No. 9 Baseball Heads to Fayetteville

April 27, 2009

No. 9 Sooners (33-11) at No. 8 Arkansas (29-12)
Location	Fayetteville, Ark. \| Baum Stadium
Game 45	Tuesday, April 28 - 6:30 p.m.
Radio	Sooner Sports Network - KOKC 1520 AM
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com
Internet Audio	Oklahoma All-Access
Webcast	ArkansasRazorbacks.com
Game Information	Game Notes \| 2009 Media Guide

NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 9 Oklahoma (33-11 overall, 11-7 Big12) will look for its 12th win in midweek games this season on Tuesday, April 28 at No. 8 Arkansas (29-12). First pitch at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville is slated for 6:30 p.m.

The Sooners have won their last four games while the Razorbacks enter the contest after a 2-1 series win at Tennessee. Arkansas has won four out of the last five games, with a 9-6 win at ORU in its last midweek game.

Arkansas was picked to finish fourth by the Southeastern Conference coaches in the West Division after finishing in that same place in 2008 with a 14-15 mark (seventh overall). The Razorbacks were 34-24 overall after going 0-2 in the NCAA Stanford Regional. Arkansas returns 16 letterwinners from that squad.

ARKANSAS SERIES INFORMATION
Overall: Arkansas leads 11-9
In Fayetteville: Arkansas leads 4-1
In Norman: OU leads 8-6
In postseason: Arkansas leads 1-0
Last 10 games: Arkansas leads 6-4
First Meeting: OU won 2-1, May 11, 1970 (Norman, Okla.)
Last Meeting: Arkansas won 8-5, NCAA Regional May 31, 2002 (Wichita, Kan.)

GAME 45 - Tuesday, April 28
First Pitch:  6:30 p.m. CST
OU Starter:  Stephen Porlier - RHP (1-1, 2.84)
UA Starter:  Bryan Bingham - RHP (0-0, 14.54)
Radio:  Sooner Sports Network - KOKC 1520 AM
Internet Audio: Oklahoma All-Access
Live Stats:  SoonerSports.com
Live Video:  ArkansasRazorbacks.com

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Tuesday's game will be available on the Sooner Sports Network (KOKC 1520 AM) with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play.   Live audio can also be found on the internet via Oklahoma All-Access.

PLAYER TO WATCH - CHRIS ELLISON
The Sooners' right fielder was solid in four games played last week. Ellison hit .538 throughout the week and led OU in its three-game sweep at then-No. 9 Baylor with six hits and two RBIs. In the finale, the true freshman finished a HR shy of the cycle with a career-high four hits.

MORE ON THE OU-ARKANSAS SERIES
The Sooners last met the Razorbacks in the first game of the 2002 NCAA Wichita Regional. Arkansas won that game, 8-5, en route to a Super Regional berth. The two also split a home and home series that year, with the road team dropping both contests. Below is a closer look at the all-time series.

- 12 of the 21 meetings have been decided by three runs or less with Arkansas holding a 7-5 edge.
- OU leads 5-3 when the game is decided by one run.
- OU won five of the first seven meetings in the series but just four of the last 13 games.
- The Sooners have dropped the last two contests to Arkansas. Their last win came on March 12, 2002 in Norman.
- OU's lone win in Fayetteville came in 1989. Arkansas has won the last three meetings at home.

UP NEXT
OU will host Kansas (29-15, 10-8) over the weekend in a three-game Big 12 series. The series starts on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Game two is slated for a 2 p.m. first pitch and the three-game set concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
The No. 13 OU baseball team posted a 4-0 mark last week that started with a midweek win over Wichita State. Over the weekend, the Sooners recorded a three-game sweep at No. 9 Baylor. The 3-0 mark over the weekend marked just the second time the Bears have been swept at home in conference play since 1998.

HERNANDEZ AND ANDERSON SWEEP BIG 12 AWARDS
Bryant Hernandez and Chase Anderson were named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, on April 27. Hernandez hit safely in all four games, including two multiple-hit performances and two multiple-RBI games at Baylor. The shortstop hit .353 (6-for-17) last week with two homers, fi ve runs and fi ve RBIs. Anderson made three relief appearances and held Wichita State and Baylor scoreless over 7 1/3 innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out 10 batters, including nine strikeouts in his two Big 12 appearances, spanning 6 1/3 innings.

OU IN BIG 12 RANKS
The Sooners can be found up and down the Big 12 statistics for overall games released on April 27. The OU offense leads all Big 12 teams in batting average (.329), runs (388), hits (498), homers (74), RBIs (356), on-base percentage (.417) and slugging percentage (.560).

