No. 20 OU Ready for Jacksonville Tournament

No. 20 Oklahoma at Jacksonville Tournament
Location
Game 5	Friday, Feb. 26 - 11 a.m. CT
Game 6	Saturday, Feb. 27 - 3 p.m. CT
Game 7	Sunday, Feb. 28 - 8:30 a.m. CT
Radio	KREF 1400 AM - all three games (tape delay on Sunday)
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com
Internet Audio	SoonersSports.com (Free)
Game Information	Game Notes \| 2010 Media Guide \| Baseball Blog

WEEKEND PREVIEW
• The No. 20 Sooners continue their seven-game road trip to begin the 2010 campaign this weekend in the Jacksonville Tournament against Valparaiso (Feb. 26), host Jacksonville (Feb. 27) and Richmond (Feb. 28).
• OU is ranked as high as No. 20 this week by Collegiate Baseball and No. 22 by the NCBWA and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll.
• The Sooners started the season 4-0 after sweeping San Diego State at Tony Gwynn Stadium last weekend.
• Valparaiso started 0-3 after dropping a series at McNeese State last weekend | Starter: RHP Bryce Shafer (0-0, 1.50, 6 IP, 5 BB, 7 SO)
• The Crusaders return 21 letterwinners from last year's team that was 28-24 overall and 12-11 in the Horizon League (fourth)
• JU was 1-2 at home against UNC-Wilmington on opening weekend | Starter: LHP Matt Thomshaw (0-1, 3.38, 5.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO)
• The Dolphins return 21 letterwinners from last year's team that finished third in the Atlantic Sun Conference and 37-22 overall.
• Richmond went 2-1 in the North Florida Tournament last weekend (W - North Florida and Florida A&M; L - Ohio State | Starter: RHP Matt Trent (0-1, 31.50, 2 IP, 5 BB, 1 SO). The Spiders return 10 letterwinners from last year's 22-25 club (10th in Atlantic 10).

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU radio broadcast with Chuck Kelly can be heard over the air on the Sooner Sports Network (KREF 1400 AM in Norman/OKC) and all games can be heard free online at SoonerSports.com. Sunday's game will be aired on KREF on a tape-delayed basis starting at noon.
• Live stats are available on SoonerSports.com via the baseball schedule page.

NEXT WEEK
• OU returns to Norman for the home opener on March 2 against UT-Arlington at 3 p.m. Following the midweek game, the Sooners will host the Sooner Classic (March 4-7) with South Florida, Western Illinois and Stephen F. Austin.

PLAYER TO WATCH - Caleb Bushyhead
The sophomore made his first career start on opening day and drove in a run off a single as the Sooners' shortstop. In Saturday's doubleheader, Bushyhead was 6-for-7 at the plate with a pair of three-hit performances, including a career-high three RBIs in the first game. He is riding a career-high four-game hitting streak and leads OU with eight hits.

2010 Season Stats: .500 batting average, four RBIs

PROJECTED OU STARTERS
In the field:

Player Name - Position	2010 OU Stats
Tyler Ogle - Catcher	.200, 1 HR, 7 RBI
Cameron Seitzer - First base	.267, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Danny Black - Second base	.333, 0 HR, 6 RBI
Caleb Bushyhead- Shortstop	.500, 0 HR, 4 RBI
Garrett Buechele - Third base	.467, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Casey Johnson - Left field	.308, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Chris Ellison - Center field	.182, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Ricky Eisenberg- Right field	.389, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Ross Hubbard - Designated hitter	.182, 0 HR, 4 RBI

Rotation	2010 OU Stats
No. 1 - Zach Neal - RHP	0-0, 9.00, 3 IP, 2 BB, 5 SO
No. 2 - J.R. Robinson - LHP	0-0, 9.00, 3 IP, 1 BB, 3 SO
No. 3 - Bobby Shore - RHP	1-0, 1.29, 7 IP, 1 BB, 5 SO

LAST TIME OUT
The No. 22 Sooners opened the 2010 campaign at San Diego State with a four-game sweep of the Aztecs. OU opened with a 7-4 win on Friday and followed with a doubleheader sweep (17-5, 9-5) on Saturday. The Sooners completed the sweep on Sunday with a 5-2 victory.

