Baseball Takes Winning Streak On The Road To Kansas

Winners of their last four straight, the Oklahoma Sooners (16-10, 4-2 Big 12) head to Jayhawk territory to take on Kansas (22-11-1, 1-2 Big 12) over the weekend for a three-game series. Friday and Saturday's contests are slated to start at 6 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark, while Sunday's contest is due to begin at 1 p.m.

Setting The Scene
DATES: April 2-4
FIRST PITCHES: Friday and Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
BALLPARK: Hoglund Ballpark (2,500)
LOCATION: Lawrence, Kan.
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.
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 is not ranked in any of the major polls, but is receiving votes in the NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN polls. Kansas is only receiving votes in the NCBWA poll.
KANSAS SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma is 130-78-1 all-time against Kansas ... That total includes a 56-39-1 mark in Lawrence ... Under head coach Larry Cochell, OU is 30-21 versus KU ... The last time OU swept KU was in 2001 ... Oklahoma took two out of three in its last trip to Lawrence in 2002 ... The Sooners have taken at least two-of-three contests from the Jayhawks every year in Big 12 Conference history except for last year ... Kansas took two out of three from Oklahoma last year in Norman ... KU secured bookend victories in the series winning 11-4 on Friday and 16-6 on Sunday ... OU won the middle contest, 10-8 ... The Sooners scored runs in five of their last six innings to overcome a 7-0 deficit for the victory ... Jarod McAuliff picked up the save while closing out the game for David Purcey who earned the victory ... Andrew McGuire scored the winning run in the seventh inning.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .274 on the season with 148 runs scored and 128 RBI ... The offense raised its season average by four points by batting .295 during the Baylor series ... In the second game of the Baylor series, the two teams combined for a Big 12 Conference season best 28 hits ... However, both teams also struck out a league season high 20 times ... For the second consecutive week, the Sooners' leading hitter was junior first baseman Ole Sheldon ... Sheldon batted .529 (9-for-17) with five runs scored and six RBI ... The top four batters in the lineup last week, including Sheldon, senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire, sophomore second baseman Russell Raley and sophomore leftfielder Ryan Rohlinger, combined to bat .338 with 18 runs scored and 13 RBI ... The quartet accounted for nearly 60 percent of the team's runs scored and RBI during the week ... Although not credited with any RBI, two of Raley's hits in the Baylor series opener allowed three runs to score ... Raley tied his career high of three RBI in the next game on his three run homer, his first roundtripper of the year ... McGuire is adapting well to his new leadoff role ... He has collected a hit in every game, scored eight runs and drawn four walks in the last five games in which he has batted at the top of the order ... The Sherman, Texas, native has scored a pair of runs in the last four straight games ... McGuire extended his streak of reaching base safely to 20-straight games on Wednesday versus Oral Roberts ... The league's fourth best performer in on-base percentage, McGuire has only been kept off base in one game this year ... Several other Sooners have done notable jobs at reaching base consistently throughout the season ... Raley and junior Matt Bose have been kept off the basepaths only three times this season, while Sheldon has reached base safely in all but four games ... Bose and Sheldon are the only two regular starters batting over the .300 mark against both righthanded and lefthanded pitching ... Bose is currently hitting .417 against lefthanders and .317 against righthanders ... Sheldon is hitting at a .333 clip against lefties and at a .360 clip against righties ... Sheldon raised both averages more than 22 points with a successful week at the plate last week ... McGuire and junior designated hitter Eric Thornton went deep for their team-leading third home runs of the season last week.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.96 ERA and has struck out 212 batters while walking 85 ... The Sooner staff owns the best strikeouts per nine innings average in the Big 12 Conference at 8.22 ... The bullpen lowered its ERA by 13 points during the Baylor series ... The bullpen came through again on Wednesday as five relievers combined to hold Oral Roberts scoreless over the final seven frames to allow Oklahoma to climb back into the game and earn its fourth straight come-from-behind win ... Sooner relievers have almost been automatic in coming in and shutting the door on inherited runners during conference play ... The staff has only allowed one of its six inherited runners to score in its first two conference series, including stranding all four last weekend against Baylor ... Senior righthander Mark Roberts fanned eight or more batters for the fifth straight start last Friday ... Roberts continues to raise his strikeout-to-walk ratio by issuing only one walk in his latest start ... His ratio climbed from 6.3 to a team-leading 9.96 between his last two starts ... He has only walked two batters in his last three turns on the mound ... Roberts moved into sole possession of fourth place on the school's career innings pitched list and fifth place on the all-time appearances chart last week ... The Owasso, Okla., native needs to log only 29.2 more frames to break the innings pitched record ... McAuliff is expected to break the appearances mark with six more appearances ... The junior closer moved into a tie for second place with former Sooner Rocky Cherry (1999-2002) with his 78th career outing on Wednesday ... McAuliff is averaging three appearances a week over the last month ... Junior starting pitcher David Purcey made his first mid-week start of the year last Tuesday at Oral Roberts in an experimental measure to ensure the Sooners are more competitive in their mid-week contests, in which they are 1-4 on the year ... The mid-week contests would normally have been a bullpen day for the southpaw.

