No. 13 Oklahoma To Defend First Place Standing In Lubbock

The 13th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (25-14, 12-3 Big 12) will be forced to defend their first place standing in the Big 12 Conference on the road in Lubbock, Texas, this weekend when they travel to face fifth place Texas Tech (25-12, 6-5 Big 12).

The three game series begins Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Dan Law Field, continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. and finishes off with a 1 p.m. contest on Sunday.

DATES: April 23-25
FIRST PITCHES: Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
BALLPARK: Dan Law Field (5,050)
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas
RADIO: The series will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with Mike Treps calling the action. The games can also be heard on Oklahoma's official web site www.SoonerSports.com.
TELEVISION: Saturday's game will be televised by the Red Raider Sports Television Network.
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 ranked 13th by Baseball America, 16th by the NCBWA, 24th by Collegiate Baseball and 25th in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll. Texas Tech is not ranked in any of the major polls, but is receiving votes in the latest NCBWA and Sports Weekly/ESPN polls.

TEXAS TECH SERIES NOTES: Texas Tech leads the all-time series 23-13-1 ... 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 13-19-1 against the Red Raiders ... In Big 12 Conference play, the Red Raiders lead 16-10-1 ... Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech 19-17 for the inaugural Big 12 Conference Tournament title in 1997 ... Oklahoma is 2-7 all-time in Lubbock ... The Red Raiders swept the Sooners in a three-game set in Lubbock in their last trip in 2002 ... OU had never won a regular season series over Tech since the formation of the Big 12 in 1997 until last year's three-game series sweep in Norman ... Oklahoma won the Friday night affair 4-1 behind the standout pitching performance of Mark Roberts ... Roberts earned the victory after allowing only one run on six hits in seven innings ... Jarod McAuliff closed out the game for his seventh save of the season ... Matt Bose and Russell Raley each knocked in runs in the game ... Raley went 2-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and a run scored in the 6-1 game two victory ... Casey Brown pitched a career high six innings and shutdown Tech to one run on four hits for the win in only his third career start ... David Purcey earned his first save of the year by working the final three frames ... McAuliff picked up the win in the 5-4 series finale ... Raley was again a key offensive performer in the game as he went 2-for-4 with another RBI.

Last Time Out
Thirteenth-ranked Oklahoma rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning but was unable to push the tying run across the plate and fell 5-4 to TCU Tuesday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners found themselves in an early four run hole after three innings that they were unable to overcome as four Horned Frog hurlers held OU's offense to six hits.

Oklahoma's ninth inning rally began with a one out walk to freshman catcher Josh Stinson (1-for-3) which was followed by three consecutive hit batters by TCU's closer Robbie Findlay to force home a run. With the bases still loaded sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-4) flew out to right field to score another run to bring the Sooners to within a run at 5-4. That's where the score would end as Findlay was able to get junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (1-for-3) to ground out to third base to end the game and pick up his sixth save.

Benoit (0-2) started the contest and experienced some control problems in the first two innings which contributed to three early Horned Frog scores. All three TCU runs came home on a wild pitch, passed ball and balk.

Benoit gave up a leadoff triple in the third inning which scored two batters later on a single by first baseman Chris Neuman making it a 4-0 ballgame in favor of TCU.

The Sooners got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning with one run to cut the Horned Frogs lead to 4-1. Sheldon walked to lead off the frame and moved around to third base on a wild pitch and a single by junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (1-for-3). Sheldon scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly to center field by freshman leftfielder Ryan Mottern (0-for-3).

After TCU plated another run in the top of the fifth inning, OU scratched for one run in the bottom half of the frame. Back-to-back doubles by sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger (1-for-4) and Raley put runners in scoring position with no outs. Sheldon hit into a fielder's choice to drive in Rohlinger for the second Sooner score.

