Oklahoma And Wichita State Square Off In Baseball

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March 31, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma (11-13) and Wichita State (19-9) square off on Tuesday in Norman in a battle between two storied college baseball powerhouses. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Shockers return the Sooners' 2002 visit to Wichita by travelling to Norman for the first contest on the Sooners' home field between the two schools since 1992.

Combined the two schools have appeared in the prestigious College World Series 16 times and come away with three national championships. Oklahoma is responsible for nine of those trips to Omaha and two of the national titles. The two teams both appeared together in the CWS as recently as the 1992 series.

One of the promotions for the game will be "Two For One Tuesday" where buying one adult general admission ticket will get the purchaser a second ticket free. Fans entering the gates will receive OU Pom Pons and will be able to purchase $.50 hot dogs and Cokes.

DATE: April 1
FIRST PITCH: Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
BALLPARK: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
RADIO: The game will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with Jim Byers calling the action. The broadcast 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: None.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma and Wichita State are not ranked.
WICHITA STATE SERIES NOTES: Wichita State owns a 7-5 record against Oklahoma during Sooner head coach Larry Cochell's tenure ... Prior to taking the head coaching position at Wichita State, Gene Stephenson was at Oklahoma for five years as an assistant coach ... Stephenson helped lead OU to five Big Eight titles and five College World Series appearances from 1972-1977 ... WSU has won the last three straight in the series ... OU's last win over WSU was in the 1992 College World Series when the Sooners defeated the Shockers 8-4 ... The Shockers and Sooners resumed their rivalry last year after a seven year hiatus ... Up until last year's meeting between the two schools during the regular season, the most recent contest was during the 1994 season ... Wichita State won 5-1 last year in Wichita and then ended Oklahoma's season with an 8-4 victory in the NCAA Regional held on the Shockers' home field ... Luke Alexander led the Sooners offensively in the second match up in 2002 ... He went 2-for-3 at the plate, including a three run homer, and a run scored ... Alexander was also responsible for driving in the lone run in the Sooners' regular season contest against the Shockers ... Sophomore lefthander David Purcey, who is projected to start Tuesday against Wichita State, started the tournament game against WSU ... Purcey lasted only 1.2 innings after giving up four runs on seven hits.

Last Time Out

Poor Oklahoma defense and good Nebraska pitching led to the Sooners' 5-2 loss to the 16th-ranked Cornhuskers Sunday afternoon in the series finale at L. Dale Mitchell Park. As in the series opener, the Sooners were hurt by mistakes in the field as they committed a season high six errors which led to two unearned runs for the Huskers. OU was hindered at the plate as well as the offense was only able to generate seven hits off four Nebraska hurlers.

For the second game in a row, the Sooners received its offensive help from three players who turned in two hit performances each. Junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti, sophomore left fielder Greg Kish and junior shortstop Denver Kitch all went 2-for-4 at the plate to account for six of the team's seven hits. Kish's two hits tied his career high, while Yaconetti enjoyed a multi-hit effort for the second straight game. Both players were responsible for OU's two runs with RBI-singles each.

The Cornhuskers cashed in with a pair of two-out RBI hits in each of the third and fourth innings to extend its early lead to 3-0. Third baseman Alex Gordon singled home shortstop Joe Simokaitis in the third frame and Leise tripled in second baseman Bubbs Merrill in the fourth for an unearned run after Merrill reached base on an error.

The Sooners were also able to capitalize on two RBI-singles in the sixth inning to plate two runs and cut Nebraska's lead to 4-2. Senior center fielder Reggie Willits (1-for-3) drew a one out walk and put himself in position to score by stealing second and third base. With two outs, Yaconetti singled to right-center field to plate Willits and move senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo (0-for-3), who had walked in the previous at bat, to third base. Cornejo scored in the following at bat Kish's base hit to left.

OU was unable to muster any more runs as the Sooners were held to only two more hits the remainder of the game. Yaconetti led off the ninth frame with a single and stole second base before Husker closer Tim Schoeninger slammed the door shut on the Sooners by striking out the side for his fourth save of the season.

