Sooner Baseball Closes Out Homestand With Salukis

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March 10, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma Sooners (8-3) close out their current six-game homestand with a two-game set against the Southern Illinois Salukis (6-5) on Tuesday and Wednesday at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Both games are scheduled to start at 3 p.m. and will feature $.50 hot dogs and Cokes as the special promotions for the games.

Other promotional features for the Southern Illinois series will be Two For One Tuesday where buying one adult general admission ticket will get the purchaser a second ticket free. The second game of the series will feature Web Site Wednesday where a Soonersports.com coupon is good for a regular adult general admission ticket of $2 ($3 off the regular price). The promotion is based on ticket availablityand limited to a maximum of four people per coupon.

DATES: March 11-12
FIRST PITCHES: Tuesday and Wednesday at 3:10 p.m.
BALLPARK: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
RADIO: The games will not be broadcast on the radio, however, Gametracker, which can be accessed through soonersports.com, will be run throughout the series to provide fans live updates on the game's progress.
TELEVISION: None.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma is ranked 29th in the NCBWA ratings and 30th in the Collegiate Baseball and Sports Weekly/ESPN poll. Southern Illinois is not ranked.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SERIES NOTES: The two programs have never met during Oklahoma head coach Larry Cochell's tenure at OU ... However, Cochell's Sooners are 5-0 against other Illinois directional schools in the last 13 years ... Freshman outfielder LaFringe Hayes hails from Broadview, Ill. (just outside of Chicago).

Last Time Out

In the rubber match of the three-game set, the 29th-ranked Oklahoma baseball team claimed a series victory with a 5-4 win over Michigan Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners received a consistent hitting performance from its starting nine as all but one hitter in the lineup collected a hit. Senior right fielder Matt Arkison scored the winning run on a ground out by junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti in the sixth inning. Sophomore closer Jarod McAuliff came on in the ninth inning to finish off the game for winning pitcher Mike Swindell (2-0) and pick up his second save of the season.

Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo was the Sooners' offensive star of the game by going 2-for-5 at the plate and scoring two runs. Cornejo's first run came in the first inning on a RBI-single by sophomore designated player Matt Bose (1-for-4) to give OU an early 2-0 lead. Oklahoma's first run of the game was scored prior to Bose's at bat as senior first baseman Luke Alexander (1-for-4) singled home Arkison.

In Cornejo's second at bat, the Mira Loma, Calif., native doubled and scored from third base three batters later on an error by Michigan shortstop Jeremy Goldschmeding (1-for-3). Yaconetti reached base after being hit by a pitch and advanced home on a double by sophomore left fielder Tyler Johnson to give OU a 4-1 edge.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .294 with 15 home runs and 72 RBI ... The Sooner offense recorded double-digit hit totals in all four games last week to raise their season average by 33 points ... OU produced its highest hit total (17) and run total (13) of the season in the Sooners' 13-6 victory over TCU on Tuesday ... Three Sooners rank among the Big 12 Conference leaders in batting average ... Senior center fielder Reggie Willits, the team's leading hitter, ranks 14th in the league in the category with a .385 average ... He is also averaging the third best on base percentage in the Big 12 at .519 ... Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo ranks 18th in the conference with a .378 batting average ... Sophomore left fielder Tyler Johnson's .357 average places him in 24th place in the league batting title race ... Junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti is making a name for himself as one of the Big 12's top power hitters ... Yaconetti tops the conference in slugging percentage with an .821 average and ranks in a tie for third with five home runs ... Yaconetti was OU's leading hitter during last week's four-game stretch ... He led the team in every offensive category ... Yaconetti batted .562 (9-for-16) with nine runs scored and nine RBI ... His offensive performance for the week also included two home runs and four doubles ... Two Sooners are currently riding seven game hitting streaks which are the longest individual streaks of the season on the team ... Willits and sophomore utility player Matt Bose both claim the streaks which ties a career best for Bose ... Willits is batting .393 (11-for-28) with seven runs scored during the streak, while Bose is hitting .308 (8-for-26) with eight RBI.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 3.49 ERA and has struck out 76 batters while walking 38 ... The Sooners continue to rank as one of the Big 12 Conference's best pitching staffs ... The team's ERA is the fourth best average in the conference ... Junior starting pitcher Buddy Blair continues to emerge as one of the pitching leaders on the team and in the Big 12 ... His 1.71 ERA tops the OU starting rotation and also ranks sixth in the league ... His recent complete game performance, the first of his career, over Michigan on Saturday places him in a tie for third in the league in the category ... Fellow junior hurler Mike Swindell sits in 13th place in the league ERA chase with a 2.70 mark ... He also appears among the conference leaders in opponent batting average with a .188 mark that ranks fifth best ... Swindell's low opponent average was aided by his most recent relief outing in which he only gave up one hit in the 12 batters he faced on Sunday versus Michigan ... Sophomore closer Jarod McAuliff peeked into the Big 12 listings this week in saves a tie for fourth with two saves.

