HOUSTON — Before taking a look ahead at his team’s match with No. 5 Arkansas at 3 p.m. Friday during the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson wanted to look back at a fall exhibition against the Razorbacks.
He and his team were floored that Arkansas, playing without some key regulars, drew such a huge crowd for a Friday night scrimmage on Sept. 20 that the Sooners won 4-3 in 14 scheduled innings.
“What other fall game could you walk into and there are 8,000 people there?” Johnson said of a crowd that was announced as 6,378. “It was good for our younger kids to see it. I thought it was a great weekend because the environment was good, we were playing a great-coached team, both games were played every inning how the game is respected.
“That is what was so beautiful about going over there to play, getting to see our younger kids in that environment.”
Oklahoma (7-2) will start 6-4, 218-pound junior right hander Cade Cavalli (1-1, 2.31 ERA) Friday afternoon, with 6-2, 215-pound Connor Noland (2-0, 1.42) pitching for Arkansas (7-0).
“Cade is a guy that is big in stature, but really no different in the guy that are going to start,” Johnson said. “He is an attack guy and has got a good arm, is really athletic, a three-pitch mix and most of the time he will go right at you.
“That is no different than Arkansas. They see that every weekend in the SEC so he has just got to make sure he stays himself, does what he can and control what he can control.”
Cavalli, who also started 19 games as a designated hitter and hit six home runs last season, is calling his own pitches this season and is viewed as a likely high draft pick in the MLB Draft this summer.
“You look at Cade and not a lot of people know this, but he grew up as a catcher,” Johnson said. “His knowledge of the game is really the biggest reason we are letting him call his own pitches. I really wish college baseball would get back to letting catchers call the game. I think the game would speed up. I also think if we went to a wood bat instead of an aluminum bat, things would speed up and we wouldn’t have to worry about the 20-second clock.
“Cade is a special young man and all we really ask out of him is what kind of an effort he gives us on a daily basis. He works extremely hard, puts the work in every day.”
Texas coach David Pierce also praised Cavalli, who was 5-3 last season with a 3.28 ERA, 59 strikeouts and 35 walks in 60 1/3 innings.
“First thing I will say is that Cade Cavalli calls his own pitches is because he can throw it 97 to 100 mph and if there is any doubt, he just throws his fastball,” Pierce said.
Johnson believes he still has to figure out how his bullpen is going to line up.
“I haven’t reached in my Cowboy hat to find out who I am going to bring out of the bullpen," he said. "It’s been a weird year because we haven’t got to practice. The days that we got to play intrasquad or play have been the warmer days.”
Oklahoma has played a lot of baseball in a short amount of time.
“We have played nine games in eight days and 54 innings in four days,” Johnson said. “We have gotten to play a lot of guys, a lot of guys have gotten to throw, which is good, but we have to continue to grow with our confidence as much as anything.”