JUST FOR OPENERS
The last time Oklahoma opened a season on the road with four straight victories was in 1987. During that campaign, the Sooners began 5-0 with a clean sweep of UNLV, New Mexico State and Lewis-Clark State in the Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nev. OU won eight of the first nine road games that year. The only time a Sooner team has won more than five games to begin a season, all on the road, was in 1974. That club finished 43-8 and won the Big 8 title en route to a College World Series appearance.

4-0 STARTS
The last time an OU team started a season 4-0 was in 2009 when the Sooners rattled off five straight wins to begin the campaign. In 1998, OU recorded its longest undefeated streak to start a season with a 12-0 mark.

COAST-TO-COAST
In the first two weekends of the season, the Sooners will travel coast-to-coast with stops in San Diego, Calif., and Jacksonville, Fla. The total mileage covered in those trips to and from Norman total is 5,158. The trek from Norman to San Diego in week one was a round trip of 2,750 miles, while the journey to Jacksonville covers 2,408 miles.

SCORING FIRST
OU has scored first in two of the four games this season with a 2-0 record in those contests. The opposition has tallied the game's first run on two occasions, but OU is 2-0 in those situations.

THE BIG INNING
OU has hit through the batting order already twice this season, both in game two of the SDSU series after accomplishing the same feat on 23 occasions last year. That 2009 team also scored five or more runs in 22 different frames. In 2010, OU has scored five or more runs in two different frames, both in game two of the SDSU series.

HOMERUN NOTES
The Sooners lead the Big 12 with eight home runs after four games, the same pace set in 2009.

1 - Tyler Ogle hit the Sooners' first grand slam of 2010. OU has had at least one four-run homer in each of the last seven seasons, including three in 2009.

2 - Four of the Sooners' eight home runs have come with two outs on the board.

3 - OU has recorded multiple-homer outings in three of the four games this year, including a season-high three in game two of the SDSU series. The Sooners had 18 multi-HR games in 2009.

7- The Sooners have cracked four of their eight homers in the seventh inning or later this year.

8 - OU also had eight homers after the first four games a year ago. Eight different Sooners have cleared the fences.

24 - The Sooners cracked 91 home runs a year ago, the most since the 1998 OU club. Only 24 of those dingers return in 2010, including seven from Casey Johnson.

33 - For the second consecutive season, No. 33 Cameron Seitzer homered on opening day. In his first at-bat as a freshman, Seitzer homered in the 2009 opener vs. Western Illinois.

DUKE MOVING UP SAVES LIST
Ryan Duke recorded two saves on the opening weekend to move into sole possession of second place on OU's all-time saves list. Duke had the second best season in Sooner history in regards to saves recorded with 16 in 2009 (Jeff Bajenaru - 20, 2000). Duke led the Big 12 in that category in 2009 and ranked sixth in the nation. He currently is tied for the Big 12 lead in 2010 with two saves.

1. 28 - Jeff Bajenaru, 1999-00
2. 18 - Ryan Duke, 2008-present

TIME FOR A RALLY
The Sooners have come from behind to win two of the four games this season. Of Sunny Golloway's 174 wins at OU, 88 (.506) have been in come-from-behind fashion, including 22 last year.

DOUBLE DIGITS
The Sooners have recorded 10 or more hits in each of the first four games of the season. OU is averaging 13.5 hits per game despite losing five regular starters from last season's club. The Sooners are also averaging 9.5 runs per game and posted 17 in game two of the San Diego State series, the most since exploding for 29 runs on March 22, 2009 at Kansas State.

OU leads the Big 12 with 54 hits and ranks second with 38 runs scored.

SINGLE GAME TICKETS AVAILABLE MARCH 2
Single game tickets for all 2010 baseball and softball regular season home games go on sale Tuesday, March 2. To order tickets, click here or call (800) 456-GoOU.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Prior to the season, OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway discussed the fact that the 2010 team was the deepest he has tutored in 13 years as a DI head coach. During the opening weekend, Golloway used all 33 players that traveled to San Diego, including 15 newcomers. Only two players on the 2010 35-man roster have not seen action (Jordan John and Michael Whitney).

