Baseball Hosts Sam Houston State In Weekend Set

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Feb. 19, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma baseball team welcomes a team from Texas for the second straight weekend as Sam Houston State visits Norman this weekend. The Sooners (1-1) will square off against the Bearkats (4-3) in a three-game set beginning Friday at 3 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Saturday and Sunday's contests are both scheduled for noon start times.

OU is looking to improve on its record after splitting two games with Texas-San Antonio last weekend. The Sooners opened the season with a 9-5 win on Friday, but fell to defeat the following day with a 4-1 loss on Saturday. Sunday's tilt was cancelled due to inclement weather.

Sam Houston State dropped its last four games to defending national champion Texas and Texas A&M after jumping out to a 4-0 start.

DATES: Feb. 21-23
FIRST PITCH: Friday at 3:10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 12:10 p.m.
BALLPARK: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
RADIO: Saturday and Sunday's contests will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with radio veteran James Hale calling the action. The broadcast can also be heard on Oklahoma's official web site www.soonersports.com.
TELEVISION: None.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma is ranked 28th in the Collegiate Baseball poll and 35th in NCBWA poll. Sam Houston State is not ranked in any of the polls.
SHSU SERIES NOTES: Under the direction of head coach Larry Cochell, Oklahoma is undefeated in four games against Sam Houston State ... The last time the two teams squared off was in 2000 when the Sooners came from behind to knock off the Bearkats, 9-8, in the first game of the Houston Tournament ... Senior Austin Mix, who was a freshman at the time, worked four innings of relief against the Bearkats in that game ... Mix gave up four earned runs on six hits while striking out three ... He was credited with the win ... The two teams also played against each other in the same tournament back in 1994 ... The Sooners walked away with a 13-7 victory that year ... The other two defeats to OU in the last 13 years came during the 1999 season when Oklahoma swept a two-game set in Norman.

Last Time Out

Three Sooner errors and a stifling Roadrunner pitching effort contributed to the Oklahoma baseball team's first loss of 2003 as Texas-San Antonio upended OU 4-1 Saturday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners were also hurt at the plate as they failed to make clutch hits and consequently stranded 11 baserunners, including eight in scoring position. Two Texas-San Antonio pitchers combined to shutdown OU's offense on three hits the night after the Sooners exploded for 15 hits in the series opener.

Buddy Blair (0-1), OU's starter, fell into an early hole by surrendering four runs through the first three innings.

Oklahoma cut the lead to 4-1 in the fifth inning when it plated its lone run of the game. Senior right fielder Matt Arkison (0-for-4) led off with a walk and moved to second on the second walk of the frame. Arkison used his speed to score two batters later on a RBI-single by sophomore first baseman Matt Bose (1-for-4).

Following the early setback, Blair settled in and sat down 10 of the last 14 batters he faced. He finished off his final three full innings facing the minimum in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames. Only two of the four runs charged to him were earned due to the costly Sooner miscues.

About Sam Houston State

Sam Houston State (4-4) enters the weekend series with Oklahoma after dropping its fourth-straight contest following a 4-0 start to the season. The Bearkats opened with wins over Texas Southern, Concordia Lutheran and two wins over Prairie View A&M to start the year before being swept by Texas over the weekend and then suffering its latest defeat at the hands of Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Five Sam Houston starters are currently batting above the .300 mark and 14 members on the team have driven in a run. The Bearkats' top hitter is junior catcher Andrew Kasparek who is leading the team with a .367 batting average and a team-high three home runs and 10 RBI.

The pitching rotation for this weekend is projected to be a pair of senior righthanders in Nathan Boyd and Jordan Tata on Friday and Saturday, respectively, and Phillip Gougler, a sophomore righty, for the Sunday finale. Gougler sports the best ERA of the trio by posting a 1.38 ERA through two starts, while Tata has fanned the most batters with 11 strikeouts in 10.2 innings of work.

Diamond Notes
*The Sooners won their 20th-straight opening day contest with a 9-5 victory over Texas-San Antonio on Friday.

*OU's 15 hits on opening day was their largest hit production in a season opening contest since the 1998 season when the Sooners pounded out 19 hits in a 20-7 win over Missouri Southern.

