Sooners Open 34th NCAA Tournament Friday

June 1, 2011

No. 14 OU (41-17) at 2011 NCAA Fort Worth Regional
Game 59 vs. DBU	Friday, June 3 at 2 p.m.
Location	Lupton Stadium (3,500)
Radio	Sooner Sports Network \| KREF 1400 AM
Web Audio/Stats	SoonersSports.com
TV	none
Webcast	ESPN3.com
Championship Info	Tournament Central \| Interactive Bracket \| Printable
Game Information	Game Notes \| 2011 Media Guide \| Baseball Blog \| Twitter

FORT WORTH REGIONAL PREVIEW
• No. 14 Oklahoma (41-17) is on the road for the 2011 NCAA Regional for the first time in three years with TCU (42-17), Dallas Baptist (39-17) and Oral Roberts (36-20). The No. 2 seeded Sooners will meet No. 3 seed DBU in the first round of the NCAA Fort Worth Regional on Friday, June 3 at Lupton Stadium at 2 p.m.
• The second game on Friday at 7 p.m. will feature No. 1 seed TCU against No. 4 seed ORU. The winners of those two games will face off on Saturday at 7 p.m. (losers at 2 p.m.). Sunday's games are set for 2 p.m. (loser's bracket) and 7 p.m. (winner's bracket) while the final if-necessary game will be played Monday at 7 p.m.
• OU is ranked No. 14 by the NCBWA and No. 15 by USA Today/Coaches and Collegiate Baseball and No. 22 by Baseball America.
• The Sooners have won 11 out of the last 15 games to make the program's fourth consecutive NCAA appearance and 34th overall.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU broadcast with Chuck Kelly (play-by-play) and Ross Hubbard (color) can be heard throughout the tournament on the Sooner Sports Network, KREF 1400 AM and at SoonerSports.com.
• Fans inside the stadium can hear the OU broadcast on 90.5 FM.
• Live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page on SoonerSports.com.
• ESPN3.com will provide a webcast of each game from the Fort Worth Regional with Brian Estridge (play-by-play) and John Gregory (color) providing the commentary.

TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of single session tickets for the games OU participates in the Fort Worth Regional will be available to OU baseball season ticket holders. Ticket sales to OU baseball season ticket holders will begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 31 by calling 1-800-456-GoOU or 405-325-2424. Tickets will be available on a first come, first served basis and will only be for the games that OU participates in.

OU ROTATION
No. 1 RHP Michael Rocha (10-3, 1.79 ERA, 16 BB, 79 SO)
No. 2 RHP Burch Smith (10-3, 3.63 ERA, 31 BB, 90 SO)

PLAYER TO WATCH - TYLER OGLE
Last week, the junior captain was named a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award and a first team All-Big 12 catcher by the league's coaches. Ogle has reached base safely in each of the last nine games, including 11 hits and six RBI. During Oklahoma's 2010 NCAA postseason run, Ogle led all Sooners with a .452 clip while hitting safely in all nine games with nine runs driven in.
2011 Season Stats: .349, 9 HR, 44 RBI

SOONERS TALK ABOUT NCAA SELECTION
View video below from Monday as head coach Sunny Golloway and Garrett Buechele, Tyler Ogle, Cameron Seitzer and Michael Rocha talk to the media about the upcoming postseason.

OU IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
OU is 76-65 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. The 2011 Fort Worth Regional will the be the seventh appearance in the last eight years and 34th overall. OU won its sixth regional title (1976, 1992, 1994,1995 and 2006) in 2010 under current head coach Sunny Golloway. OU is 17-12 in the NCAA Tournament under Golloway.

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 10 College World Series Appearances, the Sooners made their first appearance in the NCAA Super Regional round in 2006 against then-No. 1 Rice and also played at No. 1 Virginia in 2010. The Super Regional format originated in 1999.

OU is 23-10 in the opening game of its 33 regional appearances, winning four of the last five. The Sooners beat Southern Miss in the 2005 Oxford Regional, Vanderbilt in the 2008 Tempe Regional, Wichita State in the 2009 Norman Regional and Oral Roberts in 2010 Norman Regional. The one loss came in 2006 against TCU in Norman.

ON DECK
The winner of the Fort Worth Regional advances to meet the winner of the Houston Regional in NCAA Super Regional action next week. The four teams in Houston are Rice (No. 8 National Seed), Baylor, Cal and Alcorn State. The sites of the next round will be announced on June 6 at 10 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.