Junior righthander Mike Swindell (2-2) was charged with the loss in his third start of the season. Swindell gave up the five runs on eight hits, while striking out three and walking only one batter.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .270 with 24 home runs and 136 RBI ... The Sooners rank 10th in the Big 12 Conference in hitting ... Senior center fielder Reggie Willits continues to rank as one of the league's top all-around offensive performers as he owns the honor of being the conference's leading hitter in batting average and on base percentage to begin the week ... He also is tied for 10th in the league in walks ... Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo joins Willits on the league batting list in 20th place ... Junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti is fourth in home runs and tied for 10th in RBI in the Big 12 ... Senior right fielder Matt Arkison's nine doubles are good enough for a tie for eighth in the league ... Willits led the team in hitting last week ... He batted .529 (9-for-17) with five runs scored for the week and .455 (5-for-11) during the Nebraska series ... He also collected at least one hit in each game to put together a modest four-game hitting streak ... Willits has reached base safely in 23 of the 24 games played this season ... Willits recorded a career high four hits in last 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 ... Yaconetti is batting .318 (7-for-22) over the last six games after batting .148 (4-for-27) during the previous seven games.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 4.48 ERA and has struck out 157 batters while walking 78 ... The staff's ERA ranks eighth in the Big 12 Conference standings ... Sophomore closer Jarod McAuliff sits fourth in the league standings in ERA, third in appearances and tied for 10th in saves ... Junior starting pitching Mark Roberts ranks 17th in the Big 12 in ERA, tied for ninth in strikeouts, ninth in innings pitched and tied for 10th in games started ... Junior lefthander Buddy Blair is tied for fifth in complete games ... The Sooner bullpen delivered more promising performances during the Nebraska series ... The bullpen lowered its season ERA by 37 points by surrendering only one unearned run in eight innings of work over the weekend ... OU's relief corps also gave up only six hits and fanned eight batters against Nebraska ... They also only allowed 1-of-6 inherited runners to score ... McAuliff held three inherited runners scoreless in two outings during the series and junior righthander Casey Brown stranded two inherited runners in his one appearance last weekend ... Brown and Roberts combined for an Oklahoma season best 12 strikeouts in Friday night's game ... Roberts accounted for eight of those strikeouts which established a personal season high ... The junior righthander also carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning in the game ... Sophomore lefty David Purcey has given up only five hits and two earned runs in seven innings of work in his last five relief appearances since exiting the weekend starting rotation ... Purcey owns a 2.57 ERA during that stretch ... Junior righty Mike Swindell made his third start of the season on Sunday and worked a season high 6.1 innings.

About Wichita State

Wichita State visits Norman after winning its last five in a row, including a recent Missouri Valley Conference opening sweep of Illinois State over the weekend, to improve its season record to 19-9. The Shockers won 11 of their first 12 contests this season before running into some stiffer competition and going 8-8 the rest of the way.

One of WSU's offensive leaders, third baseman Cody Clark, was named the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week for his outstanding play last week. Clark's .357 batting average ranks second on the club to second baseman Brandon Green's .381 mark, but Clark leads the team in RBI with 25 and triples with five.

Righthander Mathew Jakubov is projected to start for Wichita State on Tuesday. All four of Jakubov's appearances on the season have come in starting situations and the sophomore has posted a 1-2 record and a 7.98 ERA in those games.

League Leader

Senior center fielder Reggie Willits is quickly establishing himself as one of the top offensive talents in the Big 12 Conference this season. Beginning the week, the Sooners' leading offensive performer also leads the conference in batting average with a .425 mark as well as on base percentage with a .532 average. The Fort Cobb, Okla., native also tops all league performers in stolen bases per game at .62 and ranks second in total stolen bases with 15, only one stolen base off the conference lead.

A consistent leader among many of the league categories the entire season, Willits is also tied for 10th in the Big 12 in walks with 17.

Many Happy Returns

Junior shortstop Denver Kitch was one of the offense's top performers last week after returning to the starting lineup last Tuesday at TCU. Kitch batted .333 (6-for-18) with three runs scored in the four contests and collected at least one hit in every game including a pair of two-hit performances.

He also performed well defensively as he did not commit any errors in 17 chances during the week and made several impressive plays in the field.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma And Wichita State Square Off In Baseball

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