No. 20 Oklahoma Looks To Avenge Loss To Texas-Arlington On Wednesday

The 20th-ranked Oklahoma (10-3) baseball team will look to avenge an earlier loss to Texas-Arlington (7-6) on Wednesday as the Sooners host the Mavericks at 3 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The contest is the fourth in OU's current seven-game homestand.

UTA edged OU by a 5-4 count last week in Arlington, Texas, in the first game of the two-game set. Texas-Arlington is scheduled to host Baylor on Tuesday night before heading to Norman on Wednesday.

Wednesday's game will bring the debut of $.50 cent hot dogs and cokes day at the ballpark. It is also Website Wednesday where fans can present a SoonerSports.com pop-up coupon for a regular adult general admission ticket of $2 ($3 off the regular price). The promotion is based on ticket availability and limited to a maximum of four people per bulletin.

Additionally, Baseball Bingo presented by Gordmans will give fans a chance to win a $10 gift card from Gordmans during the game.

Setting The Scene
DATE: March 10
FIRST PITCH: 3 p.m.
BALLPARK: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
RADIO: There will be broadcast over the radio or the Internet.
TELEVISION: None, however, The O-Zone, Oklahoma's subscription-based premium content area within SoonerSports.com, will air the game.
LIVE STATS: Live Stats, which can be accessed through soonersports.com, will be run during the game to provide fans live updates on the game's progress.
RANKINGS: Oklahoma is ranked 17th in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll, 19th by the NCBWA, 20th by Baseball America and 21st by Collegiate Baseball. Texas-Arlington is not ranked in any of the polls.
TEXAS-ARLINGTON SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma owns a 13-7 all-time series edge over Texas-Arlington ... The two teams have competed in a regular home-and-home series in six of the last seven years ... The one year they did not reciprocate home games, in 1999, OU competed in a tournament hosted by UTA ... During OU head coach Larry Cochell's 14 years at the helm, the Sooners are 6-5 against the Mavericks ... UTA has won the last five-straight in the series to pick up their wins against Cochell ... The Mavericks swept a pair last year for the second season in a row ... They picked up an 11-9 win in the last meeting in Norman by coming from behind and scoring three late runs in the final two innings for the victory ... Contrary to the game at L. Dale Mitchell Park, the Mavericks jumped out to an early lead at home and held on for a 10-7 win over the Sooners at Clay Gould Ballpark in the first of the two meetings between the teams last year ... Russell Raley and LaFringe Hayes were the only two returning Sooners that had productive offensive efforts against the Mavericks last year ... Raley collected at least one hit in each game and scored three runs ... Hayes went 1-for-4 at the plate and contributed a run scored and RBI in one game against UTA ... The Mavericks edged the Sooners, 5-4, a week ago in Arlington in the first game of the two-game series this year ... Junior shortstop Brenan Herrera accounted for three of the team's eight total hits in the game ... He also added a run scored and a RBI to his career high hit effort ... Senior reliever Mike Swindell suffered the loss after giving up two late runs to UTA ... Junior Daniel McCutchen made his first start on the mound in the game.

Last Time Out
After splitting the first two games of the series with UC-Riverside, the 16th-ranked Oklahoma baseball team finished strong in the finale and defeated the Highlanders 5-1 at L. Dale Mitchell Park Sunday afternoon. Sooner starting pitcher Mark Roberts (3-1) picked up his third straight win after logging six innings with nine hits, two walks and equalling his season best with eight strikeouts. Oklahoma's defense assisted Roberts in his outing by turning four key double plays, one shy of tying the school record.

Oklahoma gave Roberts all the run support he needed in the first inning with a three run frame. Junior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (1-for-4) and sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-4) collected back-to-back singles to lead off OU's half of the inning. With both baserunners in scoring position following junior first baseman Ole Sheldon's (0-for-3) sacrifice bunt, junior third baseman Matt Bose (1-for-3) knocked in both players with a single to left field for the 2-0 lead. Junior shortstop Brenan Herrera (1-for-4) then brought Bose in with a RBI-single to extend the lead to 3-0.

OU added single runs in the third and sixth frames to cushion the lead. In the third inning, Sheldon led things off by reaching base on an error. After a sacrifice bunt and single moved him over to third base, Sheldon came home after a throw down to second base by the UCR catcher, in an attempt to catch OU senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire (2-for-4) stealing, sailed over the second baseman and into center field.

The Sooners took advantage of another Highlanders error in the sixth inning to score the fifth and final run. Herrera reached on an error by the UCR shortstop and, after moving over to third base on a single by junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-2), scored on a squeeze bunt by sophomore pinch hitter LaFringe Hayes (0-for-0).