MORE ON DALLAS BAPTIST
- Last NCAA Appearance: 2008 (College Station Regional)
- Game one starter: Brandon Williamson (9-3, 4.13 ERA)
- Top hitter: Jason Krizan (.431, 10 HR, 76 RBI)
- Dallas Baptist returns 18 letterwinners from the 2010 team that finished 28-27 overall and is an independent program.
- OU leads the overall series, 21-3, but lost the last meeting 3-2 in Norman on April 19, 2011. The Patriots' win snapped a six- game winning streak for OU.
- The Sooners and Patriots have not met in the postseason but OU won the only neutral site meeting, 3-1 in 2008 in Frisco, Texas.
- The Sooners have won 21 of the 24 meetings in the series with the Patriots, including six straight wins before dropping the 2011 meeting, 3-2 in Norman. The two have met in seven of the last eight years.
- DBU's two previous wins both came in Norman (9-3 in 2006 and 7-5 in 2004). OU won 14 straight games prior to the 2004 loss.
- Nine of the 24 games have been decided by three runs or less (OU, 7-2), including three one-run games where OU is 2-1.

MORE ON TCU
- Last NCAA Appearance: 2010 (College World Series)
- Game one starter: Andrew Mitchell (5-1, 3.13 ERA)
- Top hitter: Jason Coats (.332, 8 HR, 56 RBI)
- TCU returns 19 letterwinners from the 2010 team that finished 54-14 overall and first in the Mountain West (19-5). The Horned Frogs also advanced to the 2010 CWS and lost in the semifinals to UCLA.
- OU leads the overall series, 53-21, after winning both meet- ings in 2011 (April 12 in Norman and April 26 in Fort Worth).
- The Sooners and Horned Frogs were both in the 2010 College World Series but did not meet. OU and TCU have split the only two postseason meetings, both in 2006 in the NCAA Norman Regional. TCU won the opener of that tournament, 6-5, but OU rebounded with a 15-6 victory the next day.
- The teams have met each of the last 21 seasons dating back to 1991. OU leads the all-time series with TCU, 53-21, after sweeping the two games in 2011. In each of the last five years, the two teams have played in a gamer that features top 25 rankings for both squads. Seventeen of the games have been decided by one run (OU, 13-4), including seven of the last 21 (OU, 4-3). OU is 11-2 against TCU under Sunny Golloway.

MORE ON ORAL ROBERTS
- Last NCAA Appearance: 2010 (Norman Regional)
- Game one starter: Alex Gonzalez (8-5, 2.61 ERA)
- Top hitter: Chris Elder (.330, 10 HR, 51 RBI)
- ORU returns 17 letterwinners from the 2010 team that finished 36-27 overall and first in the Summit League (19-9). The Golden Eagles ended their season in the NCAA Norman Regional.
- OU leads the overall series, 32-28, and won the last meeting 7-6 in the 2010 NCAA Norman Regional.
- OU and ORU also met in the 2000 Oklahoma City Regional at Bricktown Ballpark. The Sooners won both of those games (6-5, 9-7) to eliminate ORU then led by current OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway.
OU leads the overall series, 32-28, and won the last meeting in the 2010 Norman Regional, 7-6. While OU has won the last two contests, the two have split the last 10 meetings.
- The Sooners and Golden Eagles have also met in other NCAA tournament, the 2000 Oklahoma City Regional at Bricktown Ballpark. The Sooners won both of those games (6-5, 9-7) to eliminate ORU then lead by current OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway, who led the Golden Eagles from 1996-2003. 19 of the 60 meetings have been decided by one run with OU holding a 11-8 advantage.

MISC NOTES
- Sunny Golloway recorded his 250th career win at OU on April 26 at TCU. Golloway is fourth on OU's wins list with 261.
- OU has won 40 games in the regular season for the third straight year, a first since 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989.
- After 58 games, OU leads the Big 12 in batting average (.316), and ranks third in earned run average (2.99) and fielding percentage (.975).
- OU is the only team in the conference to own a team batting average over .300.
- OU leads the conference with 413 runs, the next closest team, Kansas State, has scored 352 runs. OU leads the Big 12 in hits with 618 and Oklahoma State is second with 600.
- The Sooner offense has outscored the opposition 413-215.
- Garrett Buechele, the Big 12 Player of the Week on Feb. 21 and 28, leads the Big 12 with 62 RBIs. He ranks sixth in hits (77).
- In 34 of the Sooners' 58 starts, the hurlers have lasted at least five innings, including seven complete games by Jordan John, Bobby Shore and Michael Rocha (5). OU owns seven ofthe 26 complete games tossed in the Big 12 in 2011.
- Michael Rocha and the Sooner bullpen limited the Tribe to one hit on Feb. 18, 2011, the fewest allowed since OU's last no-hitter, a combined effort on March 9, 2005 vs. UAPB.
- Rocha struck out 13 batters in the March 18 shutout vs.Texas A&M, the most by a Sooner since Daniel McCutchen also sat down 13 Aggies on April 7, 2006.
- Rocha, a two-time 2011 Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, has lasted at least seven innings in 11 of his 15 starts. He leads the Big 12 with five complete games and ranks fourth with a 1.79 ERA and third with 10 wins.
- Burch Smith is also third in the conference with 10 wins. The last time OU had a pair of 10-game winners was in 2006
when Steven Guerra (11-4) and Daniel McCutchen (10-8) led the Sooners to the Houston Super Regional. The feat has happened six times in program history, twice in Golloway era.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners made their 15th straight appearance in the Big 12 Championship last week and posted a 1-2 record. OU opened the tournament with a 5-4 to Kansas State on Wednesday. On Thursday, OU rebounded with a 3-1 victory over Texas Tech before falling 4-3 to Kansas State on Friday.