Diamond Notes

*Senior center fielder Reggie Willits continues to rank among the best base stealers in the Big 12 Conference. His season total of seven places him in a tie for fifth in the league, however, his per game average of .64 tops all individual performers.

*OU's four double plays in last Tuesday's win over TCU fell one shy of the school record of five which hasn't been broken in nearly 20 years.

*Four Oklahoma players either set or matched nine career offensive marks in last Tuesday's win against the Horned Frogs.

About Southern Illinois

Southern Illinois (6-5) enters the mid-week series with Oklahoma winners of three of their last four contests. The Salukis recently claimed a series victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes by winning two of the three games. After dropping the series opener 13-1, SIU rolled to two-straight victories with 4-2 and 5-3 wins.

The Salukis, who are batting .265 with seven home runs and 48 RBI as a team, are led by second baseman Greg Andrews. Andrews leads all SIU regulars with a .333 average and owns a team best nine RBI and 11 runs scored. Southern Illinois' other two offensive threats that are batting over the .300 mark are outfielder Sal Frisella (.333) and third baseman Nathan Boldt (.302).

Southern Illinois has already thrown 13 pitchers into action this season who as a group have combined for a 5.91 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 96 innings of work. Eight members of the Salukis' staff have logged three or more appearances in 2003, including Jake Alley whi has put up the most impressive numbers of the starters. With a 1-0 record and a 4.08 ERA, Alley leads the staff with 12 strikeouts and has only surrendered 15 hits in 17.2 frames.

Arkison Sets Records For Triples

Senior right fielder Matt Arkison tied a NCAA record and established a Big 12 Conference record by hitting two triples in the same inning in the Sooners' 16-12 loss to Michigan on Friday. Six other players in NCAA Division I history have also tripled twice in an inning, most recently being accomplished last season by Steve O'Sullivan of Marist. The feat also tied an Oklahoma single game mark for triples in a game which has been set 17 different times and has not been accomplished since the 2000 season.

Arkison's first three-bagger of the game ignited an eight run fifth inning for the Sooners in which they batted around the lineup. The Broken Arrow, Okla., native's second triple drove in sophomore left fielder Tyler Johnson for the final run of the frame.

Just Getting Started With Two Outs

The Sooners are doing some of their best hitting with two outs in a game this year and they're just starting to heat up. For the season, OU has record 19 two out RBI base hits to total 29 RBI, but most of the damage has come recently. During last week's four game stretch, Oklahoma tallied 16 RBI on 10 two out hits.

Leading the Sooners in this category is junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti who has six RBI hits with two outs to account for 10 of his 15 RBI on the season. In addition, three of Yaconetti's team-leading five home runs have come with two gone in the inning.

Not Getting Any Easier

Oklahoma will embark on the toughest stretch of its schedule this weekend. Beginning Friday with their three-game set at No. 1 Arizona State, OU will face current top 25 opponents for the next six-straight weekend series. Following the series against the Sun Devils, the Sooners take on No. 8 Baylor, No. 13 Nebraska, No. 22 Texas A&M, No. 9 Texas and No. 20 Kansas on successive weekends.

In its only game against a ranked opponent this season, Oklahoma defeated then-No. 22 Ohio State 5-1 in the Lamar Tournament of Champions in Beaumont, Texas.

Breaking Out The Big Stick

Known for his power-hitting cabilities from his junior college days, junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti has begun to live up to the hype at OU. During the past week, Yaconetti extended his team lead in home runs to five by hitting two more over the last four games. His total places him in a tie for third place in the Big 12 Conference and, coupled with his four doubles, puts him in the league lead in slugging percentage with a .821 average.

Two weeks ago, Yaconetti put on a home run hitting clinic by hitting three two-run homers during a three-game stretch. Yaconetti's home runs came against Sam Houston State in the second game of the doubleheader and versus Southwest Missouri State and No. 22 Ohio State in the first two games of the Lamar Tournament of Champions.

In two seasons at Central Arizona C.C., the Gilbert, Ariz., native set a pair of school home run records. Yaconetti left owning the school's single season and career home run records of 21 and 31 home runs, respectively.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Baseball Closes Out Homestand With Salukis

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