SOONERS FIRST TO REACH 30 WINS
OU was the first team in the Big 12 to reach 30 wins and it accomplished the feat after 41 games. The pace is the second fastest by a Sooner team to reach the 30-win plateau since the 1994 National Championship team, which also started 30-11. OU started the 1995, 1997 and 2006 seasons at 30-10. Those three squads finished their respective seasons with a College World Series appearance (1995), a Big 12 Championship (1997) and the program's first Super Regional Appearance (2006).

SCORING FIRST
OU has scored first in 27 games this season with a 21-6 record in those contests. The opposition has tallied the game's first run on 17 occasions but OU is 12-5 in those situations. The Sooners have scored first in 13 of the last 17 games and in 12 of the 18 conference games.

TOUGH REMAINING SCHEDULE
With the exception of UT-Arlingon and Southern Utah, each of the Sooners' final 12 regular season games will come against teams ranked in the top 25 at some point this season. Included in those final 12 games are four against teams in this week's polls (Arkansas and Texas A&M-3). Throughout the season, OU will face 12 opponents, for a total of 27 games, that participated in last year's NCAA Tournament, including nine teams that finished the season ranked in the top 25.

BEDLAM TICKETS ON SALE
Field Box tickets for the Bedlam Baseball Series, presented by the Oklahoman and Oklahoma Farm Bureau Insurance, located behind OU's dugout are now available to the public for games played at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on May 9 and 10. Tickets are $16 and can be purchased by calling the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-456-GoOU.

THE BIG INNING
OU has hit through the batting order on 18 occasions this year and scored five or more runs in 15 different frames. OU is 12-1 when the plate five or more runs in a game. The only loss came in the second game of the San Diego series. The Sooners had two big innings (5-plus runs) in game three of the WIU series and game three of the KSU series.

MIDWEEK SUCCESS
The Sooners have had success in the midweek games under head coach Sunny Golloway. OU has won 10 straight midweek games this season with three wins over ranked opponents. OU is 11-1 this season and 43-7 all-time under Golloway. OU was 15-1 in midweek contests last season, a mark that helped propel them into the NCAA Tournament.

HOME RUN NOTES
With 10 home runs over the weekend at Baylor, the Sooners have 74 this season, a mark that already has surpassed the season totals in each of the last seven years (OU had 76 in 2002).

The Baylor series is the third time in 2009 that OU has connected for 10 or more homers in a three-game Big 12 series (15 at Kansas State and 12 vs. Nebraska).

OU has homered in 17 of the last 21 games with 49 in that span ... That total is more than six Big 12 teams.

The Sooners have 44 homers in Big 12 play, marking the most in conference play since the school record 50 in 1998.

OU has homered in all but 11 games this season with 15 multiple-homer games, including eight in Big 12 play.

The Sooners have hit back-to-back homers on five occasions this season (Listed in italics to the right).

Aaron Baker is the fourth Sooner to have multiple homers in a game this season (J. Johnson, C. Johnson and J.T. Wise). He is one of three Big 12 players this year to have two multiple home run games (3/30 vs. Neb. and 4/26 at Baylor).

The Sooners had two home runs in the first inning and three more in the seventh on April 26 at Baylor, marking the ninth and 10th time this season they have hit multiple homers in a frame.

With two outs on the board, OU has 29 homers this season.

The Sooners tied a Big 12 record with 11 home runs during the series finale against Kansas State. OU hit five dingers in the first inning and four more in the seventh.

OU has 17 homers this season that led off an inning, including four from Jaime Johnson that began a game. Overall, OU has 31 solo blasts this season.

After 44 games last season, the Sooners had 39 home runs.

OU has 15 home runs this season after the sixth inning.

J.T. Wise (14) and Aaron Baker (13) rank second and third, respectively, in home runs in the Big 12. Wise's total is the most by a Sooner since Jason Franz hit 15 in 2002.

Jamie Johnson hit his 10th and 11th home runs last week to join Baker (13) and Wise (14) as the first trio of Sooners to have double digit homers in the same season since 1999 (Casey Bookout-16, Rich Park-11, Bobby Walters-11 and
Jeff Bajenaru-10)

Despite the 1.68 HR/game average this season, the 2009 Sooners are still behind the school record of 114 homers hit in 1998 across 62 games, a 1.8 average per game. That team had 91 dingers after 44 games.

Since the schedule expanded in 1972, the Sooners have more homers this season than 26 OU teams since that year.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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