Baseball Looks For Series Split at Oral Roberts

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April 21, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - The Oklahoma Sooners (14-22) will look to avenge an earlier season loss to Oral Roberts (19-17) Tuesday night in the final game of a two-game set at J.L. Johnson Stadium in Tulsa. The Sooners dropped a 5-1 contest to the Golden Eagles earlier in the month at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. Game time for Tuesday's matchup is set for 7 p.m. and the contest will be televised throughout the state on Cox Cable affiliated stations.

DATE: April 22
FIRST PITCH: Tuesday at 7 p.m.
BALLPARK: J.L. Johnson Stadium (2,418)
LOCATION: Tulsa, 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: The game will be televised throughout the state on Cox Cable affiliated stations.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma and Oral Roberts are not ranked in this week's polls.
ORAL ROBERTS SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma is 31-26 against Oral Roberts over the last 38 years ... Larry Cochell is 11-7 against the Golden Eagles as the head coach of the Sooners ... ORU won a string of seven-straight games in the series from 1981-84 ... Cochell is a former head coach of the Golden Eagles ... He led ORU from 1977-86 and compiled a 428-171-2 record at the helm, including a College World Series appearance in 1978 ... Cochell also served as the athletic director at ORU the last three years of his coaching tenure ... He is also only one of two individuals to have his jersey (No. 1) retired in Oral Roberts history ... Oral Roberts Head Coach Sunny Golloway was an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 1992-95 under Cochell ... Golloway's newest assistant coach, M.J. Mariani, starred at OU from 1994-1995 ... Mariani was a part of Cochell's 1994 national championship team that also included Golloway (as an assistant coach) and current OU assistant coaches Aric Thomas (1994-1995) and Rich Hills (1992-1995) ... Current ORU junior outfielder Ryan Welborn played at OU as a freshman in 2001 ... Welborn is a former high school teammate of current Sooner shortstop Denver Kitch ... OU won all three games between the two schools last year ... Two of the wins came in Norman with the first win coming in a Friday night contest in Tulsa ... Buddy Blair helped the Sooners earn a victory in the first game by pitching 5.2 innings and allowing just one unearned run to put OU in a position to come from behind for the victory ... Luke Alexander belted a three-run homer in OU's 7-5 third game win ... Last year's two contests at L. Dale Mitchell Park were the first games in the series played in Norman since the 1998 season ... The Golden Eagles upended the Sooners that year 9-5 in Norman ... Oral Roberts defeated Oklahoma, 5-1, in Norman in the first battle between the two schools this season ... Senior center fielder Reggie Willits singled home freshman designated hitter LaFringe Hayes for the Sooners' lone run of the game ... Sophomore David Purcey suffered the loss in the contest.

Last Time Out

Kansas' offense exploded for 20 hits and a season high 16 runs in downing Oklahoma 16-6 in eight innings Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The 16 runs and 20 hits given up by five Sooner pitchers tied a season high for the staff in both categories and led OU to their first run-rule defeat of the season. Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo was OU's bright spot in the game as he went 3-for-3 at the plate, including a grand slam homer, and recorded a career high five RBI.

The game started to fall apart for Oklahoma in the fourth inning when Kansas broke a 1-1 tie and opened up a large lead with a seven-run frame. OU starting pitcher Mike Swindell (2-4) was accountable for the first four runs of the frame as he gave up four runs on three hits, a walk and a fielder's choice. Sophomore southpaw David Purcey relieved Swindell with two outs and surrendered three more runs on four more hits and a walk.

The Sooner pitching staff was hampered the rest of the contest with problems with giving up runs to lead off innings before securing outs. In the final four frames, a trio of OU pitchers allowed two runs in each of the innings with only one or no outs recorded. The second Jayhawk batter in the sixth and eighth innings clubbed two-run homers, while KU quickly got two runs on an RBI-double and sacrifice fly in the fifth and a fielder's choice and RBI-single in the seventh.

For the Sooners' first run of the game, sophomore right fielder Greg Kish (2-for-4) completed a two-out rally for the Sooners in the first inning. Kish connected on a RBI-single to center field to score Cornejo who began the rally by drawing a walk with two outs. Sophomore catcher Matt Bose (1-for-4) moved Cornejo into scoring position with a follow up base hit.

With the bases loaded in the fifth inning following back-to-back singles and a walk, Cornejo slugged his second home run of the season over the right field wall to plate all three runs and cut Kansas' lead in half at 10-5. Freshman third baseman Russell Raley (1-for-4), junior shortstop Denver Kitch (1-for-4) and senior center fielder Reggie Willits (1-for-3) all scored on the home run.

