No. 13 OU at No. 14 TCU Tuesday

March 16, 2009

No. 13 Sooners (17-4) at No. 14 TCU (10-4)
Location	Lupton Stadium
Game 22	at No. 14 TCU- Tuesday, March 17 - 6:30 p.m.
Radio	KOKC 1520 AM
Web cast	gofrogs.com
Online Audio	Oklahoma All-Access
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com
Game Information	Game Notes \| 2009 Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- Winner of 12 of the last 14 games, the No. 13 University of Oklahoma baseball team (17-4) travels to Fort Worth, Texas, to battle its second ranked opponent of the season, No. 14 TCU (10-4). First pitch on Tuesday, March 17 is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.

TCU hosted Minnesota over the weekend and lost the first two games. The third and final game of the series is on Monday night. TCU returns 19 letterwinners from a 2008 team that won the Mountain West Conference with a 19-5 record. TCU finished 44-19 overall last year after going 1-2 in the NCAA Coral Gables Regional.

The Sooners lead the all-time series with TCU, 47-21. OU won the first meeting in 2008 on April 15, 5-4 in 12 innings, in Fort Worth and completed the season sweep with an 11-6 win on April 22 in Norman.

GAME 22 - Tuesday, March 13
First Pitch - 6:30 p.m. CST
OU Starter - Michael Rocha - RHP (2-1, 3.74)
TCU Starter - Steven Maxwell - RHP (2-1, 3.45)
Live Audio - KOKC 1520 AM
Live Video - gofrogs.com
Live Stats - SoonerSports.com

TCU SERIES INFORMATION
OU leads 47-21
In Norman: OU leads 24-7 (since 1974)
In Fort Worth: OU leads 11-7 (since 1974), Last Meeting OU won 11-6, April 22, 2008 (Norman, Okla.)

MORE ON THE SERIES
- The teams have met each of the last 19 seasons dating back to 1991.

- In seven of the last nine meetings, the winner has tallied 10 or more runs. OU owns an 8-2 advantage in the last 10 meetings. Six of the last 13 meetings have been decided by one run (Meetings tied).

- Overall, OU is 11-4, when a game in the series is decided by one run

- From 1996 - 2000, the Sooners won nine straight meetings in the series, the longest winning streak by either team in the series.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on KOKC 1520 AM and on the internet via Oklahoma All-Access with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play. TCU's site, gofrogs.com, will provide a live video web cast. Live stats will be available on SoonerSports.com. Fans inside the stadium can listen to OU's broadcast on 90.5 FM.

LAST TIME OUT
OU went 2-1 in the USF Bulls Baseball Classic and opened the tourney with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings over Bethune Cookman. On Saturday, OU topped the host Bulls, 10-1, before falling 8-6 to Eastern Illinois on Sunday.

PLAYER TO WATCH - MICHAEL ROCHA
The sophomore tossed the second complete game of his career on Tuesday with an eight-inning performance against Houston Baptist. Rocha surrendered just one run, unearned, off five hits and three walks. The hurler also struck out a season-high seven batters.

UP NEXT
OU opens Big 12 play on the road against Kansas State (15-3). The series begins on Friday, March 20 at 6:30 p.m. On Saturday, the teams meet at 2 p.m. before concluding the three-game set on Sunday at noon.

EXTRA INNINGS UNDER GOLLOWAY
OU is 2-0 this season in games played in extra innings with victories over Bethune Cookman (5-4 in 10 innings) and Washington State (game two, 9-7 in 11 innings). Since Golloway took over the helm of the Sooner program at the end of the 2005 season, OU is 14-1-1 in extra innings.

10-PLUS WINNING STREAKS
The Sooners' recent 10-game winning streak was the fourth under head coach Sunny Golloway since he took over the program four years ago. In addition, since 1962, OU has recorded 14 winning streaks over 10 games and Coach Golloway was at the head of three of those (13-2006, 11-2007 and 11-2008). The 13-game winning streak in 2006 is tied for the seventh best in school history.

