Sooners Set To Take On Golden Eagles In Tulsa

Oklahoma (12-9) takes a break from conference action and heads to Tulsa on Tuesday for the first of two mid-week contests against No. 26 Oral Roberts (16-4). The first game of the two game set begins at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at J.L. Johnson Stadium. ORU returns the trip to Norman next week on Wed., March 31.

ORU's 1978 College World Series team is scheduled to be honored prior to the game. Current OU head coach Larry Cochell will participate in that ceremony as he was the skipper for the Golden Eagles that season.

Last Time Out
A ninth inning Oklahoma rally fell short as the 23rd-ranked Sooners were edged 5-4 by top-ranked Texas Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park. After plating one run early in the frame, the Sooners failed to score the tying or winning runs after placing three men on third base in the inning with at least one out. The win helped Texas clinch the series victory over Oklahoma as the two teams split the first two games.

Texas hurler J. Brent Cox picked up his second save of the season, and third of the year, by collecting strikeouts for the final two outs of the inning with men at third base both times. Oklahoma had rallied for a run earlier in the frame as sophomore designated hitter Ryan Rohlinger (3-for-5) delivered a RBI-single to drive in redshirt-freshman Blake Hurlbutt (1-for-1), who had ignited the rally at the start of the inning with an infield single.

The loss dropped OU starting pitcher Mark Roberts to 4-2 on the year. Roberts pitched valiantly through the first seven frames and held UT to five hits while tying his career high of nine strikeouts for the second straight week. At one point between the first and third innings, he struck out six of seven batters including five in a row.

Roberts only troublesome inning occurred in the fifth frame when he allowed his only three runs. After easily securing the first out of the inning to lead off the frame, Roberts hit a batter and gave up consecutive RBI-singles to leftfielder Carson Kainer and centerfielder Drew Stubbs to allow the first two runs to score. Then after getting the second out, rightfielder Hunter Harris drove in another run with a two out single to give Texas a 3-2 lead.

OU struck first in the bottom of the second inning to take an early lead in the ballgame. Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (2-for-5) led off the frame with a single and advanced to second base on a walk to junior third baseman Matt Bose (1-for-3). Two batters later, sophomore catcher Brandon Lance (1-for-2) drove him in with a single.
Lance drove in his second run of the game in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly to center field to extend the Sooner lead to 2-0. The fly ball scored senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire (0-for-2) who led off the inning by being hit by a pitch.

After Texas scored another run in the top of the eighth inning to lead 4-2, Oklahoma answered in the bottom of the frame to draw within a run. Sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-3) hit a leadoff double and scored two batters later on a fielder's choice by Sheldon.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .270 on the season with 117 runs scored and 102 RBI ... The Sooners' leading hitter last week was junior first baseman Ole Sheldon ... Sheldon batted .471 (8-for-17) with three runs scored and three RBI ... The team's overall top hitter, senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire, had a career best eight-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday ... He batted .433 (13-for-30) with seven runs scored and RBI during the stretch ... McGuire, one of the league leaders in on-base percentage, has reached base in all but one game this season and in the last 14-straight games ... Several other Sooners have done notable jobs at reaching base consistently throughout the season ... Sophomore infielder Russell Raley has reached base safely in all but two games, while juniors Matt Bose and Ole Sheldon have been kept off the basepaths only three times this season ... Bose is the only regular starter batting over the .300 mark against both righthanded and lefthanded pitching ... He is currently hitting .409 against lefthanders and .326 against righthanders.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.78 ERA and has struck out 161 batters while walking 66 ... The staff's ERA was lowered 19 points after a successful weekend against top-ranked Texas ... Similarly, the bullpen's ERA was lowered by 21 points with several good relief efforts over the weekend ... OU posted a 2.67 ERA over the three-game set against Texas to lead all four Big 12 teams that opened conference play last weekend ... Junior reliever Jarod McAuliff moved up a spot on the school's all-time appearances list into sole possession of third place with 74 career outings with appearances in all three games over the weekend ... Senior starting hurler Mark Roberts also moved up a spot on OU's career appearances list with his 68th career outing to tie former Sooner Casey Mendenhall (1990-92) for sixth place all-time ... Roberts tied his career high of nine strikeouts for the second straight week on Sunday ... He has struck out eight or more batters for the last five consecutive games ... Likewise, junior lefty David Purcey also tied his career high in strikeouts in his most recent start against No. 1 Texas on Friday ... Purcey fanned 10 batters for the second time in his career and first time this season ... Roberts and Purcey have both kept their walk counts low while keeping their strikeout totals high in their last three starts ... Roberts has only walked three in that span (20.0 IP), while striking out 26 ... Purcey has only issued four free passes in his last 18.2 innings of work and struck out 22 ... Roberts walked his first batter in 15 innings in the sixth inning on Sunday.

Not Necessarily A Total Loss
Despite dropping two of three contests to top-ranked Texas last weekend, Oklahoma did a solid job of hanging with the No. 1 team in the country. Statistically, the Sooners outperformed the Longhorns at the plate and on the mound.

