Sooners Host Red Raiders In Final Weekend Homestand

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May 1, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma (16-25, 4-14 Big 12) and Texas Tech (26-20, 7-13 Big 12) engage in a pivotal Big 12 Conference series battle this weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. The Sooners host the Red Raiders for their final three-game weekend set beginning Friday at 7:05 p.m. in what could decide the fate of both team's bids for a berth in the eight-team field of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament in Oklahoma City (May 21-25). The Red Raiders enter the weekend in eighth place and three games ahead of the ninth-place Sooners. Saturday's game is set to begin at 2 p.m. and Sunday's contest will start at 1 p.m.

DATES: May 2-4
FIRST PITCHES: Friday at 7:05 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 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: None.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma and Texas Tech are not ranked in any of the four major polls.
TEXAS TECH SERIES NOTES: Texas Tech leads the all-time series 20-13-1 ... The series only dates back to 1976 ... Oklahoma won those first two games in Norman, 3-0 and 7-0 ... Under Head Coach Larry Cochell, the Sooners are 10-19-1 against the Red Raiders ... In Big 12 Conference play, the Red Raiders lead 16-7-1 ... OU has never won a regular season series over Tech since the formation of the Big 12 in 1997 ... However, Oklahoma did defeat Texas Tech 19-17 for the inaugural Big 12 Conference Tournament title in 1997 ... At L. Dale Mitchell Park, TTU holds a slim 7-6-1 edge over OU ... The two teams split the series in Norman in 2001 at 1-1-1 ... The 7-7 tie in the series finale that year still stands as the only tie in Cochell's 13 years in Norman and only the fourth in his 37-year coaching career ... The Red Raiders swept the Sooners in a three-game set in Lubbock in 2002 ... Mark Roberts, David Purcey and Austin Mix each suffered losses in the series last year ... Eddie Cornejo was one of only a few Sooners to enjoy a good offensive series against the Red Raiders last season ... Cornejo batted .400 against Tech, including a 3-for-4 performance in the second game in the Saturday doubleheader.

Last Time Out

Despite out-hitting fourth-ranked Arizona State, the Oklahoma baseball team came up short on the scoreboard as they fell 9-4 to the Sun Devils Wednesday night at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark. The Sooner offense produced 11 hits, as opposed to the Sun Devils' nine, but at least one of ASU's hits was costly as a pinch hit grand slam home run in Arizona State's six-run seventh inning leveled the biggest blow to OU in the game.

The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie until the costly seventh inning for the Sooners. The Sun Devils plated six runs in the frame with four coming off pinch hitter Rod Allen's grand slam home run.

Down, but not out, the OU offense responded to ASU's big inning with a rally of its own in the bottom of the frame. Oklahoma junior shortstop Denver Kitch (0-for-4) drew a one out walk and moved to second on a single by senior center fielder Reggie Willits (2-for-4). Senior second baseman Eddie Cornejo (2-for-3) then stepped to the plate and brought Kitch home with a RBI-single which advanced Willits to second. One of sophomore right fielder Greg Kish's (3-for-4) career high three hits then loaded the bases for sophomore first baseman Matt Bose (3-for-5) who drove Willits in with a single, which also tied his career best for hits in a game. However, the two runs is all the Sooners managed as a ground ball double play ended the rally at two runs as OU cut the ASU lead in half at 8-4.

The four runs was as close as the Sooners came to catching the Sun Devils as ASU scored an unearned run in the top of the ninth inning for the final winning margin of victory.

Sooners At The Plate

As a team, Oklahoma is batting .267 with 31 home runs and 200 RBI ... OU's team batting average ranks 10th in the Big 12 Conference overall and league only standings ... Sooners in the Big 12 overall standings: Reggie Willits - first in stolen bases, fourth in on base percentage and 11th in batting average; and Eddie Cornejo - tied-14th in batting average ... Sooners in the Big 12 only standings: Willits - first in stolen bases; Cornejo - fifth in batting average, sixth in on base percentage, tied-9th in triples and tied-10th in walks; Kitch - tied in stolen bases; Brandon Jones - tied-4th in triples ... Sophomore utility player Matt Bose led the team in hitting last week and during the OSU series ... He hit .545 for the week and .467 during Bedlam ... He drove in at least one run in each game of the OSU series and tied a career high with three hits in Saturday's game ... Bose is also currently riding an eight-game hitting streak in which he is batting .394 (13-for-33) with two runs scored and five RBI ... He's one game shy of tying his career-high streak of nine games which he put together earlier this year ... Sophomore outfielder Greg Kish has been one of the team's leading hitters over the last two weeks ... He is batting .433 (13-for-30) in the last seven games ... Both Bose and Kish tied their career high in hits with three in Tuesday's game against Arizona State ... Jones is also beginning to heat up at the plate as well ... The sophomore outfielder is hitting at a .316 clip with four runs scored and RBI in his last six starts ... In this week's NCAA statistics, Willits ranked tied for 10th in the nation in stolen bases per game ... Willits had an eight-game hitting streak halted during the Kansas series ... He has since put together another seven-game stretch.