ALL-BIG 12 TEAM FEATURES 10 OU HONOREES
OU had 10 honorees on the 2011 All-Big 12 teams announced on May 24 including three first team members. Captains Garrett Buechele, Tyler Ogle and Michael Rocha were named first team honorees while Cameron Seitzer and Casey Johnson were tabbed second team members.

Evan Mistich, Dillon Overton and Burch Smith were named honorable mention and Jordan John joined Overton on the All-Big 12 Freshman team.

The three first team members is tied for the second most by an Oklahoma squad in the Big 12 era behind the five honored in 1998. The Sooners also had three first team honorees in 2009 and 1997.

ROCHA SEMIFINALIST FOR GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD
OU senior captain Michael Rocha was one of 30 semifinalists announced on May 31 by USA Baseball for the 2011 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award (GSA). This marks the 34th consecutive year that the award has been presented to the nation's top amateur baseball player. The three finalists will be announced on June. 6
Rocha is the second Sooner in the last three years to be named a semifinalist, joining J.T. Wise in 2009. Wise was the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2009 and also became OU's first winner of the Johnny Bench Award. Rocha joins Texas' Taylor Jungmann as the only Big 12 Conference players to appear on the 30-man list.

OGLE A SEMIFINALIST FOR JOHNNY BENCH AWARD
Tyler Ogle was named one of 13 semifinalists for the 2011 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award delivered by Papa John's Pizza on May 19, as announced by The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission. Ogle is the second Sooner catcher in the last three seasons to appear on the list after J.T. Wise became the program's first winner of the award in 2009. Ogle also appeared on the watch list for the award in 2010.

SOONERS PLACE FIVE ON ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 TEAM
Senior Elliott Blair and juniors Caleb Bushyhead, Tyler Ogle and Cameron Seitzer were all named to the first team. The first team selections were career firsts for all four Sooners, despite Bushyhead and Ogle appearing on the second team a year ago. Sophomore Jack Mayfield (multi-disciplinary studies) rounded out the 2011 honorees with his selection to the second team.
Oklahoma has had at least two honorees on the academic all-conference team since 1993. In addition, the four first team members is tied for second most by OU in the Big 12 era with the 2003 and 2006 squads (1997 team had 11).

DEFENSE AND PITCHING
OU has held its opponents to five runs or less in 21 of the last 22 games. The 11-7 win over Kansas on May 8 was the only time the Sooners failed to do so in that span. In 13 of the last 22 games, the OU starting pitcher has lasted at least five innings, including 10 out of the last 14 games.

THE BIG INNING
OU has hit through the batting order 20 times in 58 games. OU had 23 such occasions in 2010. In addition, the Sooners have plated five or more runs in 10 different innings, including 14 in the eighth inning on Feb. 22 vs. UAPB. The 14 runs tied an OU record for most scored in an inning with the 1998 Sooners that plated 14 in one frame against Emporia State on Feb. 17.

SEVEN COMPLETE GAMES
Oklahoma has the most complete games in a season since the 1995 team had eight, led by Mark Redman's such outings. Michael Rocha's five complete games, which leads the Big 12 Conference, is the most by a Sooner since Daniel McCutchen recorded all five of the Sooners' complete games in 2006. Overall, OU had two complete games last season, three in 2009, one in 2008 (Rocha) and one in 2007.

DOUBLE DIGITS
The Sooners recorded 10 or more hits in 31 games this season with a 27-4 mark (42 in 2010 with a 38-4 record), including 20 out of the last 33 and are averaging 10.7 hits per game in 2011.
OU is averaging 7.1 runs per game, featuring 17 contests scored in double digits with a 16-1 record, including three of the last seven games. OU had 23 such games in 2010 with 22-1 record. OU scored 27 in game one of the UAPB series, the most since exploding for 29 runs on March 22, 2009 at Kansas State.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Open 34th NCAA Tournament Friday

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