Omaha Sooners: An introduction

Introductions have never been my thing so you can imagine the awkwardness that comes with a re-introduction. Hell, even Jay Z needed to reintroduce himself before dropping the Black Album. His name is Hov. H-to-the-O-V. Hopefully you feel me.

Afterall, it's been awhile. Twelve years to be exact. Oklahoma is headed back to Omaha. And SoonerScoop.com is along for the ride.

How did they get here? How did Skip Johnson's club go from 18-12 and 4-5 in conference play to winners of the Big 12 Tournament, Gainesville Regional and Blacksburg Super Regional? They're hot. To the tune of 21-9 since April 12 kinda hot. But how did this group turn the corner from bubble watchers to (one of) the hottest team in the country?

1. Reggie Willits brought chaos to Norman ... Take a look at any of the program's social media channels and you'll find the word 'chaos' accompanied with a hashtag. By definition it's 'complete disorder and confusion'.

Too often early on it was just that. Baserunners picked off. Inexplicable lulls of fundamental execution. A bevy of tootblan. They were running themselves out of innings. Baseball can be a process. And this process was all part of the growing pains that come along as first year volunteer assistant Reggie Willits tried to instill a new mentality.

Eventually that process starting paying dividends. In late February they tied a school-record 11 stolen bases versus Wichita State. Much like a Triple Crown race ... annnnnd they were off.

Chaos had arrived. Speed on the basepaths was a strength of the Sooners new look roster -- including 22 new additions to the program during the fall-- and thus a strength of the program.

By the 18th game of the season they had surpassed their stolen base total from last season (46). And they head to Omaha this weekend having stolen the most bases (142) of any team left in the field.

Peyton Graham's 32 stolen bases are the most by a single player since Willits (37) in 2003. Tanner Tredaway has stolen 23. Kendall Pettis 22. Blake Robertson has swiped 12 and even John Spikerman got in on the act with 11 in just 27 games. Jimmy Crooks has stolen 10 bags. It's the first time since 1994 five Sooners have recorded double digit steals in the same season.

Chaos had arrived as the Sooner coaching staff had envisioned when building the roster in the fall but another problem came to the forefront. They couldn't hold onto a lead.

2. Pitching ... It was always going to be a work in progress. There were pieces but how were they to be used? Oklahoma began the season looking to replace 47-percent of the innings pitched from a season ago, including closer Jason Ruffcorn on the back end.

Before the second week of April they had blown a 9th inning lead against LSU. New Orleans rallied with two in the 8th, four in the 9th and three in the 12 to start a three game set in Norman. And then there was the 7th inning Sunday meltdown versus Texas in Arlington. Each of the final two blows costing Oklahoma series victories.

Fans were growing tiresome. Calls for Skip Johnson's job were growing. Oklahoma fans are tired of being 'close'. He's a pitching coach, ya know? They wanted answers.

Over the next few weeks pitching would become stronger. You saw a staff starting to gain confidence, particularly a starting rotation that was beginning to work further into games making life easier on their cohorts from the bullpen. Jake Bennett was looking more and more like a dominant Friday night starter. David Sandlin was quietly developing into a solid Saturday option. And, finally, it was Cade Horton's long awaited chance to start.

More than anything Oklahoma was getting production offensively making every pitcher's life easier.

"When you pitch with a lead, your stuff gets better, meaning your breaking ball gets better. Your fastball command gets better. I’m just proud that you hear our guys regurgitate what we talk about in practice every day," says Johnson. "One pitch at a time. Throwing the pitch at the target."

Since April 12, OU is averaging 9.2 runs per game. High leverage situations suddenly came few and far between. Things had begun to balance themselves out.

3. A mid-year flip ... Maybe it's not rock-bottom but as the Privateers exited Norman with a series victory groans were emitting from the outfield berms of L. Dale Mitchell Ballpark.

The Oklahoma bullpen had once again got themselves in trouble. The natives had become restless.

Glimpses of really good baseball were quickly covered up by shoddy, sometimes headscratching execution. Often on the wrong side of the big inning, questions were beginning to pile up. Would drastic(!) changes need to be made by seasons end?

They were serious and sometimes unconformable conversations.

