Sooner Baseball Hosts 16th-ranked Cornhuskers In Big 12 Home Opener

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March 27, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma Sooners (11-10, 0-3 Big 12) return home for the first time in two weeks to host the 16th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (16-6, 4-2 Big 12) in their Big 12 Conference home opener this weekend. The three-game set begins Friday at 6:35 p.m., continues 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and concludes 1:05 p.m. on Sunday.

Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Net and will mark the first television broadcast of an Oklahoma home baseball game in three years. The last time a game was televised from L. Dale Mitchell Park was in 2000 when the Texas series was broadcast by College Sports Southwest.

The weekend long promotion for the series is titled "Can The Cornhuskers." Anyone who donates a canned food item will get a $2 adult general admission ticket ($3 off the regular price). The canned food items will be donated to the Feed The Children charity.

In addition, the first 200 fans will receive OU Cheerstixs. Baseball Bingo will also be played during the weekend where participants will have the chance of winning OU Gift Packs.

DATES: March 28-30
FIRST PITCHES: Friday at 6:35 p.m., Saturday at 2:05 p.m. and Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
BALLPARK: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
RADIO: The games will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with Jim Byers calling the action. The broadcasts can also be heard on Oklahoma's official web site www.soonersports.com. Gametracker, which also can be accessed through soonersports.com, will be run throughout the series to provide fans live updates on the game's progress.
TELEVISION: Saturday's contest will be televised by Fox Sports Net. Bill Land and Greg Lucas will anchor the telecast with expert analysis from former major leaguer Jack Lazorko.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma is ranked 30th in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll. Nebraska garners its highest ranking, No. 16, from Baseball America, but is also rated 18th by the NCBWA, 19th by Sports Weekly/ESPN and 22nd by Collegiate Baseball.
NEBRASKA SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma dominates the all-time series between the two schools 129-85-1 ... The first game of the series was played in 1919 ... OU lost that initial contest, 7-2 ... The Sooners are 24-11 all-time against the Cornhuskers at L. Dale Mitchell Park ... Under OU Head Coach Larry Cochell, the Sooners are 25-27 against the 'Huskers and hold a 15-8 record at home under Cochell ... Since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, Nebraska owns a 15-6 edge over Oklahoma ... The Sooners are 2-9 against the Cornhuskers over the last 11 meetings dating back to the 2000 season ... OU swept UN in Norman back in 1997 ... The last time the Cornhuskers travelled to Norman in 2001 they left town with a three-game series sweep ... Nebraska downed Oklahoma 7-1, 10-5 and 14-4 in a seven-inning run-rule affair in the series finale ... In 2002 in Lincoln, OU escaped with a 5-4 win in the opener before dropping the final two contests, 7-6 and 12-2 in seven innings ... David Purcey picked up the win in the first game last year ... Luke Alexander delivered a game-winning home run in the ninth inning to secure the win.

Last Time Out

TCU catcher Jared Hatcher scored on a two base error by OU center fielder Reggie Willits in the bottom of the 11th inning to score the winning run in the Horned Frogs' 4-3 victory over the Sooners Tuesday night at Lupton Stadium. The Sooners held a slim 3-2 lead until the bottom of the ninth inning when the Horned Frogs tied the game up at 3-3 off Oklahoma closer Jarod McAuliff (1-2) to send Oklahoma into its first extra inning affair of the season.

McAuliff allowed a one out single to Hatcher before giving up a second straight single to reserve first baseman Jared Lundeen which got past Willits to allow Hatcher to score all the way from first base to end the game. TCU had tied the game two innings prior when a one out double by Hatcher off McAuliff was followed by a RBI-single by first baseman Chris Neuman.

Willits (4-for-6), who collected a career high four hits, helped the Sooners jump out to an early two-run lead by leading off the game with a double. Junior shortstop Denver Kitch (2-for-6) followed with a single to place runners at the corners for senior right fielder Matt Arkison (0-for-3) who scored Willits with a sacrifice fly to center field. After Kitch moved around to third base, junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti (1-for-3) brought him home with a sacrifice fly to right field for a 2-0 lead.

The Horned Frogs responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the frame. OU starting pitcher David Purcey got into trouble early by walking two batters and allowing two hits while securing only one out in the process. The second hit in the series, by third baseman Mike Settle, drove in center fielder Terry Trofholz from second base. Purcey worked his way out of any further trouble by getting a line out to first base and striking out the final batter of the inning.

Following his rocky start, Purcey settled in to allow only two more hits over the next five innings. The second hit, a single by second baseman Will Lewis, led to an unearned run for TCU in the fifth frame. A throwing error by Purcey on a failed pick off attempt of Lewis at first base moved Lewis over to third base and put him in position to score on Trofholz's sacrifice fly to center field to close the gap in the game to 3-2.