*The UTSA series finale was cancelled due to cold temperatures in Norman. It marked the fourth cancellation of the season for the Sooners caused by inclement weather.

*Junior Andrew McGuire is the only current member on the Sooner roster to hit a home run in his Oklahoma debut following his solo blast in his second at bat on Friday. The last Sooner to accomplish the feat was former OU first baseman Charlie Frasier who homered in the first game of the 2001 season against Oklahoma City.

*With three steals this weekend, senior center fielder Reggie Willits extended his consecutive stolen bases streak to seven (dating back to last season).

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .257 with four home runs and eight RBI ... Four different individuals have accounted for the four homers on the season ... Homering in the first game of the year was senior center fielder Reggie Willits, senior right fielder Matt Arkison, senior first baseman/designated hitter Luke Alexander and junior left fielder/designated hitter Andrew McGuire ... Willits led the team offensively through the first weekend of play by topping all players in batting average (.571), slugging percentage (1.143), on base percentage (.600), runs scored (3), hits (4) and RBI (2) ... Willits' early season success places him in first in slugging percentage, a tie for second in batting average and a tie for third in on base percentage in the Big 12 Conference individual standings ... The Fort Cobb, Okla., native's stolen base total of three also ranks in a tie for fifth in the league ... Senior first baseman Luke Alexander collected a career-high four hits in Friday's game and also added a home run, two doubles, two runs scored and two RBI to his team-leading performance.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 3.50 ERA and has struck out 13 batters while walking only 4 ... The team's ERA ranks in a tie for fifth with Texas A&M in the Big 12 Conference ... The Sooner relief corps were flawless through the first two games in holding inherited runners scoreless in three opportunities ... All three baserunners were in scoring position ... Designated team closer Jarod McAuliff encountered his first save opportunity in OU's season opener on Friday ... The sophomore worked his way out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth inning and retired the last four batters he faced, including a perfect ninth inning, for his first save of the year.

Purcey Named To Rotaty Smith Award Watch List

Oklahoma sophomore pitcher David Purcey was named to the Rotary Smith Award's preliminary watch list as released by the award committee last Wednesday. One of 130 Division I college baseball players to be selected to the initial list, Purcey is in contention for the prestigious award which is celebrating its 16th year of honoring the nation's finest collegiate baseball player. Voting to determine the 12 semifinalists begins in May before the finalist list is announced prior to the start of NCAA Super Regional action at the beginning of June.

The award is one of several national projects conducted by the the Rotary Club of Houston, which also sponsors the Rotary Lombardi Award honoring college football's top lineman. The projects help raise money for Rotary charities, the Texas Children's Hospital and the Karl Youg League.

Oklahoma-Nebraska Game To Be Televised By Fox Sports Net

The Oklahoma-Nebraska baseball game in Norman on Saturday, March 29, has been selected as one of five Big 12 Conference games to be televised this season by Fox Sports Net. The announcement came early Wednesday morning as the league office released the schedule of games which includes four regular season contests and the championship game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament. The contest between the Sooners and the Cornhuskers will kick off the slate of games which also includes Missouri at Baylor (April 19), Kansas State at Texas (April 26), Texas A&M at Texas (May 17) and the championship game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament (May 25).

Bill Land and Greg Lucas will anchor the telecast with expert analysis from former major leaguer Jack Lazorko. Game time for the Saturday game is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Sooners On The Air
Oklahoma baseball games will air this year via the Learfield Sooner Radio Network. KREF (1400 AM) will again be the home of Sooner baseball radio broadcasts. Learfield has scheduled 48 games to be broadcast this season with 10 games also being heard on the Sooner Radio Network. Beginning with the Nebraska contest on March 30, all Sunday games will be aired on the Sooner Radio Network as well as the first two games of the Bedlam Series with Oklahoma State. All games will be streamed over the Internet on Oklahoma's official athletic web site www.soonersports.com through Yahoo! and on KREF's web site.

KREF's own James Hale will be returning for his fourth season broadcasting Sooner baseball games.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Baseball Hosts Sam Houston State In Weekend Set

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