Last Time Out
The Oklahoma Sooners used a two run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge the 25th-ranked Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, 5-4, Wednesday night and complete their fourth comeback victory in a row. Pinch hitter Blake Hurlbutt drove in the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap off a two run frame to provide the difference. Oklahoma had fallen behind by three runs after providing the margin by committing five errors in the second inning.

For the fourth straight game, reigning Big 12 Pitcher of the Week Jarod McAuliff closed out the game to pick up his third save. Junior reliever Daniel McCutchen (1-1) was credited with the win for OU which improved its season mark to 16-10.

Hurlbutt's groundout to the pitcher, with a the squeeze play on, provided the necessary at bat to successfully drive in Sheldon from third base for the game-winning run. Sophomore leftfielder Ryan Rohlinger (1-for-4) scored the first of the two runs in the inning after leading off with a single. He scored two batters later on junior third baseman Matt Bose's (1-for-4) RBI-single.

Bose's hit extended his hitting streak to eight games, the best active streak on the team.

OU scored a run in the first inning for the fourth straight game to knot the game at 1-1. Leadoff hitter Andrew McGuire (1-for-3) successfully reached base by drawing a walk. He scored in the next at bat as the ORU rightfielder threw the ball into the Oklahoma dugout attempting to get him out at third base on a single by sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (3-for-4).

After the Golden Eagles manufactured a run in the top of the first inning, they took advantage of five Sooner miscues in the second frame to score three runs and go up 4-1. OU's defense allowed four batters to reach base due to the errors and the fifth error was made on a poor throw down to second base in an attempt to get the lead runner out.

Down, but not out, the Sooners rebounded with two runs in the next inning to draw closer at 4-3. Oklahoma started off the inning with two consecutive hits by junior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (1-for-3) and McGuire. Raley then made it three straight with a RBI-single to drive in Scuderi. An out and a walk later, Bose grounded out to bring in McGuire for the second run.

The score remained 4-3 over the next four innings as a host of OU pitchers entered the game. After freshman Ryan Mottern pitched the third inning, three more Sooner hurlers, including freshman Charles Benoit, juniors Tyler Gooch and McCutchen, combined to hold the Golden Eagles scoreless during that time.

McCutchen allowed only one hit, a walk, while striking out one, to earn the win.

Breaking Down The Baylor Series
Oklahoma completed its first three-game sweep of Baylor in Big 12 Conference history over the weekend. The sweep also helped improve the Sooners' conference record to 4-2, its best mark through two Big 12 series since the 2000 season, and vaulted them into a first place tie with Texas in the league standings.

All of the Sooners' victories in the series were come-from-behind wins. Friday and Sunday's tilts ended with a 5-4 score with OU scoring the winning run in the final three innings. Friday night, a two-base error allowed a pair of runs to come home for the win in the bottom of the ninth inning, while Oklahoma benefitted from a two out hit in the seventh frame to drive in the game-winning run.

In Saturday's 12-11 OU win, the Sooners erased an 11-3 deficit to complete its largest comeback in seven years. The rally was sparked by a six run frame in the fifth inning which tied the team's season mark for most runs scored in one inning. The last time Oklahoma rallied from a deficit larger than eight runs was during the 1997 season when OU trailed by nine runs to Kansas to come from behind and defeat the Jayhawks, 13-12.

Offensively, the Sooners batted .295 against a tough Baylor pitching staff that entered the weekend ranked third in the conference. Oklahoma broke out the bats early in the games and scored in the first inning in all three contests to account for seven total early runs. Another key to the offense's performance over the three games was OU's ability to come through with some clutch hitting with eight two out RBI base hits, including two each from junior infielders Matt Bose and Ole Sheldon.

On the mound, the Sooner relievers carried the team to victory in each game by shutting the Bears down and allowing OU to climb back into each game. The relief staff was credited with all three wins in the series sweep with junior closer Jarod McAuliff picking up two wins and senior Casey Brown picking up the third victory. McAuliff also closed out the final game for his second save. The quartet of McAuliff, Brown, junior Daniel McCutchen and senior Charlie House, each pitched at least one inning and combined to give up only one earned run in 10 frames for a 0.90 ERA.

Oklahoma-Missouri Game To Be Televised By Fox Sports Net
The second game of the Oklahoma-Missouri series next weekend will kickoff Fox Sports Net's coverage of Big 12 Conference baseball this season as announced by the league office last week. Saturday's game between the Sooners and the Tigers will be the first of three regular season Big 12 contests to be televised by the network. Additionally, the two semifinal games and the championship game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament in late May will be aired by Fox Sports Net.

Former Houston Astros pitcher Greg Lucas and former manager Larry Dierker will form the primary announcing team. Lucas will perform the play-by-play duties and Dierker will handle the expert analysis.

The regular season games will be broadcast by network affiliates in Big 12 markets, while the tournament games will be distributed nationally on FSN's regional networks.