Purcey was lifted from the game after pitching six complete innings and giving up only four hits, two runs (one earned) and striking out four. He faced the minimum in four of the innings.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .281 with 24 home runs and 128 RBI ... The Sooners rank ninth in the Big 12 in batting average, but are fourth in home runs ... The team drew a season high 15 walks last Wednesday at Texas-Arlington ... The total fell four shy of the school record of 19 which was established against Colorado back in 1950 ... Senior center fielder Reggie Willits ranks sixth in the Big 12 Conference in batting, second in stolen bases and on base percentage and is tied for ninth in walks ... Senior shortstop Eddie Cornejo ranks tied for ninth in the league in hitting and also ranks ninth in the on base percentage category ... Junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti ranks third among the league leaders in home runs and 10th in slugging percentage ... Senior right fielder Matt Arkison peeked in among the conference leaders this week in a tie for ninth place in doubles ... Junior catcher Spencer Wyman also peeks in a tie for sixth place in the league for home runs ... Willits was the team's leading hitter last week ... He collected four hits in 10 at bats and scored three runs while driving in two more ... After totaling only eight walks on the season entering last week, Cornejo drew six walks over the last five games with at least one in each contest ... Cornejo's 14 walks is now tied for the second highest total on the team ... Willits and Cornejo have both reached base safely in 20 of the 21 games played this season ... Willits recorded a career high four hits in Tuesday's loss to TCU ... He is only the third player on the team to collect four hits in a game this season ... The other two players are Cornejo and senior designated hitter/first baseman Luke Alexander ... The four-hit efforts established career highs for both Cornejo and Alexander as well.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 4.50 ERA and has struck out 134 batters while walking 69 ... The staff's ERA ranks eighth in the Big 12 Conference ... Junior lefthander Buddy Blair ranks 17th in the Big 12 in ERA ... Sophomore reliever Jarod McAuliff has made the fourth most appearances in the conference ... Junior righthander Mark Roberts appears among the league leaders in innings pitched in 10th place ... Junior righty Mike Swindell continues to sport one of the lowest opponent batting averages in the Big 12 as he ranks 10th in the conference in the category ... Junior righthander Casey Brown made his first appearance of the season on Sunday against No. 8 Baylor after recovering from shoulder surgery back in the fall ... Brown worked the seventh inning and struck out the first batter he faced and proceeded to get the next two Bears out on consecutive groundouts ... After an erratic stint as a starter to begin the season, sophomore lefty David Purcey has performed better in relief since exiting the rotation ... Purcey only gave up two runs in five innings of work last week ... He also fanned six batters after striking out only four in the previous 8.1 innings (spanning four appearances) ... Roberts suffered his third straight no-decision in his most recent start against Baylor on Friday ... Roberts has left with the lead in two of those contests and with the game tied in the other ... The Sooners are 1-2 in those games ... Blair is the only regular on the pitching staff that has not given up a home run this season ... He has logged 32.2 innings this season without giving up the long ball in comparison to the five homers he gave up in 57.0 innings of work in 2002.

About No. 16 Nebraska

Nebraska (16-6, 4-2 Big 12) enters this weekend's series riding a five game winning streak after taking two mid-week games from Cal Poly. The Huskers had won seven in a row early in the season before dropping two of three to then-No. 22 Texas A&M and back-to-back losses to No. 1 Rice and Sam Houston State. The Cornhuskers improved their Big 12 Conference record to 4-2 last weekend with a three-game sweep of the Kansas State Wildcats in Lincoln.

Senior first baseman Matt Hopper leads a balanced Nebraska offensive attack with a team and Big 12 Conference best .443 batting average, nine home runs and 26 runs scored. Five other regulars are batting .300 or better as the team is hitting at a .306 clip collectively.

On the mound, the Huskers' 3.22 team ERA is the third lowest average in the conference. Starters Aaron Marsden (4-0, 2.08 ERA) and Quinton Robertson (4-1, 2.74 ERA) both rank in the top 10 in the league individual rankings in both wins and ERA. Both junior hurlers are scheduled to appear in the first two games of the weekend rotation with the third starter yet to be determined.

Oklahoma-Nebraska Game To Be Televised By Fox Sports Net

The Oklahoma-Nebraska baseball game on Saturday will be televised by Fox Sports Net. 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.

Stealing The Show

Leading the Sooners on the base paths this season and creating havoc for opposing defenses in the process is senior center fielder Reggie Willits. Willits has already swiped a team-best 13 bases which is four bases shy of his entire 2002 season total of 17. His total ranks second in the Big 12 Conference in the category, however, his .65 per game average tops all league performers.

Brandon Jones: OU's Premier Two Sport Athlete

Sophomore Brandon Jones has been a key figure in the outfield for the Oklahoma baseball team this season, but has not neglected his obligation as one of the top wide receivers on the Sooners' nationally-ranked football team. While fulfilling all of his responsibilities with the baseball team, Jones has periodically been able to keep up with spring workouts with the football team which began two weeks ago.

In the football team's first scrimmage of the spring, Jones was the squad's leading wide receiver in the game finishing with five catches for 104 yards and two touchdowns.

With three touchdown grabs last year, his total is the second highest among the talented group of returning wide receivers. He also sports the top returning yards per catch average among the receiving corps at 16.7.

In limited action on the diamond this year, Jones is batting .130 (3-for-23) with three runs scored and one RBI. The Texarkana, Texas, native finished the 2002 season hitting at a .268 clip with three home runs, 10 runs scored and 11 RBI.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner Baseball Hosts 16th-ranked Cornhuskers In Big 12 Home Opener

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