Oklahoma Puts Big 12 Hot Streak On The Line Against Missouri

The 22nd-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (19-11, 7-2 Big 12) look to improve upon their Big 12 Conference hot start as the Missouri Tigers (21-9-1, 2-4 Big 12) visit Norman this weekend for a three-game series. OU's attempt at its seventh-straight league win will begin on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Fox Sports Net will then broadcast Saturday's contest live in the Big 12 markets only beginning at 2 p.m. Sunday's finale is slated to begin at 1 p.m.

The Oklahoma Athletics Marketing staff has a full weekend of special promotions scheduled for the series. Every game a fan will have the chance to win a Russ Ortiz or Mark Redman autograph baseball, while on Sunday a fan will have the opportunity to win an Ortiz or Redman autograph picture.

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.

Beginning on Friday, the first 100 fans through the gate will receive a Sooner Schooner Bobble Head.

Saturday's game is Voter Registration Day and the first 100 fans will receive Easter Eggs with great prizes inside. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office will be at the game for “Buckle Up” for those interested in the ability to properly install child safety seats. The OHSO will be performing the checks from 1:00 - 3:00 PM at the parking lot south of the ballpark.

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.

Auntie Anne's coupons will also be distributed to fans prior to the game on Sunday.

Last Time Out
Dallas Baptist plated two runs in the top of the 11th inning to down 22nd-ranked Oklahoma 7-5 Tuesday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park and end the Sooners' winning streak at seven games. The Sooners (19-11) battled back down by four runs to take a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning before the Patriots (27-9) sent the game into extra frames by scoring a run in the top of the ninth. Oklahoma capitalized on three Dallas Baptist errors to score all five of its runs.

Dallas Baptist sent the game into extra frames in the top of the ninth inning as they got to Jarod McAuliff, Oklahoma's designated closer, for a run. Following a leadoff base hit and a stolen base, DBU leftfielder Ryan Olivo drove in the run with a RBI-single two batters later.

Olivo again hurt the Sooners as he tripled to center field with a runner on first base to score the first run in extra frames and break the tie. He then came home on a sacrifice fly to center field for the final margin of victory. Senior reliever Charlie House (0-1) suffered the loss on the mound for the Sooners.

Oklahoma was forced to battle back after Dallas Baptist jumped out to an early 4-0 lead through the first three innings. The Patriots scored all four runs with two outs in the frame. In the first inning, the Patriots received a pair of two out base hits from centerfielder Drew Holder and designated hitter Chris McCulloch to plate the first two runs. Then an error by OU centerfielder Jeff Scuderi (1-for-3) allowed another run to score in the second frame, while catcher Ned Yost drove in a run with a single in the third inning.

Oklahoma tied the score with a pair of runs in the fifth and sixth frames. With two Sooners in scoring position, the Patriots' first baseman booted a ground ball bringing both Oklahoma baserunners home to get the Sooners on the scoreboard.

With the score 4-2 in favor of the Patriots, the Sooners took advantage of another error in the sixth inning to plate two more runs and tie the score at 4-4. The DBU leftfielder dropped a sure third out to allow both junior shortstop Brenan Herrera (2-for-5) and Scuderi to race around the bases and score.