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .266 on the season with 79 runs scored and 66 RBI ... The team's top hitter last week was junior shortstop Brenan Herrera ... Herrera batted .308 (4-for-13) for the week with a pair of runs scored and RBI ... His week included a standout performance at UTA where he collected a career high three hits ... He also scored a run and added a RBI ... His other RBI during the week came in the Sooner' key three-run first inning on Sunday in the series clinching win over UCR ... A pair of Sooners enjoyed a good hitting series against the Highlanders over the weekend ... Juniors Eric Thornton and Ole Sheldon both batted .400 or better over the three games ... Thornton collected at least one hit in every game, including a key two-hit performance on Friday night ... His two hits in the contest drove in three runs, including the game-winner ... Sheldon accounted for the other RBI in the series opener ... His three-hit effort in the game was his second in a week ... He also scored at least one run in each game ... Sophomore Jon Shackelford hit his first career home run in Saturday's game against UCR in only his second plate appearance.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.31 ERA and has struck out 100 batters while walking 42 ... The bullpen lowered its ERA by 33 points over the weekend ... Senior Mark Roberts and junior David Purcey proved what a difference good starting pitching can make ... The duo combined for a 1.54 ERA and recorded a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4:1 in the Sooners' two wins over the weekend ... Junior pitcher Jarod McAuliff moved up two more spots on the school's all-time appearances list into a tie for fifth place with former Sooner Casey Mendenhall (1990-92) with two more appearances last weekend ... McAuliff's scoreless innings streak ended at 12.1 frames when he was charged with his first run of the season on Friday night ... The stretch is a career best for the righthanded closer ... Roberts' eight strikeouts against UC-Riverside moved him up a spot on the OU career strikeout list into a tie for ninth place ... He tied former Sooner Marty Kunkler (1974-76) with 230 for his career ... Junior Charlie House and freshman Charles Benoit both turned in impressive relief outings on Saturday ... Both pitchers tossed two innings of scoreless relief after UC-Riverside exploded for seven runs in one inning earlier in the game ... After taking a turn as a starter last week at UTA, junior righthander Daniel McCutchen continued to perform well in relief duty over the weekend ... McCutchen owns the second best ERA in the bullpen at 1.12 and has recorded seven scoreless innings out of his eight total frames in relief ... He also owns the relief staff's lowest opponent batting average against at .154.

Don't Forget About The Defense
The Sooner defense was key in the team's 5-1 win over the UC-Riverside Highlanders on Sunday. They turned four double plays in the game, falling one double play shy of tying the school's single-game record.

Creighton & Texas Series Start Times Set
The start times for the next two Oklahoma baseball home weekend series against Creighton and Texas were released on Monday. Beginning with this weekend's three-game set against Creighton, Saturday's contest is now scheduled to start at noon, while first pitch on Sunday is slated for 1 p.m. The series opener is still scheduled for its original start time of 3 p.m. on Friday.

The following weekend, March 19-21, Oklahoma will host Texas in a three-game series to open Big 12 Conference play. Friday's game has been changed from a previously set 3 p.m. start time to 6:30 p.m. The final two games of the series have been set for 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

All games will be played at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Tough On The Competition
With a 2-1 series victory over UC-Riverside this weekend, Oklahoma improved its season mark to 5-1 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 seven more teams this season that advanced to regionals last year including Texas, Oral Roberts, Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M, Wichita State and Nebraska.

RBI Guys
Oklahoma's top two leaders in RBI, juniors Matt Bose and Brenan Herrera, both subscribe to the same success story when it comes to driving in runs. Both players own solid averages in key RBI situations.

Bose, who leads the team with 12 RBI, is batting .500 (6-for-12) with runners in scoring position and .833 (5-for-6) with a runner on third base and less than two outs.

Similarly, Herrera, who trails Bose by only one RBI with 11, is hitting at a .333 (6-for-18) clip with runners in scoring position. With a runner at third base and less than two outs, the Sooners' starting shortstop's average rises to .455 (5-for-11).

Both Sooners each have two game-winning RBI to their credit on the season.

Roberts On A Roll
Senior starting pitcher Mark Roberts has jumped out to an impressive start in his final campaign. Roberts leads the Sooner staff in victories with a 3-1 record after winning his third-straight decision on Sunday. During the three game stretch, the righthander has recorded a 1.29 ERA while allowing only 20 hits and striking out 21 batters in 21 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .241 against him.

In his latest outing against UC-Riverside, the Owasso, Okla., native lowered his season ERA seven points by allowing only one run in six innings pitched. The run was just the first earned run he had allowed in the last 16 innings pitched. Roberts also tied his season high of eight strikeouts for the second consecutive start and lasted at least six innings for the third straight outing.

His season numbers rank him as one of the top pitchers in the Big 12 Conference. Roberts currently ranks tied for third in the league in wins, fifth in ERA, tied for sixth in strikeouts and 10th in innings pitched.

Tough Luck Sooner
Although starting pitcher David Purcey suffered his second-straight no-decision on Friday, the junior lefty again put the Sooners in position to come out with the victory. Purcey pitched 5.2 strong innings and allowed only six hits, one earned run, walked two and tied his season high in strikeouts for the second consecutive week with eight. His outing was additionally highlighted by a string of six straight strikeouts from the first to the third inning. The Dallas, Texas, native left the contest with Oklahoma trailing UC-Riverside, 2-1, as the Sooners would eventually come out on top, 4-3.

Two weeks ago at then-13th ranked Cal State Fullerton, Purcey left the game in the seventh inning with the game tied at 1-1 after holding the Titans to only two hits through the first six frames and tossing a perfect game through the first 3.2 innings. OU also won this game 5-1 in 10 innings.

The Sooners are 4-0 this season when Purcey starts.

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 sole possession of the No. 8 spot with his 66th 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 two weeks ago and moved into a tie for ninth place on the list with eight more strikeouts on Sunday. He is now tied with former Sooner Marty Kunkler (1974-76) with 230 for his career.

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 nine outings to his credit this year to give him 68 for his career, McAuliff continued to move up the chart last weekend and climbed two more spots into a tie for fifth with former Sooner Casey Mendenhall (1990-92). McAuliff's nine saves in 2003 placed him in third on OU's career saves chart and his 35 outings last year, which ranks third on the single-season list, allowed him to crack the top 10 in appearances this season.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 20 Oklahoma Looks To Avenge Loss To Texas-Arlington On Wednesday

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