no-hitter), dropping the middle game in a back-and-forth affair with Missouri on Saturday. They showed flashes of all facets of the team being strong, with really good starting pitching, intriguing bullpen arms and a pretty solid offense that, while inconsistent at times, has firepower. 

Carrying Tool: Team depth. There wasn't one single element of the club to point to as the proverbial "carrying tool," just as there didn't seem to be much of a weakness either. The starting pitching was very strong with Cade Cavalli, Levi Prater and Dane Acker, the bullpen was extremely strong as well with Wyatt Olds and closer Jason Ruffcorn with several others posting just straight 0.00 ERAs. The offense had some streakiness to it but was really hitting its stride, with a good amount of power to it as well with an .822 team OPS, more than enough output to consistently out-pace the run production likely to be allowed by that pitching staff night-in and night-out. 

Concerns: It's tough to pick a concern, honestly. This team was very strong in every facet. Some minor things to note: As good as Cade Cavalli has been, and as high as his draft stock has risen, he still gave up more than a hit per inning. He doesn't walk many, but maybe there's something to monitor there. Peyton Graham had been sensational as a true freshman with a 1.069 OPS, but can he keep that up moving forward? If he would have he would have been headed for Freshman All-American status. This is a really strong team.

Best Player on the Field: It's hard not to go with Dane Acker because he threw a no-hitter against LSU in the Sooners' Sunday victory. He's a good prospect to be sure, but there are guys on the team who have louder profiles including potential top 10 draft pick Cade Cavalli among others. But when you take on a team of LSU's caliber, go toe-to-toe with AJ Labas with dueling zeroes through seven innings and throw 118 pitches en route to a no-hitter, I think you earn the designation at this snapshot in time.

Previous players reports:
Feb. 28: Cade Cavalli, Wyatt Olds
Feb. 29: Levi Prater
March 1: Dane Acker

Players covered: Tyler Hardman, Peyton Graham, Tanner Tredaway, Zack Matthews 



Tyler Hardman, 1B

A well-known prospect during his prep days, Tyler Hardman really blew up in Jupiter of his senior season at the PG WWBA World Championship, where he showed out as one of the top righthanded corner bats. Hardman came into his own at Oklahoma in his sophomore season, OPS'ing .851 and hitting for good extra-base power, and he followed that up with a good summer on the Cape. He's been a bit slower out of the gate in 2020 with a .792 mark, though his home run pace has increased.


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