Bedlam Puts State, Big 12 Bragging Rights At Stake This Weekend

NORMAN, Okla. -- It's once again that time of the season when No. 15 Oklahoma (27-16, 13-5 Big 12) and No. 26 Oklahoma State (27-14, 10-4 Big 12) will square off in the annual Bedlam Series presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers.

Bedlam will have a little more at stake than just state bragging rights this year as the Sooners currently stand in second place in the Big 12 Conference followed by the third place Cowboys.

The rivalry picks up on Thursday night in Tulsa at Driller's Stadium at 7 p.m. and continues with games two and three at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

See how the Sooners stack up against OSU in the Bedlam Series presented by the Bank of Oklahoma and Your Oklahoma Ford Dealers!

Setting The Scene
DATES: April 29-May 1
FIRST PITCHES: All games at 7 p.m.
BALLPARKS: Driller's Stadium (Game 1) & SBC Bricktown Ballpark (Games 2 & 3)
LOCATIONS: Tulsa (Game 1) & Oklahoma City (Games 2 & 3)
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 broadcast by the Sooner Sports Network on several TV affiliates throughout the state. The coverage area includes KSBI (Oklahoma City, Enid, Ponca City, Ada, Stillwater and Ardmore), KWBT (Tulsa), KOMI (Woodward) and KSWO (Lawton). Brian Brinkley (play-by-play) and Dave Hunziker (color) will serve as the talent for the broadcast.
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 15th by Baseball America, 18th by the NCBWA and 25th by Collegiate Baseball. Oklahoma State is ranked 26th by Collegiate Baseball and 28th by the NCBWA. The Sooners and Cowboys are also both receiving votes in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN poll.
OKLAHOMA STATE SERIES NOTES: Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 134-132 ... OU head coach Larry Cochell is 31-32 against OSU in 14 seasons with the Sooners ... The Sooners are 13-10 against the Cowboys since the Big 12 Conference formed in 1997 ... The Sooners' three regular-season wins in 2000 marked the first regular season sweep of the Cowboys in the series since 1976 ... The Sooners are 9-4 versus the Cowboys in games played in Tulsa's Driller's Stadium ... Oklahoma also owns a 9-5 edge in games played in the SBC Bricktown Ballpark, including eight of the last 10 ... The series played its first game in a minor league stadium in 1975 when the two teams played at All Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City ... The series made its first appearance in Tulsa during Cochell's first year in 1991 ... OU holds an 20-15 mark all-time over OSU in regular season games played in the minor league stadiums in Oklahoma City ... However, OSU is 21-10 against OU in conference tournament games played against each other in the minor league ballparks in OKC.

Last Time Out
Oklahoma sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger hit a walkoff two run home run to send the 15th-ranked Sooners to a 7-5 win over Arkansas-Little Rock Tuesday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park. OU's win gave head coach Larry Cochell his 500th win at the helm of the Oklahoma program and improved the team's season record to 27-16.

Rohlinger's shot landed over the left field fence and drove in sophomore leftfielder Scott Rooker (2-for-3) who had earlier tied the score hit a two out RBI-double.

After the Trojans plated a go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, Sooner freshman catcher Josh Stinson (1-for-3) ignited the rally by leading off with a single to right field to extend his career high hitting streak to nine games. Two outs later, Rooker sent his double down the left field line to bring Stinson home to tie the score at 5-5 just ahead of Rohlinger's game-winning blast.

Despite outhitting UALR 13-4, OU was caught in a tight battle with the Trojans throughout the game. Arkansas-Little Rock scored four of their runs in the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit due to a hit batter, error and a pair of costly walks. Senior reliever Casey Brown (5-2) entered the game in the sixth inning and retired the first nine batters he faced before giving up a single run in the ninth inning.

Before their lone run in the top of the ninth inning, Arkansas-Little Rock had only scored in one other inning. The Trojans recorded a four-run fourth inning without the benefit of a hit off Sooner freshman reliever Charles Benoit. The first run scored on a throwing error by Benoit, followed by a sacrifice fly with two runners in scoring position. The final two runs were plated after being forced in on consecutive bases loaded walks.

After leaving seven men on base through the first four innings, Oklahoma was finally bring home some baserunners in four of the last five innings. The Sooners got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning courteousy of a passed ball which allowed sophomore second baseman Russell Raley (1-for-5) to advance home from third base. Raley led off the inning with a single to improve his hitting streak to 10 games.

OU then doubled their fifth inning output in the sixth frame with a pair of runs to cut UALR's lead to 4-3. Rooker, who tied his career high with two runs scored in the game, led off the inning with a triple to left-center field and then scored on Rohlinger's single to left field. Rohlinger stole second base and came home on a two out base hit by junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (2-for-4).