The third Patriot error was committed in the seventh inning giving the Sooners their first lead. With two outs, junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (2-for-5) hit a grounder to the DBU shortstop which he failed to handle allowing senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire (0-for-5), who was at third base, to come home and give OU a 5-4 advantage.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .273 on the season with 171 runs scored and 144 RBI ... The Sooners outhit the Kansas Jayhawks last weekend batting .274 as a team over the three-game set as opposed to .218 ... It was the third straight Big 12 Conference series that OU has outperformed the competition offensively ... On the season, Oklahoma owns an advantage over its conference foes in three major offensive categories: runs (48-37), hits (83-79) and RBI (41-35) ... The offense has generated 11 or more hits in six of the last seven games ... The Sooners pounded out a season high six doubles in Saturday's 5-4 win over Kansas ... The total also stands as the top single-game doubles performance by a team in Big 12 action this season ... OU totalled 11 doubles during the three game series ... Junior third baseman Matt Bose and sophomore leftfielder Ryan Rohlinger each had three hits a piece to account for nearly half of the Sooners' 11 hits in Saturday's game ... Each player also scored a pair of runs in the contest to account for four of the five scores ...The three hits tied both players' career bests ... For the third consecutive week, the Sooners' leading hitter was junior first baseman Ole Sheldon ... Sheldon batted .500 (8-for-16) with three runs scored and RBI ... The Roseburg, Ore., native has hit better than .471 in each of the last three weeks that he has led the team offensively ... His successful week at the plate raised his season batting average 20 points ... Senior rightfielder Andrew McGuire extended his streak of reaching base safely to 24-straight games on Tuesday against Dallas Baptist ... 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 ... Bose has 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 .400 against lefthanders and .343 against righthanders ... Sheldon is hitting at a .405 clip against lefties and at a .360 clip against righties ... Bose is currently riding a 12 game hitting streak ... The streak is a personal career best for the Midland, Texas, native and a individual team high this season ... He is hitting .372 (16-for-43) with five runs scored and seven RBI during the current stretch of games.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.87 ERA and has struck out 253 batters while walking 98 ... The Sooner staff owns the best strikeouts per nine innings average in the Big 12 Conference in league games only at 9.00 ... The team's ERA fell by 14 points over the weekend after posting a 2.67 ERA during the Kansas series ... The bullpen lowered also its ERA by eight points over the weekend ... Heading into the weekend series with Oklahoma, Kansas was the Big 12 Conference's top offensive team with a .342 team average ... The Sooner pitching staff held them 124 points under their average at .218 during the series ... The pitching staff's 2.67 ERA during the Kansas series was its second sub 3.00 team ERA for a conference series this year ... Oklahoma also posted a 2.67 ERA during the three-game set against top-ranked Texas two weeks ago ... The bullpen staff has only walked four batters in their last six appearances, a span of 27.2 innings pitched ... They have also struck out 29 batters during that time for better than a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... 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 10 inherited runners to score in its first three conference series, including stranding all four last weekend at Kansas ... The last eight inherited have failed to score on Oklahoma relievers ... Senior righty Charlie House has been the most successful reliever in that category over the last two weeks ... He has stranded his last five inherited runners over his last four appearances ... Senior righthander Mark Roberts fanned eight or more batters for the sixth straight start last Friday ... He combined with reliever Daniel McCutchen, who worked the ninth inning, to hold the Jayhawks to their lowest run and hit total at home of the 2004 season ... Roberts moved up a spot in each of the three Oklahoma career lists on which he appears ... He currently stands in third place with 299.1 career innings pitched, in a tie for fourth with 70 career appearances and in sixth place with 264 strikeouts ... The Owasso, Okla., native needs to log only 21.2 more frames to break the innings pitched record ... Junior closer Jarod McAuliff continued his own progression up several of the school's career charts ... His three appearances last week moved him into sole possession of second place on OU's all-time appearances and saves lists ... He has now made 81 career appearances and made 15 saves in his three years at OU ... He needs just three more outings to break the all-time appearances mark and 14 more to eclipse the saves record ... McAuliff is averaging three appearances a week over the last month.

Oklahoma-Missouri Game To Be Televised By Fox Sports Net
The second game of the Oklahoma-Missouri series this weekend will kickoff Fox Sports Net's coverage of Big 12 Conference baseball this season. 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.

Sheldon Named Big 12 Co-Player Of The Week
Oklahoma's Ole Sheldon was named the Big 12 Conference's Co-Player of the Week on Tuesday after helping lead the Sooners to seven-straight wins and a second place billing in the conference race. The junior first baseman, who shared honors with Baylor's Michael Griffin, led the Sooners in hitting for the third straight week with a .500 average (8-for-16) over four games last week including three runs scored and RBI. Nebraska's Zach Kroenke picked up the conference's pitcher of the week honor.

Sheldon did not strike out in 18 plate appearances last week and scored the game-winning run in three of the four contests. His totals also included a series best .538 batting average in the three game sweep of Kansas.

Sheldon's performance over the weekend was key in helping the Sooners to their second consecutive Big 12 series sweep, their first time accomplishing such a feat since 1997. The Roseburg, Ore., native began the Kansas series by tying his career high with four hits on Friday night. He then concluded the series with a 2-for-4 effort on Sunday to extend his team-leading multi-hit total to 13.

Red Hot Sooners
Oklahoma is beginning to appear on the national radar once again as a hot Sooner baseball team has found its form. Winners of eight of its last 10 games, OU is currently riding a hot streak which has vaulted them back into the top 25 polls and into second place in the Big 12 Conference standings.

The Sooners received overall solid performances from all aspects of the game during a recent seven game winning streak. The offense hit .291 during the stretch, 17 points higher than its season average. The pitching staff boasted a 3.71 ERA and also received help from its bullpen which posted a 2.57 ERA and has picked up three of its five saves on the season during this time. Defensively, the Sooners did not commit an error during the recent sweep of Kansas, going errorless in three straight games for the first time this season.

The streak includes two straight Big 12 Conference series sweeps for the first time since the 1997 season and the team's first conference road sweep since 2001. The back-to-back sweeps extended their league winning streak to six games which was last accomplished during the 2000 campaign.

