Baseball Opens Tournament Friday

Oklahoma (34-24-1) at NCAA Tempe Regional
Game 60	vs. Vanderbilt - Friday at 2 p.m. (MST)
Regional Info	Tempe Regional Central
Location	Packard Stadium \| Tempe, Ariz.
Radio	KOKC 1520 AM/Sooner Sports Radio Network
Live Stats	NCAA.com / GameTracker
Audio Online	Live Audio in All-Access (Free)
NCAA History	OU in the NCAA Tournament
Game Info	Game Notes (PDF) \| OU Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma Sooners (34-24-1) will play in their 31st NCAA Tournament this weekend in the Tempe Regional against Arizona State, Vanderbilt and Stony Brook.

OU is a three seed and will start the tournament against the No. 2 seed, Vanderbilt (40-20), on Friday, May 30 at 2 p.m. (MST) at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

The other first-round match-up pits host Arizona State (45-11) vs. Stony Brook (34-24) at 7 p.m.

The Commodores, the defending 2007 SEC Champions, were eliminated in the conference semifinals in 2008 by Ole Miss. Vanderbilt enters the tournament ranked No. 22 in this week's coaches poll.

Arizona State is the top seed in the regional and Stony Brook enters the tourney at No. 4. Stony Brook is an automatic qualifier after winning the America East Tournament for the second time in the last five years. Arizona State, the nation's No. 3 overall seed, will be hosting its second consecutive regional and the third in the past four years.

The winner of the 2008 Tempe Regional will advance to play against the winner of the Long Beach Regional on June 6-8 or 7-9 in Super Regional action. The four teams in that bracket include Long Beach State, San Diego, California and Fresno State.

WEEKEND SCHEDULE (mountain standard times listed)
Friday, May 30
Game 1 - Oklahoma (visitor) vs. Vanderbilt (home) - 2 p.m.
Game 2 - Stony Brook (visitor) vs. Arizona St. (home) - 7 p.m.

Saturday, May 31
Game 3 - Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2 - 2 p.m.
Game 4 - Winner game 1 vs. winner game 2 - 7 p.m.

Sunday, June 1
Game 5 - Loser game 4 vs. Winner game 3 - 1 p.m.
Game 6 - Winner game 4 vs. Winner game 5 - 6 p.m.

Monday, June 2
Game 7 - Winner game 6 vs. Loser game 6 - 6 p.m.

TICKET INFO
Ticket prices start at just $40 for the seven game All-Session Pass and can be purchased by calling the ASU Ticket Office at 480-727-0000 or clicking here.

Will call will be located at the Packard Stadium ticket office on game day and will open an hour and a half prior to the first game of the day. Tickets may also be purchased on game day at the Packard Stadium ticket office. All tickets for NCAA playoff events are the same price regardless of the number of games played each day.

All-Session Pass (available Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.)
Field Level - $80
Reserved Adult - $60
Reserved Junior/Senior - $50
General Admission - $40

Single Game Prices (available Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.)
Field Level - $15
Reserved Adult - $12
Reserved Junior/Senior - $10
General Admission - $7

RADIO BROADCAST INFORMATION
Oklahoma's games in Tempe will be broadcast live on KOKC 1520 AM and on the Sooner Sports Radio Network affiliates with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play. Live audio from OU's broadcast team will also be available via the internet for free on SoonerSports.com.

MORE OKLAHOMA BASEBALL ONLINE
LIVE STATS: Live stats are available on NCAA.com.

SOONERS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Sooners are 66-58 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The 2008 Tempe Regional will the be the fourth in the last five years for Oklahoma and the first since the 2006 Norman Regional. OU won its fifth regional title (1976, 1992, 1994 and 1995) that year under current head coach Sunny Golloway. Refer to page 137 of the 2008 OU Baseball Media Guide for a complete listing of NCAA Tournament results.

Oklahoma last won the National Championship in 1994 and captured its first title in 1951. OU is one of 13 schools to win multiple national titles in Division I baseball.

The Sooners also advanced to the College World Series in 1951, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975 when the tournament was played in a district format.

With nine College World Series Appearances, the Sooners made their first appearance in the NCAA Super Regional round in 2006 against then-No. 1 Rice. The format originated in 1999.

OU is 20-11 in the opening game of its 31 regional appearances, splitting the last two. The Sooners defeated Southern Miss in the 2005 Oxford Regional in 2005 and lost 6-5 to TCU in the 2006 Norman Regional.

OU is 7-5 in the NCAA Tournament under Sunny Golloway.

The Sooners have faced one of this weekend's opponents in the NCAA Tournament prior to this season. OU and Arizona State have met on four occasions but only once in regional play. The Sun Devils won that contest in the 1988 West II Regional, 13-6. The remaining games have been contested in Omaha, Neb., home of the CWS. OU won the last two meetings en route to the 1994 National Championship after topping Arizona State 4-3 and 6-1. ASU won the first meeting in the 1972 CWS by a 1-0 count.

OKLAHOMA'S RPI
According to the NCAA's latest RPI, OU was ranked 41st in the report released on Monday, May 26, 2008. The Sooners recorded a 17-19-1 record against the top 50 teams in those standings, including an 11-5 record against competition outside of the Big 12. The Sooners are 9-15-1 so far this season against teams ranked in the top 25 polls and won three straight over top ten teams in the last two weeks (OSU, Texas A&M and Missouri).

BIG 12 POOL PLAY = REGIONAL PREPARATION
The Sooners had their work cut out for them in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City. With a pool play format, OU faced three ranked teams in Texas A&M, Missouri and Texas. The Sooners defeated the Aggies and Tigers, seeded first and second, respectively in this week's NCAA Tournament and came within one strike of defeating the Longhorns, who are seeded second in the Rice Regional.

DOYLE EARNS POSTSEASON HONOR
Sophomore right-hander Andrew Doyle was named to the 2008 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team. The Rock Island, Ill., native is the 17th Sooner to be selected to the team since Big 12 began play in 1997.

Doyle's complete game against Texas A&M in the tournament opener was the first of his career and the first by a Sooner across nine innings since Stephen Porlier tossed one versus Nebraska on April 13, 2007. In addition, Doyle's 12 strikeouts against the Aggies marked a season high for any Sooner and the most since Stephen Porlier struck out the same amount of Texas A&M batters on March 23, 2007.

DAVIS NAMED SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG 12
Senior outfielder Aljay Davis was named to the All-Big 12 second team on May 20 as voted on by the conference's coaches. Davis finished the regular season hitting .360 overall (11th in Big 12) and .354 in conference games (10th in Big 12). Senior Mike Gosse (utility) and sophomore Jamie Johnson (OF) also ranked in the top 10 in the league in hitting and were tabbed honorable mention.

ACADEMIC BIG 12 TEAMS ANNOUNCED
The Big 12 Conference announced the 2008 Academic All-Big 12 teams on May 15 and three Sooners were named to the lists. Senior Jarod Freeman was honored for the second straight season with a first team selection. Sophomore Aaron Baker and senior Drew Roberts made their first appearance on the lists as second team members.

HITTING .300 in BIG 12 PLAY
The Sooners finished the regular season with a .316 average in Big 12 games, the top mark in the conference. OU has finished a season hitting over .300 in Big 12 play on four occasions (2006, 2000, 1998 and 1997). In 2008, Jamie Johnson (.393-4th), Mike Gosse (.360-9th) and Aljay Davis (.354-10th) each ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 among conference games played.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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