Oklahoma And Oklahoma State Battle In Bedlam Baseball This Weekend

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April 24, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma (14-23, 2-13 Big 12) and No. 20 Oklahoma State (27-13, 9-6 Big 12) resume their intrastate rivalry this weekend with the annual Bank of Oklahoma Bedlam Series presented by the Oklahoma Ford dealers. As has been the case since 1996, the series opener will be held at Driller's Stadium in Tulsa on Friday night at 7 p.m. The second and third games of the series will both be held at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City with first pitch on Saturday being thrown at 7 p.m. and Sunday's scheduled for 3 p.m.

Sunday's game is slated for a state-wide television broadcast on the Learfield Sports Television Network.

DATES: April 25-27
FIRST PITCHES: Friday & Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
BALLPARK: Friday - Driller's Stadium, Saturday - SBC Bricktown Ballpark
LOCATION: Friday -Tulsa, Okla., Saturday & Sunday - Oklahoma City, 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: Sunday's game will be televised state-wide by the Learfield Television Network. Brian Brinkley will handle the play-by-play duties, while Dave Hunziker will provide expert analysis during the game.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma is not ranked, but Oklahoma State is ranked 20th in this week's Collegiate Baseball poll.
OKLAHOMA STATE SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 133-129 ... OU head coach Larry Cochell is 28-31 against OSU in 13 seasons with the Sooners ... The Sooners are 10-9 against the Cowboys since the Big 12 Conference formed in 1997 ... The Sooners' three regular-season wins in 2000 marked the first regular season sweep of the Cowboys in the series since 1976 ... The Sooners are 9-3 versus the Cowboys in games played in Tulsa's Driller's Stadium ... Oklahoma also owns a 7-5 edge in games played in the Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark, including six of the last eight ... The series played its first game in a minor league stadium in 1975 when the two teams played at All Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City ... The series made its first appearance in Tulsa during Cochell's first year in 1991 ... OU holds an 18-15 mark all-time over OSU in regular season games played in the minor league stadiums in Oklahoma City ... However, OSU is 21-9 against OU in conference tournament games played against each other in the minor league ballparks in OKC ... After dropping the first game of the series last year 11-7, the Sooners picked up three-straight wins with 5-2 and 8-6 victories in the final two reular season games and an 11-3 win in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at the Ballpark in Arlington in Arlington, Texas ... Second baseman Eddie Cornejo ripped a double to score two runs in last year's 14-inning affair in Tulsa ... Lefty David Purcey picked up a win in the series with a decision in the tournament game ... Catcher Spencer Wyman also hit a two-run homer to provide the offense in that game.

Last Time Out

Oral Roberts recorded a key RBI-double in the seventh inning to break a 2-2 deadlock as they held on to defeat Oklahoma, 3-2, Tuesday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium. After getting the lead runner on base in four of the first six innings, the Sooners were unable to reach base in the final 2.2 frames in order to ignite a comeback. OU starting pitcher Buddy Blair suffered the loss to fall to 2-6 on the year.

In the seventh inning, Oral Roberts right fielder Mike Lamb dumped a two-out double into left field to scored second baseman Scott Campbell from second base for the tie-breaking run. Blair gave up his first hit in three innings with one out and then gave up a second after securing the second out of the frame. Blair was lifted following the second hit and junior righthander Casey Brown came on and surrendered the game-winning RBI-double to Lamb.

Oklahoma manufactured an early run in the first inning sparked by a lead off single by junior shortstop Denver Kitch (2-for-5). Kitch's speed allowed him to move all the way to third base on a sacrifice bunt by senior center fielder Reggie Willits' (1-for-2) which put him in position to score on senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo's (0-for-4) ground out to first base.

Blair pitched a clean game through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. Blair gave up a lead off single, walked the second batter and allowed his second hit of the inning to load the bases. With no outs, ORU shortstop Greg Plumley ripped a double down into the left field corner to plate the first two runs. However, a strong throw by OU left fielder Brandon Jones (1-for-4) and relayed in by Cornejo gunned down the third Golden Eagles baserunner attempting to score at home. Blair recovered and was able to secure two quick outs following the two scores. Oral Roberts took the lead for the first time in the game at 2-1.

The Sooners fought back at the top of the next inning and scored a run to knot the game at 2-2. OU mirrored ORU's effort and loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with no outs. OU was only able to muster one run in the frame after a failed sacrifice fly to shallow right field accounted for the first out before Jones grounded into a fielder's choice that allowed sophomore catcher Matt Bose (1-for-4) to come home from third base.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .267 with 29 home runs and 180 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 weekend due to a successful offensive series against Kansas ... Sooners in the Big 12 overall standings: Reggie Willits - first in stolen bases, fifth in on base percentage and sixth in batting average; Eddie Cornejo - 15th in batting average; Jay Yaconetti - tied-10th in home runs and Denver Kitch - tied-10th 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 last 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 this week's NCAA statistics, Willits ranked 21st 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 .313 (21-for-67) during that stretch and has been held hitless only once in 15 starts since his return ... Kish recorded his third-straight multi-hit effort with a 2-for-4 performance on Tuesday at ORU ... It also tied his career-long hitting streak of three games.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 5.19 ERA and has struck out 240 batters while walking 119 ... The staff's ERA ranks seventh in the Big 12 Conference overall and eighth in league games only ... Sooners in the Big 12 Conference standings: Jarod McAuliff - 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-9th in games started; David Purcey - tied-6th in appearances; Buddy Blair - tied-5th in complete games and tied-9th in games started ... 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 ... In this week's set of NCAA stats, McAuliff stood 30th in the nation in ERA ... 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 Oklahoma State

Twentieth-ranked Oklahoma State (27-13, 9-6) continues to make its mark on the national scene. However, the Cowboys have fallen on tougher times within the Big 12 Conference recently. OSU suffered series losses in their last two conference battles with nationally-ranked Texas A&M and Baylor as both schools took two of three from Oklahoma State.

OSU possesses a power-hitting lineup in which five of its starters has six or more home runs and 43 or more RBI. Outfielder Jose Virgil is one of those regulars as his seven home runs ties three other Cowboys for the team lead and his 40 RBI tops all sluggers. Virgil also leads the team in runs scored, slugging and on base percentage and stolen bases.

OSU will throw a pair of righthanders and one southpaw against OU during the series. The Cowboys' top starter, righty Scott Baker, will take the mound in Tulsa on Friday. Baker leads the starting trio in ERA (3.62), wins (7) and strikeouts (62). With a 3-3 record and a 4.83 ERA, lefthander Spencer Grogan will start Saturday's contest, while righthander Joe Weaver (3-3, 4.72 ERA) will start Sunday's tilt.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma And Oklahoma State Battle In Bedlam Baseball This Weekend

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