DRAFTED SOONERS
Eight current Sooners have been drafted in their careers (third most in Big 12 this season), including four newcomers on the 2010 squad that were selected in 2009. (Danny Black, Ryan Gibson, Chad Kettler and Bobby Shore). Last season, OU led all Big 12 programs with nine players selected off the 2009 roster. Below is a look at the eight Sooners and when and where they were drafted:

Danny Black 2009 - New York Yankees - 42nd Rd.
Jason Chowning 2007 - New York Yankees - 43rd Rd.
Jeremy Erben 2006 - Cincinnati Reds - 41st Rd.
Ryan Gibson 2009 - Florida Marlins - 48th Rd.
Kaleb Herren 2008 - Milwaukee Brewers - 44th Rd.
Chad Kettler 2009 - Los Angeles Dodgers - 24th Rd.
J.R. Robinson 2008 - Toronto Blue Jays - 31st Rd.
Bobby Shore 2009 - Baltimore Orioles - 40th Rd.
Michael Whitney 2005 - Baltimore Orioles - 18th Rd.

SOONERS WIN CLOSE ONES UNDER GOLLOWAY
Since 2005, OU is 50-19-1 (.721) in one-run games under Golloway, the best winning percentage in the Big 12 in that span.

In addition, OU is 15-2-1 in extra innings under Golloway since the end of the 2005 season. The two losses came at Arkansas in 2009 and vs. Missouri in 2008 (tie at Nebraska in 2008). The Sooners were 3-1 last season.

BACK-TO-BACK PRESEASON POLLS
The Sooners will start the 2010 season ranked in three of the four major polls. The last time Oklahoma started consecutive seasons ranked in one of the preseason top 25 polls was prior to the 1995 (No. 3) and 1996 campaigns (No. 14). The Sooners started last season ranked No. 16 according to Baseball America.

TOUGH SCHEDULE
Overall, Oklahoma will face 12 opponents, for a total of 28 games, that participated in last year's NCAA Tournament, including five non-conference opponents in Arkansas, Indiana, Jacksonville, San Diego State and TCU.

Five of the 12 NCAA participants from 2009 (Arkansas, Kansas State, San Diego State, TCU and Texas) recorded 40 or more wins a year ago, while Arkansas (College World Series), TCU (Super Regional) and Texas (College World Series) advanced deep into the tournament.

BUECHELE, ERBEN & HUBBARD NAMED CAPTAINS
Seniors Jeremy Erben and Ross Hubbard and sophomore Garrett Buechele were voted as the 2010 captains by their teammates back in October during the team's annual visit to Willow Springs Boys Ranch in Chandler, Okla. All three are first time captains.

DUKE ON PRESEASON LISTS
Junior closer Ryan Duke was named a 2010 preseason All-American by the NCBWA and was also selected to the Stopper of the Year watch list. Duke was named a third team All-American in 2009 and is the first Sooner since David Purcey in 2003, now with the Toronto Blue Jays, to appear on a preseason AA list.

BASEBALL ON KREF 1400 AM IN 2010 | RADIO SCHEDULE (PDF)
The 2010 season marks the first with KREF 1400 AM serving as the flagship station of Sooner baseball and the new partnership provides expanded coverage for OU fans to listen to 50-plus regular season games over the air. Additionally, 22 of the Big 12 games are set to be carried on the Sooners Sports' Network, enabling fans to listen to OU baseball on various stations across the state starting on April 1, nearly double the amount from previous seasons.

The entire 56-game regular season schedule will be broadcast live for free on SoonerSports.com.

SOONER SPORTS NETWORK TO TELEVISE 20 OU GAMES | TV SCHEDULE (PDF)
The University of Oklahoma will locally televise 20 home baseball games for the 2010 season. The broadcasts will air via the Sooner Sports Network on Cox Channel 7 in Oklahoma City and Cox Channel 3 in Tulsa. The games will be simulcast with the OU radio broadcast on the Sooner Sports Network with Chuck Kelly calling the play-by-play and DeWayne Vaughn providing the color analysis. The first game can be seen on Wednesday, March 10 against Houston Baptist at 3 p.m.

OU FOURTH IN BIG 12 COACHES' POLL | Big 12 Coaches' Poll | Feb. 16 Media Teleconference
The No. 22 Oklahoma baseball team was picked fourth in the 2010 Big 12 Coaches' preseason poll released on Feb. 16. The Sooners' projected finish is the highest under head coach Sunny Golloway and the best since a third-place vote in 2003.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 20 OU Ready for Jacksonville Tournament

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