2007 Baseball Season Preview

NORMAN, Okla. -- As the Oklahoma baseball team prepares for the first day of practices on Tuesday, Jan. 16, Soonersports.com brings fans a sneak peak of the 2007 season which begins on Friday, Feb. 2 in the UTPA Tournament in Edinburg, Texas against Texas State.

Individual practices will begin tomorrow and continue throughout the week. The Sooners will return to full team practices on Jan. 22. Stay tuned to Soonersports.com throughout this week for the complete five-part preview breaking down the Sooners by position.

The Sooners will kick off the 2007 season at the Fourth Annual Diamond Dinner on Friday, Jan. 26. Current Oklahoma players and coaches will be in attendance to join former OU greats at the banquet. Click here for more information.

2007 SEASON PREVIEW PART I
The Oklahoma baseball team is coming off its most successful season in the last 11 years and despite losing 12 seniors, including four position starters and the entire weekend rotation, second year head coach Sunny Golloway believes this year's squad is posed to build off last year's postseason run.

“We recognize the fact that we lost 12 seniors from a team that was one win away from Omaha and even though we replace them with a large group of newcomers, our goals have not changed,” added Golloway. “Every time we take the field, we are playing to win titles and that begins with the Big 12 Championship and ends with the College World Series.

“This team is not going to use age or inexperience as an excuse because we fully expect to build off last year's success and get this program back to Omaha. The coaching staff already knows what the returning starters are capable of and we feel that the newcomers will be able to step in right away and compete at a high level to give us a complete team.”

2007 Schedule | 2007 Roster | 2006 Review | OU History

Returning in 2007 with starting experience in the field are juniors Joe Dunigan (OF), Aaron Reza (SS) Jackson Williams (C) and senior Aaron Ivey (OF).

On the mound, juniors Ryan Mottern and Brad Burns, both right handers, return with a combined 28 starts between them.

A large group of newcomers join the Sooners in 2007, including volunteer assistant coach Damon Minor. The former Major Leaguer played at Oklahoma from 1993-1996 and helped the Sooners win the 1994 National Championship and make a return trip to the College World Series in 1995.

“Damon's ability to work with our hitters on a daily basis has already provided a tremendous boost to our offense over the fall,” added Golloway. “I coached Damon for three years at Oklahoma and he always provided us with a power bat' in our lineup. We expect him to bring that same aspect of the game as a coach to our hitters this season.”

Joining Minor are 19 newcomers that were ranked as high as No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball Magazine. The class features two players drafted highly in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft, freshman outfielder Devin Shepherd (fifth-round) out of Oxnard Union High School in California and freshman right-handed pitcher Antwonie Hubbard (12th-round) from Hooks High School in Texas, and four others selected in the last three years.

Aaron Baker (Denton High School in Texas), Vincent Biancamano (Chandler-Gilbert JC in Arizona), Aljay Davis (Northeast Oklahoma A&M) and Andrew Doyle (Alleman High School in Ilinois) complete the group of draftees that will be expected to step into the lineup and contribute this season.

“The coaching staff is extremely proud of this recruiting class,” said Golloway, who has helped OU garner three top-ten recruiting classes since rejoining the Sooners in 2004. “Having another ranked class is a direct result of the combined efforts of our outstanding coaching staff and the work they continue to do for the University of Oklahoma baseball program.”

The Sooners will face a daunting schedule this season which includes 13 opponents (23 total games) that participated in last year's NCAA Tournament, including two 2006 Super Regional teams (South Carolina and Missouri). In addition, OU will host 28 games at L. Dale Mitchell Park and take part in tournaments hosted by Texas Pan American, UNC-Wilmington and San Diego State.

OU faces a challenging non-conference slate that includes a total of seven teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2006 including South Carolina, UNC-Wilmington, Wichita State, San Diego, Michigan, TCU and UT-Arlington.

The Sooners open 2007 for the second consecutive season in Edinburg, Texas, at the UTPA Classic on Feb. 2, 3 and 4. The Sooners will square off twice against the host Broncs, in addition to Texas State.

The 27-game Big 12 schedule will feature home games against Texas A&M (March 23-25). Nebraska (April 13-15), Kansas (April 27-29) and Texas Tech (May 18-20).

OU will hit the road in conference play against Texas (March 30-April 1), Baylor (April 5-7), Kansas State (April 20-22), Missouri (May 11-13) and play the annual Bedlam Series at Drillers Stadium in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday, May 4 and the remaining two games at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on May 5 and 6.

For the third consecutive year, the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament will be held in Oklahoma City at the Bricktown Ballpark from Wednesday, May 23 through Sunday, May 27.

Stay tuned to Soonersports.com on Tuesday for the second part of the 2007 season preview focusing on the Sooners' catchers.

SEASON TICKETS ON SALE
Season tickets for the 2007 OU baseball season are now on sale through the OU Athletics Ticket Office and SoonerSports.com. To order your season tickets please call the OU Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424 or (800) 456-4668 or click here for more information available on SoonerSports.com.

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