OU batted .242 during the series as opposed to UT's .216 average. Not to be outdone, Oklahoma's pitching staff outpitched Texas' heralded hurlers as the Sooners posted a 2.67 ERA, while the Longhorns registered a 2.77 ERA.

The Sooner offense produced the second-highest hit total that the Longhorn pitching staff has allowed an opponent in a three-game series this season. OU's 23 hits fell one short of Eastern Michigan's 24-hit mark posted two weeks ago and tied Hawaii's hit total from Texas' first series of the season. Texas entered the series as the top pitching staff in the league with a 2.50 ERA, while holding its opponents to a .206 hitting clip.

Oklahoma's pitching staff got its edge in relief as three Sooner relievers, juniors Jarod McAuliff and Daniel McCutchen and senior Casey Brown, combined to allow only two earned runs in seven innings for a 2.57 ERA. Comparatively, four Longhorn relievers relinquished five earned runs in nine frames over the weekend for a 5.00 ERA.

A Fresh Start
Due to several impressive relief starts to begin the season, freshman pitcher Ryan Mottern made an equally impressive starting debut on Saturday against No. 1 Texas. Despite not receiving a decision, the Palestine, Texas, native held the Longhorns to no runs on two hits to keep the Sooners in the game. OU eventually emerged victorious in the 3-2 come-from-behind win.

Mottern left the game after walking a batter to lead off the seventh frame after throwing 81 pitches and pitching a career high six innings. He successfully worked his way out of five jams with runners in scoring position during his stint.

At 1.62, Mottern owns the third best ERA on the Sooner pitching staff. He has only allowed 12 hits and three earned runs in 16.2 innings of work.

Breaking Out Of His Shel(don)
Although he has been one of the Sooners' best offensive weapons all season, junior first baseman Ole Sheldon broke out with some big performances at the plate last week. Sheldon completed a successful week at the plate hitting .471, which raised his batting average 39 points to its current mark of .318. He collected at least one hit in every game and recorded a run scored and RBI in all but one game. Additionally, he drove in runs in three of the four opportunities presented to him during the week.

Last Tuesday at TCU, Sheldon tied his career high in hits with a 3-for-4 effort.

In the weekend series against No. 1 Texas, Sheldon led all starters on both teams with a .385 average. He led or was tied for the team lead in runs scored, hits, RBI and slugging and on-base percentage.

His recent hitting progression extends back further than a week to the last six games. The Roseburg, Ore., native has collected a hit in every game during that stretch to tie his career best hitting streak and establish the best active mark on the team. He is hitting .423 (11-for-26) with four runs scored and five RBI during the streak.

A Glimpse Of The Future
Since making his return to action two weeks ago against Creighton, Ryan Rohlinger has shown glimpses of what the future holds for the sophomore infielder. In the three games in which he has played since, including two more starts, Rohlinger has collected a hit in every game and is batting .462 (6-for-13).

His most notable performance thus far occurred last Saturday in OU's 3-2 win over No. 1 Texas. Serving in the designated hitter role, Rohlinger stepped to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning with OU trailing 2-1 and drove in the winning runs. With runners on first and second base with two outs, Rohlinger laced a double to left field to drive in both baserunners.

He followed that performance with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate on Sunday and drove in another run in Oklahoma's second come-from-behind bid in the ninth inning.

Rohlinger made his first two starts at second base, but has since seen action in the designated hitter role in the last two games.

Tough On The Competition
Although Oklahoma dropped two out of three contests to 2003 College World Series participant Texas last weekend, the Sooners continue to own a respectable season mark of 6-3 against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament last year. The record also includes victories over nationally-ranked foes Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State and Georgia Tech.

OU is slated to face six more teams this season that advanced to regionals last year including Oral Roberts, Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M, Wichita State and Nebraska.

Additionally, OU is 4-2 this year against nationally-ranked teams.

Chart Climbers
A pair of Oklahoma hurlers, senior Mark Roberts and junior Jarod McAuliff, have a chance to continue to leave lasting marks on the Oklahoma program. Both pitchers will have the opportunity this season to improve their standings on several of the school's career pitching charts.

Roberts, a four-year veteran on the squad, entered the season in 10th place on the all-time appearances list and moved into a tie for sixth place with his 68th outing on Sunday. Serving in both starting and relief roles during his first three seasons, the Owasso, Okla., native is averaging 20.7 appearances a season which puts him on pace to break the career mark of 83 established by Evan Greusel from 1999-2002.

Roberts also broke into the school's top 10 in career strikeouts this season and continues to stand in seventh place with 248 strikeouts. He has also quietly moved into fifth place on OU's all-time innings pitched list with 284.1, needing only 36.2 more innings to take the lead.

McAuliff made his mark on the school record books last year and sits primed to continue his assault on the career charts with another standout season. With 15 outings to his credit this year to give him 74 for his career, McAuliff continued to move up the chart over the weekend into the third spot on the list. He needs just 10 more outings to capture the record which is held by former Sooner Evan Greusel (1999-2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Set To Take On Golden Eagles In Tulsa

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