Oklahoma Hosts Baylor In Weekend Set

The Baylor Bears (9-14, 2-1 Big 12) come to town this weekend for a three-game set against Oklahoma (12-10, 1-2 Big 12) at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The series opener on Friday has changed from a 6:30 p.m. start time to a 7 p.m. first pitch. Saturday's game is slated for 2 p.m., while Sunday's finale will begin at 1 p.m.

Every game a fan will have the chance to win a Russ Ortiz or Mark Redman autograph baseball, while every Sunday a fan will have the opportunity to win an Ortiz or Redman autograph picture.

O-Zone Live Broadcast

Baseball Bingo presented by Gordmans will be played during the weekend where participants will have a chance to win a $10 gift card from Gordmans and OU gift packs.

Sunday's game is designated as Church Bulletin Day. Fans that present a church bulletin at the gate will receive a regular adult general admission ticket for $2 ($3 off the regular price). The promotion is based on ticket availability and limited to a maximum of four people per bulletin.

Setting The Scene
DATES: March 26-28
FIRST PITCHES: Friday at 7 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 series will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with Mike Treps calling the action. The broadcasts can also be heard on Oklahoma's official web site www.soonersports.com.
TELEVISION: None, however, the O-Zone, Oklahoma's subscription-based premium content area within SoonerSports.com, will air the entire series.
LIVE STATS: Live Stats, which can be accessed through SoonerSports.com, will be run during the series to provide fans live updates on the game's progress.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma and Baylor are not ranked in any of the major polls.
BAYLOR SERIES NOTES: Baylor holds the edge in the all-time series, 24-19 ... Oklahoma is 13-14 versus Baylor during OU head coach Larry Cochell's 14-year tenure ... Since joining the Big 12 Conference, OU is 8-14 against Baylor ... Baylor holds a 6-4 edge in the last 10 meetings ... OU owns an 11-5 lead in the series in Norman ... The Sooners emerged with a series victory in 2002 after taking two out of three games the last time the two teams played at L. Dale Mitchell Park ... OU was swept last year in a three-game set in Waco ... Jarod McAuliff suffered the game one loss on the mound after allowing the winning run to score in the ninth inning in the 6-5 Baylor victory ... The Sooners lost another tight one in game two, 4-3 ... Mike Swindell made his first start on the mound in the Sunday finale ... Oklahoma dropped that contest, 10-3 ... OU sophomore second baseman Russell Raley and Baylor redshirt-freshman outfielder Chase Gerdes were teammates at Uvalde High School.

Last Time Out
A ninth-inning rally came up short for the Sooners for the second-straight game as No. 26 Oral Roberts downed Oklahoma, 6-4, Tuesday night at J.L. Johnson Stadium. The Sooners played from behind for most of the night as the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 6-2 lead late in the game. Oklahoma plated single runs in the seventh and eighth innings but were unable to convert in their final turn at bat.

Junior third baseman Matt Bose (1-for-3) led off the Sooners' half of the ninth inning with a double. Junior shortstop Brenan Herrera (0-for-3) and sophomore centerfielder Scott Rooker (0-for-1) then loaded the bases by drawing walks. With one out, ORU reliever Sean Sorrow picked up his first save of the season by striking out senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire (1-for-5) looking and getting sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-5) to fly out for the final out.

Two of OU's runs in the games were scored on solo home runs by junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (2-for-4) and junior desginated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-3). Sheldon's shot led off the second inning to give OU an early 1-0 lead. Sheldon's homer extended his career high hitting streak to seven games.

Thornton drove his pitch to left field for his team-leading third roundtripper of the season to lead off the seventh inning.

The Golden Eagles put together a two out rally in the third frame to take the lead in the game for good. Centerfielder Matt VanDerBosch got the rally going with a single which was followed by a walk to second baseman Brian Hanson. The pair scored in the following at bat on a double down the left field line by shortstop Grant Plumley. First baseman Josh Lex then blooped a single into center field to drive in Plumley for the 3-1 advantage.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .268 on the season with 121 runs scored and 106 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 ... Sheldon owns the best active hitting streak on the team at seven games ... He is hitting at a .433 (13-for-30) clip with five runs scored and seven RBI during that stretch ... 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 15-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 .329 against righthanders ... Junior designated hitter Eric Thornton went deep for his team-leading third home run of the season on Tuesday at ORU ... Thornton and sophomore LaFringe Hayes are the most reliable of the Sooners' pinch hitters this season ... Both sluggers are batting .364 (4-for-11) in a reserve capacity ... Hayes, however, has been the more productive of the two with his turns at bat ... He has driven in three runs with his four hits and has also drawn a pair of walks ... Hayes singled in a run in his most recent pinch hitting appearance on Tuesday at Oral Roberts.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.86 ERA and has struck out 175 batters while walking 71 ... 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 ... On Tuesday, five OU hurlers combined to strikeout a season high 14 batters in the game ... Eight of the strikeouts came from starter David Purcey, while senior Mike Swindell and junior Daniel McCutchen accounted for the other six ... 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, Purcey also tied his career high in strikeouts in his start against No. 1 Texas on Friday ... Purcey fanned 10 batters for the second time in his career and first time this season ... He followed that performance with an eight strikeout effort at ORU on Tuesday ... 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 17.0 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 seven 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 .433 (13-for-30) with five runs scored and seven 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 four games in which he has played since, including three more starts, Rohlinger has collected a hit in all but one game and is batting .375 (6-for-16).

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 has made his a pair of starts at second base and in the designated hitter role as well as one start in left field on Tuesday at ORU.

Tough On The Competition
Although Oklahoma dropped two out of three contests to 2003 College World Series participant Texas last weekend and a game against ORU on Tuesday, the Sooners continue to own a respectable season mark of 6-4 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 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

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