Then a spark, in of all places, during a midweek trip to Amarillo. Brett Squires returned from the injured reserve to knock a pair of home runs as part of a five hit night and Oklahoma won a non-conference clash versus Texas Tech, 14-9. Perhaps there was a light that could be seen at the end of the tunnel.

Kendall Pettis followed Squires lead and returned following a freak injury of his own. It was a slow burn that quickly turned into an inferno by season's end. Over the last month Pettis has hit .393/.507/.750 with 16 RBIs and 20 runs scored. Not a bad contribution from the 9-hole, eh.

In between came Cade Horton's move to the weekend rotation which opened the gates for freshman Wallace Clark to solidify himself as the everyday third baseman. Which resulted in Chazz Martinez finding a new home in the Sooners bullpen. Remember they needed another left-hander out there alongside Carter Campbell. This realization coming after Oklahoma State stacked the line-up with right-handed batters during the Bedlam series stop in Stillwater.

Jackson Nicklaus soon would earn an everyday role at second. While Jaret Godman's inability to miss hard contact resulted in lesser appearances out of the bullpen; a role Trevin Michael would later seize. But it's how Godman handled that demotion that tells us a bigger story and speaks volumes to the culture of the program.

By trial and error Skip Johnson and staff were finding answers and wins began to pile up in place of those once tough to answer questions. They won series versus Kansas and Kansas State scoring a total of 89 runs in the process. All of the sudden Oklahoma was pushing themselves into the top half of the league standings.

Could they win outright? Could they push for regional hosts? Road trips to Fort Worth and Lubbock were still ahead but the line-up alterations had resulted in better baseball. Oklahoma was starting to find themselves. An identity was being formed.

4. Different game, different guy ... At first it was breakout star first baseman Blake Robertson. The freshmen trio of Jackson Nicklaus, Wallace Clark and, eventually, John Spikerman all took turns. Then Peyton Graham in Arlington. Followed by Kendall Pettis in Gainesville. Just last weekend in Blacksburg it was Tanner Tredaway. You sense a theme? It's been someone different nearly every weekend. Everybody eats. Canela would be happy.

“We’ve kind of been doubted the whole season," said Pettis before departing for last week's Super Regional. "We were supposed to be picked behind Kansas State and a lot of teams in the Big 12. Nobody expected us to be here. So we’ve always had that chip on our shoulder. I think that’s where the cockiness comes from. PG is going to do what he does. B-Rob is coming from JUCO and those JUCO guys always have that chip on their shoulder. So just having that core group of guys right there is what really gives us that edge.”

Walking a fine line between cocky and confident. Not afraid to fail in the moment.

“I think so, for this group especially," said Graham, who became the first Oklahoma player in school history to hit 20 home runs and swipe 30 bags in a season. "We’ve got some rowdy guys and people feed off of it. Whatever we can do to get the momentum in our dugout, we’ll do."

“If you don’t want to be in that role, you probably shouldn’t be playing baseball. Those are moments you dream of as a kid. I’m always glad to be up in those situations. It’s fun.”

5. Chemistry plays a part ... It's not 25 guys pulling on the same rope circa 1994. But it's similar. Same vibe, as the kids would say. There's a chemistry that extends beyond the dugout. A testament of the culture Skip Johnson preaches day in and day out. Better late than never.

Tanner Tredaway touched on it a few weeks prior to the current run, in which they've won 11 of 13, that landed his Sooners on a trip college baseball's mecca.

"(Last year) there was too many guys that weren't bought in. Kind of on their own program. Kind of thinking about themselves and their own futures," said Tredaway. "This year it's practically a new team and we were able to start fresh with Skip and this coaching staff. The guys that stayed were guys that were bought in and all ready to go and the guys we got rid of were the guys that weren't."

"They just made a great decision in who they've brought in. All these guys," continued Tredaway. "We're like brothers now. We just met each other this year but we're already this close. I think that's really special and part of our success."

Simple enough. Chemistry on a team is often overlooked. It's not in the class syllabus but shouldn't you have to like one another to dogpile with each other at the end of the season? It counts for something. Maybe it does need to be put on a t-shirt.