Five Sooner relievers followed Benoit's two innings of work. Following the four early scores, seniors Charlie House and Casey Brown and juniors Tyler Gooch and Daniel McCutchen stabilized the game to hold TCU to only one run in the last seven frames. Brown worked the bulk of that stretch and gave up the lone run on five hits in 3.2 innings of work while striking out five. Gooch did not surrender a run in two innings to extend his scoreless innings streak to 10 frames.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .281 on the season with 235 runs scored and 204 RBI ... OU's offense has produced double-digit hit efforts in 12 of the last 16 contests, including a string of six straight which was recently snapped on Sunday at No. 13 Texas A&M ... Oklahoma also recorded 25 extra base hits during the five games last week to post the most extra base hits in a one week period this season ... The Sooners outperformed its Big 12 opponent for the fifth straight week at the plate by batting .288 as opposed to the Aggies' .280 batting average ... The team's two triples against A&M on Saturday tied the league's season game high mark ... OU's seven run ninth inning on Friday night marked the most runs the Sooners have scored in one inning this season ... The Sooners' leading hitter last week was junior designated hitter Eric Thornton ... Thornton hit at a .467 (7-for-15) clip with two runs scored and seven RBI ... Five of his seven hits during the week went for extra bases, including three doubles and two home runs ... Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon extended his career and team best hitting streak to 16 games by going 1-for-3 at the plate on Tuesday against TCU ... He is batting .493 (33-for-67) with 15 runs scored and 15 RBI during the streak ... It currently ties for the fourth best mark in the conference this year ... Junior centerfielder Jeff Scuderi had a career high 14-game hitting streak end on Sunday ... He hit .375 (18-for-48) with seven runs scored and 12 RBI during the stretch ... Senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire extended his streak of reaching base safely to 33-straight games on Tuesday ... McGuire has only been kept off base in one game this year ... Of his four home runs this season, sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger hit his third home run with game-winning implications on Sunday against No. 13 Texas A&M ... Rohlinger's first career grand slam completed a six-run inning to help OU take the lead for good after trailing A&M by three runs ... Earlier in the season, the West Bend, Wis., native hit his first two home runs, one to tie and one to win the game against Baylor, to help OU complete its largest comeback in seven years ... Freshman catcher Josh Stinson made the most of his three starts last week to improve his season offensive numbers ... After collecting only five hits in 22 games heading into last week, Stinson recorded seven hits in his last five games ... Included in this streak was a career high three hit performance against Air Force and a current career best five-game hitting streak ... The productive week raised his batting average 84 points.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.81 ERA and has struck out 342 batters while walking 134 ... The Sooner staff continues to own the best strikeouts per nine innings average in the Big 12 Conference at 8.61 ... The bullpen lowered its staff ERA by seven points during the Texas A&M series ... The Sooner pitching staff held the Big 12's second leading hitter, Texas A&M's Austin Boggs, to one hit in 12 at bats (.083) during the three game series ... Oklahoma's bullpen did not allow any of the five inherited runners during the Texas A&M series to score ... During conference play this season, Sooner relievers have only allowed four of the 24 inherited runners to score ... For the second straight week, senior reliever Charlie House entered the game after an opponent scored multiple runs to get the Sooners out of the jam by inducing an inning-ending double play ... Over his last eight appearances, House has stranded eight of nine inherited runners ... Likewise, junior closer Jarod McAuliff has not allowed his last five inherited runners to score in his last 11 appearances ... McAuliff ranks 32nd in the nation in ERA ... Righthanded reliever Mike Swindell has earned decisions in his last two conference appearances over the last two weekends ... The senior earned his first save of the season in OU's game two win against Missouri and was credited with the win in the team's A&M series finale victory ... In those two games, Swindell allowed only one run on five hits in 8.1 innings of work and struck out nine while walking only three ... Senior righthander Mark Roberts inched closer to breaking two of OU's prominent career pitching records in his latest start ... With his five strikeout performance through six frames last Friday at Texas A&M, Roberts moved to within seven innings of establishing a new career innings pitched record and 18 strikeouts of setting a new all-time strikeout mark ... Junior righthander Tyler Gooch tossed two scoreless frames on Tuesday against TCU to extend his scoreless innings streak to 10 frames ... Gooch has allowed only four hits and one walk while striking out nine during the stretch ...

A Season Of Firsts
The 2004 Sooner baseball squad has already accomplished several firsts in program history and several other feats that haven't happened in quite a while. Here's a brief look at what this team has already accomplished to this point of the season:
Oklahoma took two out of three at No. 13 Texas A&M last weekend to capture its fourth-straight conference series, a first in the Sooners' Big 12 Conference history.
The series win over the Aggies was the first time since the 2000 season that OU has won two conference road series. During the 2000 season, the Sooners were victorious in three Big 12 road series.
Earlier in the season, the Sooners swept three straight league opponents for the first time since 1984. That year Oklahoma won a pair of two-game sets against Oklahoma State and Kansas and a four-game series over Kansas State.
Oklahoma put together a nine-game winning streak in Big 12 play which is the first time since 1986 (when OU was a member of the Big Eight Conference) that the Sooners had won nine straight league games.

What A Difference A Year Makes
A year ago at this time, Oklahoma was battling for a Big 12 Conference Tournament berth and sat in ninth place in the league standings. At the same point of the season this year, the Sooners have improved their record by 10 games and sit atop of the Big 12 standings in first place.

Through 39 games a year ago, OU was batting .266 and the pitching staff owned an ERA of 5.17. In the same amount of games this seaeson, the Sooners' offense is hitting 15 points better at .281. However, the most significant difference has occurred on the mound where OU's pitchers have lowered their ERA over a full run and currently rank fifth in the Big 12 Conference with a staff ERA of 3.81.

Closing In On 500
With 498 wins as the skipper of the Sooners, head coach Larry Cochell is within two wins of reaching the 500 win mark at Oklahoma. The 500-win plateau will be the first time in his career that the 14-year OU captain has surpassed the milestone at any one school. In his six other head coaching assignments at the Division I level, the closest he came to amassing 500 victories was at Oral Roberts where he collected 428 wins in 10 seasons with the Golden Eagles.

Twenty-one year Sooner head coach Enos Semore holds the school record for coaching victories by an individual with 851 which he accomplished from 1968-1989.