Sooners On The Mound

The Sooner pitching staff is currently sporting a 5.21 ERA and has struck out 262 batters while walking 131 ... 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, and ERA and tied-5th in saves; Mark Roberts - 24th in ERA, seventh in strikeouts, tied-7th in innings pitched and tied-9th in games started; David Purcey - tied-5th 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, fourth in ERA and tied-4th in saves; Roberts - tied-3rd in complete games, tied-5th in strikeouts, 9th in innings pitched, tied-10th in games started and 24th in ERA; Purcey - tied-3rd in appearances; and Blair - tied-10th in games started ... In this week's set of NCAA stats, McAuliff was tied for 28th in the nation in ERA ... McAuliff moved into a tie for fifth place on the school's single-season appearances record with his 28th outing of 2003 on Tuesday ... His save on Saturday also tied him for seventh on the single-season saves list ... The sophomore righty from Stillwater has only allowed one of his last six inherited runners to score ... Purcey made one of his more impressive outings of the season on Saturday ... He held the Cowboys scoreless over three innings and only allowed a pair of hits and walks while striking out four ... Blair turned in two of his better pitching performances of the season last week ... In garnering the mid-week start at ORU and starting the Sunday tilt of Bedlam, Blair posted almost identical lines in the games and put OU in position for a victory ... Last Tuesday, the junior lefty worked 6.2 quality innings and gave up three runs on five hits ... He gave up the same amount of hits and runs in Sunday's game in an inning less of work ... Junior righthander Mike Swindell made his first relief appearance in over a month in Sunday's win versus Oklahoma State ... Swindell relieved McAuliff after a run had scored and with a runner at first base and recorded the final three outs of the game for his second save ... It marked his first appearance in a relief role after making five straight starts as the No. 3 pitcher in the weekend rotation ... Swindell compiled a 0-4 record with a 9.36 ERA as a starter, however, his bullpen numbers still top the relief staff at 2-0 with a 1.47 ERA and two saves ... Tuesday's starting pitcher Austin Mix made his 68th career outing to move into a tie for fourth place on the school's all-time appearances list ... He was lifted after pitching 4.2 innings and giving up only two runs on four hits ... His three strikeouts also pulled him to within nine of breaking the school's career record ... Mix also moved to within 9.1 innings of breaking OU's all-time innings pitched mark.

About Texas Tech

Entering the month of April with a 20-12 overall record, Texas Tech (26-20, 7-13 Big 12) has fallen on tougher times over the past month. The Red Raiders went 6-8 during the month and have lost their last five conference series.

Pitching appears to be Tech's achilles heel as the Red Raider offense ranks fourth in the league standings and is sparked by one of the league's top hitters in outfielder Scooter Jordan. Jordan's .394 batting average ranks fifth-best in the Big 12, while fellow outfielder Cody Fuller is pushing OU's Reggie Willits for the league stolen base title as he sits in second place just three off Willits' pace.

The Red Raiders are prepared to start three righthanders on the mound against the Sooners this weekend. Nathan Fouts (4-4, 5.88) will start the series off on Friday, followed by Dusty Buck (3-2, 4.28 ERA) on Saturday and Steve Gooch (4-4, 4.08 ERA) on Sunday. All three pitchers started against the Sooners in 2002.

Special Promotions Weekend

The Sooners' final weekend homestand ends with a bang this weekend as the Oklahoma athletic department has several special events planned for the three games.

Saturday's contest has been dubbed the University of Oklahoma Salute to the Military Baseball Game. The Sooner baseball team will pay a special tribute to members of the armed forces this weekend by hosting the inaugural event which will include several special events to coincide with the game including an invitation-only baseball clinic for kids and a couple of skills contests that will feature members of the armed services as contestants.

Ticket prices have been reduced to $2 for those members of the military that attend the game (with proof of their military identification card). The discount will also be available for active duty military personnel and civilian Department of Defense employees throughout the three-game series with the Red Raiders.

Sunday's game will also be a special day for Sooner fans as the team will honor their six departing seniors prior to the contest. Infielder Luke Alexander, outfielder Matt Arkison, catcher Wayne Baker, infielder Eddie Cornejo, pitcher Austin Mix and outfielder Reggie Willits will all be honored in an on-field presentation before the game.

Baseball Bingo and the Big 12 Conference's "It's A Ball" promotion will be played throughout the weekend as fans will have the chance to win prizes from the Big 12 every game. OU Pom Pons will ge given away on Friday night. Team trading cards will be given away in Sunday's finale to the first 500 fans and an autograph session with the team will follow the game.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Host Red Raiders In Final Weekend Homestand

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