McAuliff Named Big 12 Conference Pitcher Of The Week
Oklahoma closer Jarod McAuliff's standout series performance against Baylor over the weekend earned him Big 12 Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week honors as released by the league office on Tuesday. McAuliff's weekend long effort was key in the Sooners' first sweep of the Bears' in its Big 12 history. The three-game sweep also helped vault the Sooners into a first place tie in the conference standings with Texas. McAuliff shared the distinction with Oklahoma State starting pitcher Spencer Grogan, while Kansas State outfielder Steve Murphy picked up the player of the week honor.

Credited with two wins and a save in the series, McAuliff allowed only four hits in 5.1 innings of work and struck out five while only issuing one walk. He retired the last 11-straight batters in the series and secured outs at several key moments.

In one of the more critical moments in the series, McAuliff entered game two with runners at the corners and two outs in the top of the eighth inning with the game tied at 11. He fanned the Baylor batter for the final out of the frame to end the promising Baylor threat. The Sooners went on to win the game 12-11, capping off the program's largest comeback (eight runs) in seven years.

The pair of wins improved his season record to a perfect 5-0 on the season to lead the team in that category. The three appearances also pulled him to within seven outings of breaking the school's all-time appearances record.

Surging Sooner
Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon continued his recent hitting surge last week. For the second straight week, Sheldon batted over the .471 mark and led the team in hitting. He paced the Sooners offensively with a .529 (9-for-17) average and hit a series best .538 during against Baylor. He also led the team in hits, RBI, slugging and on-base percentage during the week.

As the team's reigning RBI leader, Sheldon drove in at least one run in all four games and scored at least one run in all but one game. He delivered in all six RBI opportunities presented to him during the week, including four times during the Baylor series.

Sheldon was a key figure in OU's first series sweep of Baylor in its Big 12 Conference history. On Sunday, he was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of runs scored and drove in the game-winning run to help the Sooners complete their third straight comeback in the series.

The successful week at the plate continued to raise his season batting average 27 points to help him overtake the team lead in hitting. He also recorded three multi-hit games during the week, including a three hit and a career high four hit effort, to increase his team lead in the category to 11 games.

The Silent Type
Junior third baseman Matt Bose is quietly putting together his most solid season as a Sooner. The Midland, Texas, native has been one of the team's most consistent offensive and defensive performers the entire season.

Offensively, he has hit safely in all but three games this season and his batting average dipped below .300 for just the first five games of the year. His average has hovered above the .350 mark since reaching the plateau over two weeks ago. Additionally, he tied his career high hitting streak of nine games (also a team best) earlier in the season and has put together another impressive active streak of eight straight.

Although not currently leading the team in any major offensive categories, Bose ranks second on the club in RBI, walks and slugging and on-base percentage and appears in the top five in five other categories.

After hitting .304 during the 2002 season enroute to Freshman All-American honors, Bose battled through the dreaded sophomore slump last year. He hit better than .300 for the first five weeks of the 2003 season before falling below the mark and only hitting above it just three more times the rest of the season to finish at .286.

Captain Comeback
Not only is Ryan Rohlinger becoming well-known for his comeback from injury, but the sophomore is also earning a reputation for comebacks on the playing field as well. In the progress of making a return from a fractured right arm suffered during the preseason, Rohlinger has been a monumental figure in two of OU's most important come-from-behind victories in the last two weeks.

Last Saturday, Rohlinger accounted for the final three runs in OU's eight-run comeback against Baylor in the 12-11 Sooner victory. He saved his first two career home runs for the right moment as his first one, a two run shot in the seventh inning, tied Saturday's game at 11. His second homer, a solo job, provided the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap off the team's largest comeback in seven years.

His difference-making home run was his second key hit to win the game in conference action in the last week. The previous Saturday against top-ranked Texas, he delivered a two run game-winning double in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap off a three run rally to defeat the Longhorns, 3-2.

The West Bend, Wis., native has become a regular in the starting lineup over the last six games and has already become one of the team's top offensive threats. In the nine total games in which he has played, Rohlinger is batting .364 (12-for-33) with five runs scored and six RBI. He currently leads the team in hitting in Big 12 Conference action with a .474 average.

Tough On The Competition
After winning its last four games over Baylor and Oral Roberts, Oklahoma continues to own a solid season mark of 10-4 against teams that participated in the NCAA Tournament last year. The record also includes victories over nationally-ranked foes Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Texas.

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

Additionally, OU is 5-2 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 sole possession of fifth place with his 69th 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 eclipse 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 256 strikeouts. He has also quietly moved into fourth place on OU's all-time innings pitched list with 291.1, needing only 29.2 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 19 outings to his credit this year to give him 78 for his career, McAuliff continued to move closer to the all-time record and now stands in a tie for second place on the list with former Sooner Rocky Cherry (1999-2002), six more appearances shy of breaking the mark. The record is held by former Sooner Evan Greusel (1999-2002).

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Baseball Takes Winning Streak On The Road To Kansas

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