Comeback Kids
Over the last two weeks, the Sooners completed a string of five come-from-behind victories in a row. Beginning with the Baylor series opener, OU was forced to overcome three one-run deficits, a three-run deficit and an eight-run deficit to secure wins. Additionally, the Sooners heroically pulled out four of the victories when either tied or trailing after seven innings.

Four of the wins were decided by one run which helped improve the team's season mark in one-run victories to 7-3. In comparison, the 2003 Sooner club only managed five one-run victories all of last year.

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

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, while both Purcey and Roberts also sit amongst the top 10 in strikeouts, opposing batting average, innings pitched and games started. McAuliff ranks first in appearances, tied for third in saves and tied for sixth in wins with Roberts.

In Big 12 games only, all three pitchers rank among the top 25 in ERA and the top 10 in strikeouts. Oklahoma owns or is tied for the top individual spot in several conference only categories including wins (McAuliff), appearances (McAuliff), innings pitched (Roberts) and games started (Roberts and Purcey). McAuliff is also tied for second in saves, while Roberts ranks ninth in opposing batting average.

As a unit, the trio has been credited with 13 of the team's 19 wins, posted an impressive 2.11 ERA and are responsible for 68 percent of OU's strikeouts this season. All three hurlers combine for an opponent batting average of .212.

Slump Busters
Juniors Brenan Herrera and Jeff Scuderi were both in the midst of hitting slumps when they broke out of them during the Kansas series last weekend. Both players batted .333 (3-for-9) over the three games and collected some key hits and scored some key runs.

Scuderi, who was batting .133 over his previous 30 at bats heading into the series, recorded a series high six RBI with three coming on his first career homer in the series opener. The home run helped OU jump out to a large lead after they had trailed earlier in the game.

Hitting .091 in his last 33 plate appearances before this weekend, Herrera scored three runs during the series and added a RBI. Two of his runs scored came in Sunday's finale while he also drove in another run to help OU complete the three game sweep.

Rohling Along
Sophomore Ryan Rohlinger hasn't slowed down his hot hitting since making his debut in the Sooner lineup three weeks ago. With his season delayed due to a fractured right arm during the preseason, Rohlinger is hitting .400 on the season and has hit safely in 12 of the 13 games in which he has played.

The team is also receiving obvious benefits from Rohlinger's presence. Their record is 7-5 with him in the lineup and, since making the move to left field two weeks ago, the team's record is 7-2 during that span.

Rohlinger is putting up some of his best numbers against a tough slate of Big 12 Conference competition. Through the first three weeks of Big 12 Conference action, Rohlinger leads the league in hitting with a .500 average. He also tops the Big 12 in doubles, is second in slugging percentage, tied for second in hits and total bases, third in on-base percentage and tied for sixth in runs scored in league games only.

In OU's recent three game sweep at Kansas last weekend, Rohlinger tied for the series' top honor in hitting with a .538 average. He also scored five runs, recorded seven hits and produced four doubles.

Although he has received nearly 50 fewer at bats than the regular starters, Rohlinger already ranks third on the team in doubles with six, two off the leader's pace.

Surging Sooner
Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon continues to be the team's hottest hitter over the last three weeks. For the third straight week, Sheldon batted over the .471 mark and led the team in hitting. He paced the Sooners offensively with a .500 (8-for-16) average and tied for Kansas series top honors with a .538 average.

Sheldon's team-leading season batting average rose 20 more points with another good week at the plate. Already tops on the team in hits and RBI, he also overtook the team lead in doubles last week. He collected at least one hit in every game, including two multi-hit performances to extend his team lead in the category to 13 games. All three runs he scored over the four-game span were game-winners.

Since breaking the .300 barrier over three weeks ago, Sheldon's batting average has continuously progressed to its current .374 mark. His Kansas series performance vaulted him into ninth place in the Big 12 Conference in overall hitting after he debuted in a tie for 21st place heading into last weekend. In Big 12 games only, Sheldon ranks in the top five of six major offensive categories.

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 three weeks ago. Additionally, he has established a new career high hitting streak of 12 games (also a team best).

Currently leading the team in slugging percentage and on-base percentage, Bose also ranks second on the club in batting average, hits, RBI and walks.

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.

Tough On The Competition
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 a tie with former Sooner and Owasso High School teammate Michael Bradbury for fourth place with his 70th 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 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 currently stands in sixth place with 264 strikeouts. He has also quietly moved into third place on OU's all-time innings pitched list with 299.1, needing only 21.2 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 22 outings to his credit this year to give him 81 for his career, McAuliff continued to move closer to the all-time record and now stands in second place on the list, three more appearances shy of breaking the mark. The record is held by former Sooner Evan Greusel (1999-2002).

With three saves within the last week, McAuliff also moved into second place on the career saves list. He trails the leader, Jeff Bajenaru (1999-2000), by 13 saves.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Puts Big 12 Hot Streak On The Line Against Missouri

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