LUCK OF THE IRISH
Tuesday's game marks the third time in the last four years that Oklahoma baseball will play a game on Saint Patrick's Day (March 17). The Sooners are 13-5 on that date since 1962 and Tuesday's game also marks the third time that OU will play TCU on the Irish Holiday. OU won 7-6 over TCU in 1998 in Fort Worth and 16-6 in 1998 at L. Dale Mitchell Park. In addition, the Sooners have scored 132 runs on that date (7.33 runs/game) and recorded a 3.92 margin of victory in the 13 wins. OU has won the close games with a 7-2 record when the game is decided by three runs or less and a 3-1 mark when one run is the difference.

TIME FOR A RALLY
The Sooners have come from behind to win 11 games this season, including two decisions in extra innings. Of Sunny
Golloway's 144 wins at OU, 75 have been in come-from-behind fashion.

BACK-TO-BACK COMPLETE GAMES
Michael Rocha and C.J. Blue achieved a rare feat during Tuesday's doubleheader against Houston Baptist as both starters went the distance to allow a combined 11 hits and zero earned runs in 18 innings of action. The last time two Sooners threw back-to-back complete games was during the 2001 season. On April 27 of that year, Evan Greusel lasted nine innings (seven hits, zero runs) to top visiting Centenary. The next day, also against the Gents, Austin Mix went the distance after giving up one run off two hits.

12-0 AT HOME
Oklahoma won its 12th game in as many chances on March 10. The perfect start matches the second best by an OU team at home. The 1975 Sooners started the home campaign with a 12-0 mark while the 1974 team started 17-0.

SCORING RUNS
The Sooners have scored 10 or more runs in nine of the 21 games this season with a 9.43 runs/game average . OU is 9-0 when they score 10-plus runs in a game in 2009. In addition, the Sooners are averaging 11.67 hits per game with 10 or more hits in all but seven games. The Sooners are 13-1 when they connect for 10-plus hits in a contest.

OU IN BIG 12 RANKS
The Sooners can be found up and down the Big 12 statistics released on March 16. The Sooners' offense leads all conference teams runs (198), hits (245), doubles (54), triples (9), homers (25) and RBIs (178). OU is second in batting average with a .337 clip.

ONE-TWO PUNCH
The Sooners have a productive 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup and the proof is in the Big 12's top 10 statistics as of March 16. Individually, Bryant Hernandez ranks first in hits (34), second in runs (27), third in batting average (.420), total bases (51) and RBIs (22), and ninth in slugging percentage (.667). Jamie Johnson ranks first in runs scored (33), triples (3) and total bases (63), second in hits (28) and triples (3), third in home runs (6), fourth in RBIs (21) and slugging percentage (.741), seventh in on-base percentage (.485) and 10th in batting average (.388).

JOHNSON LEADS OFF
Jamie Johnson has been highly successful as OU's leadoff hitter this season and for a majority of 2008. So far in 2009, Johnson has already equaled his home run total of five from a year ago. Six of Johnson's 11 career bombs, have led off a game, including three this season.

MORE ON JOHNSON'S HOMERS
All but one of Jamie Johnson's team-leading six homers (third in the Big 12) this year have been game tying or go-ahead shots. His first HR against Western Illinois tied the game at one apiece. Against San Diego, his grand slam gave OU a 4-2 lead. In games 11 and 12 of the season against UALR, his leadoff homer gave OU a 1-0 lead. Finally, Johnson's solo homer against Bethune Cookman tied the game at one apiece.

BAKER WALKING
Aaron Baker leads the Big 12 in walks with 18 on the season. The total was boosted on March 3 during game one of the Arkansas Little Rock doubleheader. Baker walked four times in that game, a first for a Sooner since Feb. 21, 2004 when Eric Thornton was also issued four walks.

THE BIG INNING
The Sooners have hit through the batting order on 10 occasions this year and scored five or more runs in eight different frames. OU is 6-1 when the plate five or more runs in a game. The only loss in came the second game of the San Diego series. The Sooners had two big innings in game three of the Western Illinois series.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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