Oklahoma
OU Baseball: Oklahoma Wilts as North Carolina Overpowers OU Ace
Oklahoma’s Witherspoon brothers reversed roles this weekend in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 3 starter Malachi Witherspoon, who posted a 1-8 record in SEC play with a 6.08 earned run average, dominated Nebraska on Friday night at the Chapel Hill Regional.
Then ace Kyson Witherspoon, who went 5-3 against the Southeastern Conference with a 2.98 ERA, was rocked for six unearned runs in the first inning against host North Carolina on Saturday.
Baseball can be weird sometimes.
Kyson Witherspoon’s early struggles against the Tar Heels eventually became an 11-5 Sooner loss at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, as the No. 5 national seed Tar Heels rolled to an easy victory.
OU fell to 36-21 on the season, while UNC improved to 44-12.
The No. 2-seed Sooners now face elimination Sunday in an 11 a.m. CT rematch with Nebraska. OU beat the 3-seed Cornhuskers 7-4 in their first-round game on Friday after jumping on top 7-0. The Tar Heels await the survivor of that contest Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. Nebraska eliminated 4-seed Holy Cross 4-1 on Saturday morning.
After OU left a runner in scoring position in the top of the first, North Carolina most certainly did not in the bottom of the first.
Kane Kepley reached on what would become a fatal error by Dawson Willis, but Witherspoon quickly retired the next two hitters.
That would be the Sooners’ only highlight early.
Two-out singles from Gavin Gallaher, Hunter Stokely, Alex Madera and Tyson Bass staked UNC to a 3-0 lead — all unearned due to the error at third base.
That’s when right fielder Sam Angelo broke it open with a three-run home run to left field that made it 6-0.
“Just figuring out what we’re doing,” OU coach Skip Johnson said during a fourth-inning in-game interview with the ESPN broadcast crew. “If we play good catch in the first inning, I think he throws six pitches. They took the momentum and we’ve gotta get some momentum back.”
Witherspoon’s previous season high for runs allowed — for an entire game — was four (twice). The Tar Heels scored six in their first eight batters.
His previous season-high for hits allowed was six (four times), but UNC had seven after loading the bases again in the second inning.
The Sooners were chasing the scoreboard rest of the night, and that was a tough task against Carolina hurler Jason DeCaro, who came into the weekend with a 10-4 record and a 3.42 ERA. DeCaro went six innings, allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out eight while walking none.
UNC added a run in the fourth to make it 7-0 on Gallaher’s RBI single to score Kepley, but things got really out of hand in the fifth.
Bass and Angelo hammered back-to-back solo home runs to extend the Tar Heels’ lead to 9-0 and end Witherspoon’s night.
Witherspoon hadn’t given up more than one home run in a game all season, but he served up three on this night. His four-inning start also tied his shortest outing of the season (he threw four innings at Alabama on March 28).
Witherspoon finished the night yielding a season-high 10 hits and nine runs — three earned — and tied both his season-low with just four strikeouts and his season-high with three walks.
“Kyson’s been really good for us all year,” Johnson said.
The Sooners finally answered with a pair of runs in the sixth on Sam Christiansen’s RBI double and Kyle Branch’s RBI groundout.
But North Carolina answered immediately with a run in the bottom of the inning when Gavyn Jones gave up a hit batter, a wild pitch and an RBI single by Madera to make it 10-2.
OU plated another run when Drew Dickerson opened the seventh with a single, advanced on back-to-back ground-ball outs and came home on Trey Gambill’s RBI single up the middle to cut it to 10-3.
Again, however, the Tar Heels answered when Beau Sampson walked Angelo to lead off, then misfired a pair of wild pitches and eventually gave up an RBI single to Carter French for an 11-3 lead.
OU made it 11-4 in the eighth when Christiansen drew a one-out walked, took second on a passed ball and scored on Dasan Harris’ RBI single to left.
Jaxson Willits make it 11-5 in the ninth when he delivered an RBI single to score Jason Walk.
Left hander Cameron Johnson came in to pitch the eighth for OU. Johnson, a weekend starter over the first seven weeks of the season after transferring from LSU, hadn’t made an appearance on the mound since April 13 and had only thrown 20 innings total in 2025.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Ford Sports Blitz: Mar. 1, 2026
Steve McGehee reports live from Paycom Center with the latest on SGA’s return after missing nine games, the Thunder’s push to hold the top spot in the Western Conference, and what getting healthy means for OKC’s title hopes.
Oklahoma
How Oklahoma GM Jim Nagy ‘Put More Around’ John Mateer During Offseason
Oklahoma general manager Jim Nagy experienced great success during his first year in Norman.
Nagy, who joined OU’s staff in February 2025, oversaw the Sooners’ scouting staff as Oklahoma reached the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019. He also helped OU sign a top-15 2026 recruiting class and land several key transfer portal players after the 2025 season.