King Of The Hill
Junior closer Jarod McAuliff became OU's all-time appearances leader with his 84th career outing on Sunday at No. 13 Texas A&M. He passed former Sooner Evan Greusel who previously held the record with 83 appearances from 1999-2002.

McAuliff's 24 appearances this season put the Stillwater, Okla., native over the mark in only his third year. His appearances total currently ranks first in the Big 12 Conference in games overall and he also owns the conference only mark with 10 appearances in league action.

As the team's designated closer over the last two years, McAuliff made his largest move up the appearances chart last year by making 35 outings out of the bullpen. The total fell two outings shy of establishing a new single-season mark.

He saw most of his action in relief as a freshman in 2002 when he made 24 outings on the mound. He averaged 29.5 appearances during his first two years and is already four outings shy of that mark this year with 24.

Back On Track
After his average dipped to its lowest point of the season at the beginning of last week, sophomore second baseman Russell Raley picked it back up with a productive week at the plate. Ranked among the top three on the team in batting average for most of the year, Raley's average fell to .308 last week.

His average steadily rose 19 points throughout the week to its current mark of .327 by hitting at a .429 (9-for-21) clip last week. The Uvalde, Texas, native recorded three multi-hit performances including a career high tying three hits against Western Illinois last Wednesday.

He also improved upon his runs scored and RBI totals by scoring two or more runs in each game of the Texas A&M series last weekend and driving in one run in each game as well.

Best In The Big 12
Not many pitching staffs in the Big 12 Conference can match the effectiveness of Oklahoma's trio of starting pitchers Mark Roberts and David Purcey and closer Jarod McAuliff. In fact, OU is the only team in the league to boast their top two starters in the weekend rotation and its designated closer amongst the league's leaders in several categories.

All three Sooner pitchers appear in the top 10 in the Big 12 in ERA and opposing batting average, while both Purcey and Roberts also sit amongst the top 10 in strikeouts, innings pitched and games started. McAuliff ranks first in appearances and tied for first in saves.

In Big 12 games only, all three pitchers rank among the top 15 in ERA. The trio ranks in the top three in several conference only categories including wins (McAuliff and Purcey), appearances (McAuliff), innings pitched (Roberts), strikeouts (Purcey), saves (McAuliff) and games started (Roberts and Purcey).

As a unit, the trio has been credited with 15 of the team's 25 wins, posted an impressive 2.56 ERA and are responsible for 61 percent of OU's strikeouts this season. All three hurlers combine for an opponent batting average of .219.

Comeback Kids
This year's Sooner squad is quickly earning a reputation of being at its best when the chips are down. Eight of OU's last 12 wins, including a string of five in a row, have been of the come-from-behind variety. Beginning with the Baylor series opener and ending with the opening game at Kansas, OU was forced to overcome three one-run deficits, one two-run deficit, a three-run deficit and an eight-run deficit to secure wins. Additionally, the Sooners heroically pulled out five of the victories when either tied or trailing after seven innings.

Six of the wins were decided by one run which helped improve the team's season mark in one-run victories to 10-4. In comparison, the 2003 Sooner club only managed five one-run victories all of last year.

Most recently, Oklahoma was again forced to mount a comeback last weekend in the Texas A&M series finale. Facing a three run deficit heading into the fourth inning, the Sooners scored six runs in the frame to take the lead for good. Sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger's first career grand slam home run provided the difference in the inning.

In the team's most dramatic comeback victory on the year, OU erased an 11-3 deficit to Baylor in the second game of the series to complete its largest comeback in seven years.

League Leader
Not only does Ole Sheldon own the top spot on several of the Sooners' offensive statistics sheet, but the junior first baseman is also making an assault on Big 12 Conference's leaderboard.

The Roseburg, Ore., native has consistently appeared at or near the top of numerous conference games only categories as well throughout the first four weeks of conference play. Sheldon now ranks second in hitting, but leads the league in hits, is tied for second in doubles, ranks third in runs scored and on-base percentage, tied for fourth in total bases and tied for sixth in RBI.

Sheldon also appears near the top in games overall in two key offensive categories. He ranks second in batting average and fifth in hits.

Sheldon leads the Sooner squad in batting average, hits and doubles and RBI.

Tough On The Competition
By taking two out of three last weekend at Texas A&M, Oklahoma continued to own a solid season mark of 15-5 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, Texas and Oral Roberts.

OU is slated to face two more teams this season that advanced to regionals last year including Wichita State and Nebraska.

Additionally, OU is 7-3 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 fourth place with his 72nd outing on Friday. Serving in both starting and relief roles during his first three seasons, the Owasso, Okla., native is averaging 20.7 appearances a season.

Roberts also broke into the school's top 10 in career strikeouts this season and currently stands in fourth place with 277 strikeouts. He has also quietly moved into third place on OU's all-time innings pitched list with 314, needing only seven more innings to take the lead.

After breaking the career appearances mark on Sunday, McAuliff also has a chance to break another school pitching record. The Stillwater, Okla., native currently stands in second place on the career saves list. He trails the leader, Jeff Bajenaru (1999-2000), by 12 saves.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 13 Oklahoma To Defend First Place Standing In Lubbock

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