Sooners Hit The Road To Take On Shockers

Eighteenth-ranked Oklahoma (34-18) takes to the road for mid-week action on Tuesday to complete a two-game set with 25th-ranked Wichita State (38-13). The Sooners, who defeated Wichita State in the first game last week, will face the Shockers at 7 p.m. at Eck Stadium in Wichita.

The Sooners will also be in search of their eighth win in a row to tie their season best mark.

Setting The Scene
DATE: May 18
FIRST PITCH: 7 p.m.
BALLPARK: Eck Stadium (7,851)
LOCATION: Wichita, Kan.
RADIO: The game will be broadcast locally on KREF (1400 AM) with Mike Treps calling the action. The game 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 ranked 18th by Baseball America, 20th by the NCBWA and 21st by Collegiate Baseball. The Sooners are also receiving votes in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN poll. Wichita State is ranked 13th in the NCBWA poll, 18th in the Sports Weekly/ESPN poll and 25th by Collegiate Baseball.
WICHITA STATE SERIES NOTES: The all-time series is tied at 6-6 ... Wichita State owns a 6-4 record against Oklahoma during Sooner head coach Larry Cochell's tenure ... The Sooners, however, hold a 3-1 edge in games played in Norman ... Prior to taking the head coaching position at Wichita State, Gene Stephenson was at Oklahoma for five years as an assistant coach ... Stephenson helped lead OU to five Big Eight titles and five College World Series appearances from 1972-1977 ... The Shockers and Sooners resumed their rivalry in 2002 after a seven year hiatus ... WSU has won four of the last six contests, but OU has won two of the last three ... OU held on for a 5-4 victory over WSU in the first of a two game home-and-home set last year ... The Shockers recovered for a 9-5 win later in the season at home ... Casey Brown made his first career start in the second contest in Wichita ... Brown suffered the loss in the contest after earning the victory over WSU in the first contest of the year between the two schools ... Brown picked up the win in relief in OU's 5-4 win in Norman ... Jarod McAuliff was credited with a save in the game ... The Sooners defeated the Shockers, 7-3, in the first game between the two schools last week ... Junior Daniel McCutchen picked up the win on the mound in relief ... Freshman leftfielder Ryan Mottern had a career day at the plate by going 3-for-4 with three RBI ... Mottern collected all his RBI in his first two at bats.

Last Time Out
The 18th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners gave up three runs in the top of the ninth, but pulled out a close 8-7 victory from the Texas-Pan American Broncs Sunday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Sooners led 8-4 going into the final inning, but junior right-hander Jarod McAuliff struggled with the Broncs' lineup. McAuliff gave up three runs on four hits before he was pulled for junior right-hander Daniel McCutchen (4-3, 3 saves) who struck out the next batter to end the game for the Sooners.

Senior right-hander Mark Roberts (8-4) certainly was the story of the game. In his final appearance at L. Dale Mitchell Park, Roberts struck out a career-high 11 batters in 7.1innings of work.

Roberts, who had a previous career high of nine strikeouts in a game, was credited with his career-best eighth win this season and moved into a tie for seventh place on the OU career wins list with 23.

Oklahoma scored first for the seventh time in its last eight games when McGuire hit a sacrifice fly to center field and scored last week's Big 12 Player of the Week, junior designated hitter Eric Thornton (3-for-4). Junior third baseman Matt Bose (1-for-4) and sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger (1-for-4) scored the next two runs to put the Sooners up 3-0.

The UTPA Broncs scored a run in the top of the third, but the Sooners answered back with three more in the bottom of the frame. Junior first baseman Ole Sheldon (3-for-4) and Thornton hit back-to-back doubles to drive in two runs and McGuire hit another sacrifice fly to bring in the last run of the inning.

Sheldon tripled to right field and then scored on Thornton's single to center for the lone run of the fifth inning. Roberts then struck out the side in the top of the sixth.

Pan Am scored two runs in the top of the seventh to wake up the Sooners, but Sheldon hit a double to left in the bottom of the inning that scored sophomore pinch hitter Ryan Mottern (1-for-1) for the game-clinching run.

Roberts was lifted for senior right-hander Casey Brown after facing two batters in the top of the eighth. Brown retired the next two batters, giving the crowd something to cheer for on his final appearance at home.

UTPA scared the Sooners in the top of the ninth, scoring three runs off McAuliff. However, McCutchen relieved McAuliff and struck out his only at-bat to preserve the Sooners seven-game win streak.

