No. 27 Oklahoma Opens Big 12 Play Against No. 8 Baylor

March 20, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - No. 27 Oklahoma's (11-6) begins Big 12 Conference competition this weekend as it opens its league schedule at No. 8/9 Baylor (18-6, 2-1). The Sooners' first conference series of 2003 kicks off Friday at 7 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas. Saturday's first pitch is set for 2 p.m., while Sunday's finale starts at 1 p.m.

Starting on the mound for the Sooners this weekend will be junior righthander Mark Roberts (3-0, 4.05 ERA) on Friday night, junior lefty Buddy Blair (2-2, 3.12 ERA) on Saturday and junior righthander Mike Swindell (2-0, 2.45 ERA) on Sunday. A regular out of the bullpen, Sunday's start will mark Swindell's season debut in the weekend rotation.

OU won the season series, 2-1, last year in Norman. After dropping the first contest, 5-4, the Sooners rebounded with 4-1 and 6-5 wins in the final two games.

Last Time Out

Trailing by six runs entering the top of the ninth, the Oklahoma baseball team attempted a late surge and scored three runs in the final frame but fell just short in a 10-7 loss to Texas-Arlington Wednesday night at Clay Gould Ballpark. Despite an unproductive evening at the plate for the Sooners that saw six different UTA hurlers hold OU to four hits through eight frames, Oklahoma junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti provided a bright spot as his patience at the plate and clutch hitting drove in three of Oklahoma's seven runs.

OU's ninth inning rally began with three consecutive walks to leadoff the ninth inning to load the bases for senior right fielder Matt Arkison (2-for-5). Arkison stroked a single up the middle to plate a run and senior center fielder Reggie Willits (2-for-2) followed with a RBI-single of his own. Still with no outs and the bases loaded, senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo (0-for-4) hit into a double play which allowed freshman pinch hitter Scott Rooker (0-for-0) to score from third base. However, another ground out to shortstop by Yaconetti (1-for-3) for the third out ended the game.

Following an hour and a half rain delay, Oklahoma got things started early by loading the bases in their first three at bats to lead off the game. A walk issued to Yaconetti forced home Arkison for the first run. Then senior first baseman Luke Alexander (0-for-2) lifted a sacrifice fly to center field in the following at bat to plate Willits for the second score.

Yaconetti drove in his runs in three of his first four at bats. Following his bases loaded RBI walk in the first frame, Yaconetti again drew a bases loaded walk in the fourth to drive in another run to make the score 6-3 in favor of Texas-Arlington. Yaconetti's third RBI came in the sixth frame when he delivered a two out single to center field to drive home Arkison from second base.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .300 with 24 home runs and 117 RBI ... The Sooner offense has recorded double digits in the hits column in seven of the last 10 games ... Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo was the team's leading hitter last week ... Cornejo batted .435 (10-for-23) with four runs scored and three RBI over the five game span ... He also batted at a torrid .500 (7-for-14) clip against top-ranked Arizona State over the weekend ... Several Sooners had career best hitting streaks broken over the weekend at ASU ... Senior outfielder Reggie Willits had his halted at 11 games, while fellow senior outfielder Matt Arkison saw his end at eight games ... Sophomore utility player Matt Bose had his career long nine game streak end over the weekend as well ... With home runs against No. 1 Arizona State on Friday and Saturday night, junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti has now gone deep in back-to-back games four times this season ....Yaconetti drove in three runs Wednesday against UTA marking the third time in a week, and fifth time this season, that he has tied his career high of three RBI ... Junior catcher Spencer Wyman established a new career season best in home runs after the two he hit against the Sun Devils raised his 2003 total to five ... Russell Raley is beginning to get a reputation as one of OU's more patient hitters at the plate ... The freshman second baseman has drawn five of his six walks on the season over the last four games, including a season high three against UTA on Wednesday.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 4.41 ERA and has struck out 113 batters while walking 57 ... Sophomore reliever Jarod McAuliff enjoyed three scoreless appearances last week ... McAuliff has now held the opponent scoreless in eight of his 10 outings on the season ... He logged five innings of work last week and only allowed four hits while striking out five ... His success last week lowered his ERA by 36 points ... Junior righthander Mike Swindell nearly single-handedly shutdown the explosive Arizona State offensive in five innings of work on Sunday ... After giving up a lone run in his first inning of work, Swindell held the Sun Devils to one hit over the remaining four frames ... Swindell is being rewarded with his first appearance as part of the weekend starting rotation against the Bears ... He is projected to start on Sunday ... In Austin Mix's three appearances during the last week, the senior righthander has improved his positioning in the school career record books ... Mix has moved into second place on the all-time innings pitched list and third on the career strikeouts chart ... He is 23.0 frames shy of the innings pitched mark and 20 K's away from breaking the all-time strikeouts record ... He also moved into a tie for eighth on the career appearances chart and needs 21 more outings to own that record as well.