Though the wins outweighed the losses in Nagy’s first year, the Sooners’ general manager knew that there was much to fortify during the offseason.
Oklahoma’s offense sputtered late in the season, as the Sooners scored fewer than 25 points in each of their last four games.
For Nagy, a major focus was surrounding OU quarterback John Mateer with quality talent.
“(We wanted to) just really put more around John Mateer,” Nagy said on The Dari Nowkhah Show on KREF on Friday.
Nagy and his scouting team added plenty of pieces from the portal that should elevate Oklahoma’s offense.
The Sooners signed three portal wideouts — Trell Harris (Virginia), Parker Livingstone (Texas) and Mackenzie Alleyne (Washington State) — after the 2025 season to join returning receivers Isaiah Sategna, Jer’Michael Carter and Jacob Jordan.
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Sategna, who transferred to OU from Arkansas after the 2024 season, served as Mateer’s safety net in 2025. The receiver finished the year with 965 yards and eight touchdowns on 67 catches.
Harris and Livingstone are both proven producers at the Power Four level, and Nagy believes that those two will make OU’s receiving corps stronger in 2026.
“Those two, we’re very excited about both of those guys,” Nagy said.
Nagy also did plenty of work to ensure that OU’s run game improves in 2026.
The Sooners added three tight ends — Hayden Hansen (Florida), Rocky Beers (Colorado State) and Jack Van Dorselaer (Tennessee) — from the portal. They also added three transfer offensive linemen: Caleb Nitta (Western Kentucky), E’Marion Harris (Arkansas) and Peyton Joseph (Georgia Tech).
OU will have its two top running backs from the 2025 squad, Xavier Robinson and Tory Blaylock, back in 2026.
For those two to reach their full potential, the Sooners’ blockers will have to regularly open up running lanes — and Nagy is confident that they will.
“We have to run the ball better, there’s no way around that,” Nagy said. “Our job is to create more competition in every room in the offseason. I feel like we’ve done that.”
On the show, Nagy revealed that the Sooners added nearly 9,000 collegiate snaps to their roster during the offseason.
The general manager believes that both sides of the ball will be stronger as a result of his scouting team’s offseason efforts and their collaboration with OU’s coaching staff.
“I’ve tried to be really intentional with our communication,” Nagy said. “There’s a common goal: We’re trying to win a national championship. This is a true partnership, and we all have the same goal in mind. It’s going to continue to evolve and get better.”
Oklahoma will open its 2026 season against UTEP on Sept. 5.
Oklahoma
Elgin’s Ritson Meyer becomes four-time Oklahoma high school wrestling state champion
Elgin’s Ritson Meyer becomes four-time OSSAA wrestling state champion
Elgin’s Ritson Meyer beat Coweta’s Aiven Robbins 8-7 in the Oklahoma high school wrestling Class 5A 215-pound finals on Saturday, Feb. 28, becoming a four-time state champion.
The loss was on Ritson Meyer’s mind all week as he prepared for his final state wrestling tournament.
A senior 215-pounder at Elgin, Meyer isn’t used to getting beaten, but he got a wake-up call when he lost against Coweta senior Aiven Robbins by five points in their regional championship match.
For Meyer, it set in that winning his fourth state championship wouldn’t be an easy task.
“I lost to him last week and I’m not a loser, so it was eating on me all week in practice,” Meyer said. “So (in) practice, I really leveled up everything. Everything about it.”
Meyer and Robbins met again on Saturday, this time with the Class 5A state championship on the line.
Intensely focused from the start, Meyer came out aggressive. And although it was another great match, Meyer did just enough to etch his name in the state history books.
Meyer held on to beat Robbins in an 8-7 decision in the new OG&E Coliseum as he claimed his fourth state championship, while Coweta won the team title.
An Abilene Christian football signee, Meyer’s wrestling days are over, but he leaves the sport with satisfaction.
“I came out here — even though it hurt, even though I was tired — I got it done,” Meyer said. “I’m so happy. I got to celebrate with my parents, my family, my friends. It’s a crazy feeling.”
A standout running back and linebacker on the gridiron, Meyer helped his team win the Class 4A state title in football as a junior before Elgin lost to Tuttle 23-20 in the 2025 championship game in December.
It’s a different sport, but that loss fueled Meyer’s wrestling season in a way.
“I like to tell people that wrestling is like offseason football,” Meyer said. “I can’t go out, lose. Everybody wanted me to win this. I won it for the whole entire community. First four-timer at Elgin. And that football (loss) really did eat me alive. It didn’t feel good at all, and I didn’t want that same feeling again.”
Meyer had a great start against Robbins on Saturday and never trailed, but Robbins battled to set up a great finish and both were gassed when it was over.
“I just gave it my all,” Meyer said, “and I got it done.”
This article will be updated.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at@nicksardis. Sign up forThe Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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