Sooners At The Plate
Oklahoma is batting .292 on the season with 346 runs scored and 295 RBI ... In Big 12 games only, the Sooners are hitting at a .289 clip with 165 runs scored and 140 RBI ... OU's offense has produced double-digit hit efforts in 23 of the last 29 contests, including 10 or more hits for the eighth consecutive game ... The Sooners' leading hitter last week was junior first baseman Ole Sheldon ... He batted .636 (7-for-11) with six runs scored and two RBI, including four extra base hits ... Four of his five hits during the two games against Texas-Pan American went for extra bases, including three doubles and one triple ... Sheldon's triple in the series finale put him in the lead in the category on the team with three ... He hit at a .714 (5-for-7) clip for the series ... His week at the plate raised his batting average 13 points which put him in a tie for 40th in the nation in batting average in this week's NCAA stats ... Junior designated hitter Eric Thornton's current hitting streak has reached 10 games ... He became the fifth Sooner this season to establish a double-digit hitting streak ... He is batting .533 (16-for-30) during his season best streak with eight runs scored and 11 RBI, including a pair of home runs ... More impressively his streak also includes six walks and only two strikeouts ... Sophomore shortstop Ryan Rohlinger had a career best eight game hitting streak end on Saturday ... Rohlinger batted only .286 (10-for-35) during the streak, but scored nine runs and drove in 10 more.

Sooners On The Mound
The Oklahoma pitching staff is sporting a 3.91 ERA and has struck out 442 batters while walking 187 ... In Big 12 Conference games only, OU sports a 4.16 ERA with 199 strikeouts and 91 walks ... With all the career pitching records that are falling, junior righthander Jarod McAuliff is quietly climbing his way up one single season list ... His 31 outings this year leaves him six shy of breaking the single season appearances record of 36 held jointly by former Sooners Jeff Bajenaru (2000) and Bucky Buckles (1994) ... McAuliff is averaging a little over two appearances a week which should just put him on target to break the record with at least four expected weeks left in the season ... He fell just one outing shy of tying the mark last year with a career best 35 ... Senior pitcher Mark Roberts accomplished several personal feats in his final start at home on Sunday by picking up his career best eighth win and striking out a career high 11 ... His 23rd career win also moved him into a tie for seventh place on the school's career list ... He additionally eclipsed the 100 strikeout mark for the first time in his career ... Junior David Purcey also set a new career strikeout mark with 12 on Saturday ... He recorded two strikeouts in five of his seven innings of work ... Junior reliever Daniel McCutchen made his first appearance in the ERA category in the Big 12 Conference rankings this week for conference games only ... He ranks eighth with his team best 2.92 ERA in conference action ... He is also third in appearances and tied for ninth in saves.

A Hot Month Of May
During the month of May, the Sooners have posted a 7-1 record and are currently riding a seven game winning streak. Oklahoma has been enjoying its current string of success by improving in all facets of its game.

Since hitting the .281 mark as a team through the second game of the Oklahoma State series three weeks ago, OU's offense has improved its team average in each of the seven games since that time to its current .292 average. Heading into the series with the Cowboys, the Sooners were ranked ninth in team batting average in the Big 12 Conference and are now ranked sixth in the league in the category (in games overall).

The team's ERA has also remained steadily under the 4.00 plateau over the last seven games, just peaking over the mark following one performance.

Oklahoma has drastically improved on the defensive front as well. In the last seven games, OU has committed just four errors for a .985 fielding percentage over that span.

Finding Their Niche
A major factor in OU's current seven game winning streak is the offensive production it has been receiving out of two critical positions in the field: left field and catcher. Oklahoma platooned seven players in left field who combined to bat .236 (38-for-161) over the first 45 games of the season. In the last seven games, the Sooners have found a good mix of four players who are producing effectively and are batting .400 (12-for-30) as a group with six runs scored and five RBI. Sophomore Scott Rooker leads the quartet during the stretch and is batting .333 (8-for-24) with three runs scored and a RBI.

In the 45 games prior to the Sooners' current winning streak, the Sooners' trio of catchers had combined to hit at a .177 clip. Over the last seven games, two OU catchers are batting a collective .292 (7-for-24) with six runs scored and eight RBI, led by freshman Josh Stinson who is batting .333 over the stretch of games.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Hit The Road To Take On Shockers

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