In the seventh inning, Oklahoma was again able to score the leadoff baserunner to tie the score at 4-4. Stinson drew a leadoff walk and scored on another two out hit by Rohlinger, his second consecutive RBI-single.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .283 on the season with 261 runs scored and 226 RBI ... In Big 12 games only, the Sooners are hitting at a .277 clip with 107 runs scored and 93 RBI ... OU's offense has produced double-digit hit efforts in 15 of the last 20 contests ... The Sooners' leading hitter last week was freshman catcher Josh Stinson ... Stinson, who is in the midst of a career high nine game hitting streak, batted .417 (5-for-12) with two runs scored and two RBI last week ... He hit his first career home run on Sunday as part of a 1-for-4 effort to keep his hitting streak alive ... Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon had his career and team best hitting streak snapped at 17 games last Saturday at Texas Tech ... He hit .507 (36-for-71) with 17 runs scored and 18 RBI during the stretch ... The streak is currently tied for the second best mark in the Big 12 Conference this season ... Russell Raley has put together a career best hitting streak of his own ... The sophomore second baseman has hit safely in 10 straight games in which he is batting .356 (16-for-45) with 11 runs scored and six RBI ... Speaking of streaks, senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire continued to reach base safely in 37-straight games on Tuesday against UALR ... McGuire has only been kept off base in one game this year ... Sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger went deep for two home runs in the last three games ... He is now tied for the team lead in the category ... Four of Rohlinger's six homers have come during conference play ... His shot on Tuesday against UALR was Rohlinger's fourth game-winning hit of the year, a team best, and his third game-winning home run of the season ... His three hit and four RBI performance tied his career high in both categories ... The West Bend, Wis., native has caught up to the Sooner starting nine in several offensive categories despite trailing all other starters in games played by 17 due to a preseason injury that held him out of the first part of the season ... He also currently ranks in the top five of several other offensive categories including doubles (tied-third), RBI (fourth), runs scored (tied-fourth) and walks (fifth).

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.95 ERA and has struck out 368 batters while walking 156 ... In Big 12 Conference games only, OU sports a 4.32 ERA with 155 strikeouts and 73 walks ... In addition to becoming the school's all-time innings pitched leader over the weekend, senior righthander Mark Roberts inched closer to breaking another one of OU's prominent career pitching records last week ... With his five strikeout performance at Texas Tech, Roberts moved to within 13 strikeouts of setting a new all-time strikeout mark ... By picking up the win on Friday, Roberts' career record against the Red Raiders now stands at 4-1 which is a personal best mark against a Big 12 opponent ... Junior righthanded pitcher Jarod McAuliff made his first start in two seasons on the mound in Sunday's series finale at Texas Tech ... McAuliff, who has been the team's designated closer over the past two years, has not received a starting assignment since his freshman season in 2002 ... The Stillwater, Okla., native pitched a season high six innings and gave up four runs on seven hits, issued three walks and struck out five batters ... He received a no-decision as the Sooners went on to lose the contest in extra innings ... Senior righthander Casey Brown has been a bright spot on the Sooner pitching staff in recent mid-week appearances ... In his last three mid-week outings, including one start, Brown has posted a 1.69 ERA and given up only two earned runs on eight hits in 10.2 innings with two walks versus 11 strikeouts ... He picked up his third win in relief on Tuesday against UALR after working the final four innings and surrendering only one run on three hits ... Brown is now tied for second on the team in wins with five.

Reaching Another Milestone
OU's thrilling ninth inning victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday gave head coach Larry Cochell his 500th win at Oklahoma. The 500-win plateau is 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.

His 500th victory also inched him closer to his 1,300th all-time win. Cochell needs only four more wins to reach that particular milestone in his career which has only been achieved by eight other Division I head coaches all-time.

Leaving His Mark
Senior righthanded pitcher Mark Roberts eclipsed the program's all-time innings pitched mark in his latest start to capture the first of two OU career records easily within his reach. Roberts' seven innings last Friday at Texas Tech put him over the top with 321 innings pitched in his four year career as he surpassed former Sooner Austin Mix who registered 320.2 from 2000-2003.

The Owasso, Okla., native also moved closer to breaking another school record last Friday night. His five strikeouts in the game put him 13 strikeouts away from breaking the career strikeout record which is also held by Mix and former Sooner Mark Redman (1994-95). Mix and Redman both own the record with 294 in their respective careers.

Freshman On Fire
Over the past two weeks, freshman catcher Josh Stinson has been riding an offensive hot streak. During that time he has put together an active hitting streak of nine games, which is a career high and ranks as one of the five best on the team this year. He is batting .429 (12-for-28) over the streak and the offensive output has raised his season batting average 65 points.

Not only is he hitting better during this span, but he is also contributing in other ways by scoring runs and driving them in. He has scored a run in all but two of the games and he has recorded four RBI, including his first career home run.

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 conference play. Sheldon moved up several spots in a number of categories last weekend after batting .385 against Texas Tech. He now ranks first in hitting, hits and doubles, and stands second in on-base percentage, tied for second in runs scored and total bases and fourth in RBI.

Sheldon also appears near the top in games overall in two key offensive categories. He ranks first in hits and second in batting average (as of April 26).

Sheldon leads the Sooner squad in batting average, hits, doubles, on-base percentage and RBI.

King Of The Hill
Junior closer Jarod McAuliff became OU's all-time appearances leader with his 84th career outing two weeks ago. He passed former Sooner Evan Greusel who previously held the record with 83 appearances from 1999-2002.

McAuliff's 25 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 is also tied for the conference game only mark with 11 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.

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.

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.

Tough On The Competition
Oklahoma continues 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.