Willits scored his second run in the seventh frame after reaching third base on a single and two straight Kansas throwing errors that continued to move him around the bases. Cornejo singled to plate Willits for his fifth RBI of the game.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .268 with 29 home runs and 178 RBI ... OU's team batting average ranks 10th in the Big 12 Conference overall and league only standings The team's batting average rose 10 points over the last three games due to a successful offensive series against Kansas ... Sooners in the Big 12 overall standings: Reggie Willits - first in stolen bases, fifth in batting average and on base percentage; Eddie Cornejo - tied-11th in batting average; Jay Yaconetti - tied-10th in home runs and Denver Kitch - tied-ninth in stolen bases ... Sooners in the Big 12 only standings: Willits - first in stolen bases and tied-18th in batting average; Cornejo - second in on base percentage, tied-7th in triples and tied-8th in walks; Kitch - tied-3rd in stolen bases; Brandon Jones - tied-3rd in triples ... Cornejo led the team in hitting for the week with a .600 (9-for-15) batting average ... His team-leading performance was aided by a strong effort during the Kansas series in which he hit .818 (9-for-11) with three runs scored and seven RBI ... Several other Sooners had fine offensive efforts in the three games against the Jayhawks ... OU had seven regulars bat over the .308 mark for the series ... Senior first baseman Luke Alexander broke out of a recent slump and hit at a .308 (4-for-13) clip with two doubles, a home run and three RBI in his three starts ... Sophomore right fielder Greg Kish and freshman infielder Russell Raley also had stand out offensive series by batting .556 and .444, respectively ... Willits had an eight-game hitting streak halted in the series opener on Friday ... He batted .344 (11-for-32) with six runs scored and five RBI ... It marked his second-longest hitting streak of the season ... Willits also put together a career high 11-game stretch earlier in the season ... In the first set of NCAA Stats released last week, Willits ranked 12th in the nation in stolen bases per game ... Since returning to the starting lineup on March 25, Kitch has been one of the Sooners' most consistent offensive players ... Kitch is batting .306 (19-for-62) during that stretch and has been held hitless only once in 14 starts since his return.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 5.24 ERA and has struck out 235 batters while walking 116 ... The staff's ERA ranks eighth in the Big 12 Conference overall and in league games only ... Sooners in the Big 12 Conference standings: Jarod McAuliff - tied-1st in appearances, third in ERA and tied-6th in saves; Mark Roberts - 17th in ERA, seventh in strikeouts, eighth in innings pitched and tied-8th in games started; David Purcey - tied-6th in appearances; Buddy Blair - tied-5th in complete games ... Sooners in the Big 12 only standings: McAuliff - tied-1st in appearances, tied-5th in ERA and tied-7th in saves; Roberts - fourth in strikeouts, tied-10th in innings pitched and 20th in ERA; Purcey - tied-3rd in appearances ... Junior righty Casey Brown turned in another impressive relief stint in OU's 10-8 win on Saturday ... Although he did not come away with the win, he silenced the KU bats over four innings to allow the Sooners to climb back into the game ... He retired 11 of the next 12 batters, following a grand slam homer to the first batter he faced, and the one Jayhawk that did get on base reached on an error.

About Oral Roberts

Oral Roberts (19-17) has gone 4-4 since defeating Oklahoma 5-1 two weeks ago. In their most recent Mid-Continent Conference series, ORU took three of four games at Valparaiso over the weekend.

Outfielder Matt VanDerBosch continues to pace the Golden Eagles at the plate. His .340 batting average, 34 runs scored and 48 hits are all team bests. Catcher David Castillo accounts for the team leads in the other two major offensive categories with 10 home runs and 41 RBI.

Lefty Kris Kline is projected to start on the mound for ORU in tomorrow's game. Kline sports a 2-3 record and a 6.94 ERA in 10 games this season. He will be making his sixth start of the season.

Last Time Out Against ORU

Oral Roberts starting pitcher Taylor McIntyre stifled the Oklahoma bats in a 5-1 loss to the Golden Eagles at L. Dale Mitchell Park earlier in the month. McIntyre only allowed one run on six hits in eight innings of work.

ORU scored all their runs in two innings with two coming in the second and three more added in the fifth. In the second, the Golden Eagles manufactured their runs with two outs. OU starting pitcher David Purcey (0-2) fanned two batters after placing two on base, however two straight walks forced in the first run and a passed ball that followed allowed a second run to score.

Purcey's lucky wasn't more favorable with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth inning either. The Golden Eagles placed their first three runners of the frame on with two hits and a walk and scored on a second consecutive walk. Purcey's night was finished following his second bases loaded walk of the game. He completed the night giving up five runs on four hits, walked five and struck out five more.

Junior Casey Brown entered the came and quickly got the first out on a fielder's choice that wiped out the run at the plate. However, the following two batters were able to connect and plate two more runs for Oral Roberts on a sacrifice fly to center field and a RBI-single.

Oklahoma senior center fielder Reggie Willits (1-for-4) singled home freshman designated hitter LaFringe Hayes (2-for-4), who had doubled in the previous at bat to lead off the seventh inning, for the Sooners' only run of the game.

Junior third baseman Jay Yaconetti (2-for-3) was the only other Sooner to have a promising night at the plate. Yaconetti singled and added two stolen bases in the third inning and collected another base hit in his final at bat in the eighth frame.

Hitting The 'Hawks

The Sooners had their most successful offensive Big 12 Conference series of the year against the Kansas Jayhawks over the weekend. As a team, Oklahoma batted .363 and recorded double-digit hit totals in all three games. They had seven starters bat above the .308 mark, including senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo who led all Sooner sluggers during the series with a .818 batting average. Their 19 hit performance in Saturday's 10-8 win was their second largest output of the season.

Cornejo was nearly unstoppable at the plate as he went 9-for-11 with three runs scored and seven RBI and the first grand slam of his collegiate career. The four RBI collected from the grand slam coupled with another one in his next at bat gave him five on the day to establish a new career high in the category.

Climbing Up The Charts

Pitchers Austin Mix and Jarod McAuliff are making strong moves up the Oklahoma single-season and career record charts. Mix, a senior reliever, is now 12 strikeouts shy of the Oklahoma career strikeouts record and 14 innings pitched short of the all-time OU record in that category. With his two appearances last week, Mix also moved into a tie for fifth place on the school career appearances list of which he trails by 17 outings.

McAuliff, the Sooners' sophomore relief ace, recorded his fifth save of the year in Saturday's win to move him into a tie for 10th place on the school's single-season saves chart. Combined with his two saves from 2002, McAuliff now stands in a tie for fifth place on OU's all-time saves list with seven. He is also two outings shy of entering the single-season 10 top in appearances.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Baseball Looks For Series Split at Oral Roberts

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