Taking Advantage Of His Opportunities

Freshman second baseman Russell Raley has been a productive member of the team since becoming a regular in the starting lineup during the Michigan series. Since getting the starting nod at the middle infield position in the series finale against the Wolverines, Raley has earned starts at second base in five of the last six contests, including the last five straight.

At the plate, Raley is batting .333 (6-for-18) with two runs scored and one RBI as a starter and has only been held hitless in two of his six starts. The Uvalde, Texas, native has also flashed a solid defensive glove as he has only committed one error in 31 chances as a starter and, with a .971 season average, sports one of the batter indiviudal fielding percentages on the team.

Not As Offensive Defense

Although Oklahoma's defense has not produced consistent errorless performances, it has lowered its number of errors over the last eight games. During that span, the Sooners have only committed 13 errors as opposed to the 20 errors they recorded over the first nine games of the season. This improvement has also been reflected in their errors per game average lowering from 2.2 during the first nine games to 1.6 over the last eight games.

Streak Busters

With Oklahoma's 6-5 upset victory over No. 1 Arizona State last Friday, the Sooners broke several impressive Sun Devil streaks. OU's win snapped ASU's 19-game winning streak and 17-game home win streak. Three Sooner hurlers were also able to hold the Sun Devils' top hitter, sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia, hitless for the first time in 17 contests.

About No. 8/9 Baylor

The eighth-ranked Baylor Bears have achieved their national status this season through a combination of solid pitching and defense. On the season, the Bears are batting at a .322 clip and are sporting a 3.97 ERA.

Baylor opened up Big 12 Conference play last weekend and took two of three games from then-No. 20 Texas Tech at home last weekend. The Bears picked up bookend wins in the series with a 3-1 victory in the series opener and a 9-2 win in the finale. Most recently, Baylor defeated TCU 10-3 on Tuesday in its latest competition entering the series with Oklahoma.

The top five individual hitters in the Baylor lineup have combined for the majority of the team's offensive production. With each of the five batting above the .300 mark, 18 of the Bears' 22 home runs and 116 of their 168 RBI are a result of this offensive group. Leading the quartet in batting average is first baseman Ross Bennett who is hitting .479. Catcher Josh Ford and left fielder Michael Griffin are tied for the team lead in RBI with 25 a piece, while center fielder Chris Durbin has hit a team best seven homers.

Starting on the mound for Baylor in the series opener will be righthander Steven White. White has established himself as the starting staff ace after posting a 3-0 record and a 2.96 ERA in his first seven starts and striking out 52 batters in 48.2 innings pitched. Lefty Trey Taylor, Saturday's starter, has not enjoyed as much success in nearly the same amount of starts as White. Taylor is 1-2 on the year with a 5.40 and has only fanned 17 in 30 innings of work. Sunday's starter will be determined at a later date.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 27 Oklahoma Opens Big 12 Play Against No. 8 Baylor

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors