Baseball Opens Nike Showcase Friday

March 8, 2012

No. 16 OU (9-3) at Nike College Showcase
Game 13	Friday, March 9, 2 p.m. vs. Connecticut (4-6)
Game 14	Saturday, March 10, 11 a.m. vs. West Virginia (6-6)
Game 15	Saturday, March 10, 7 p.m. vs. Oregon (7-3)
Location	Eugene, Ore. \| PK Park (4,000)
Game 16	Sunday, March 11, 11 a.m. vs. Oregon State (8-4)
Location	Corvallis, Ore. \| Goss Stadium (3,248)
Radio	Sooner Sports Network \| KREF 1400 AM
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com
Webcast \| TV	GoDucks.com Premium Site (O-Zone)
Game Info	Game Notes \| 2012 Media Guide \| Baseball Blog \| Twitter

NIKE COLLEGE SHOWCASE PREVIEW
• No. 16 Oklahoma (9-3) is back on the road for the Nike College Showcase in Oregon this weekend with three games versus Connecticut (Fri., 2 p.m.), West Virginia (Sat., 11 a.m.), No. 9 Oregon (Sat., 7 p.m.) all in Eugene and Sunday at No.22 Oregon State (11 a.m.).
• OU is ranked No. 16 by NCBWA, No. 17 by the Collegiate Baseball, No. 18 by USA Today/Coaches and No. 22 Baseball America.
• The Sooners return five position starters from the 2011 squad that finished 41-19 overall and third in the Big 12 (14-11).
• This marks the first year for the Nike College Showcase. OU has not played Connecticut, West Virginia or Oregon previously.
• The Sooners lead the all-time series with the Beavers 5-2 (never played in Corvallis). Oregon St. won the last game in 2001 (10-8) played in San Diego.

OPPONENT CAPSULES
• UCONN returns 19 letterwinners from 2011 team that was 45-20-1 & 25-5 in Big East (1st), & lost in Super Regional to South Carolina.
• West Virginia brings back 14 letterwinners from last year's team that finished 28-27 overall and 14-13 in the Big East (fourth).
• Oregon returns 13 letterwinners from 2011 team that was 33-36-1 overall and eighth in the Pac 10 (11-16).
• Oregon St. returns 15 letterwinners from 41-19 team in 2011 (2nd in Pac 10 at 17-10), and lost in 2011 Super Regional at Vandy.

WEEKEND ROTATIONS
Game 1 - OU: LHP Steven Okert (2-0, 4.58 ERA) vs. Connecticut: LHP Brian Ward (1-0, 1.33 ERA)
Game 2 - OU: LHP Dillon Overton (2-0, 3.74 ERA) vs. West Virginia: TBA
Game 3 - OU: RHP Jon Gray (1-2, 6.14 ERA) vs. Oregon: RHP Jake Reed (1-0, 1.86 ERA
Game 4 - OU: TBA vs. Oregon State: TBA

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU radio broadcast with play-by-play announcer Chris Plank and Craig Moran on color can be heard throughout the weekend on the Sooner Sports Network (KREF 1400 AM in Norman/OKC). Audio for every game in 2012 is also available at SoonerSports.com.
• Live stats are also available on SoonerSports.com. A live webcast is also available through the O-Zone, GoDucks.com's premium site.

PLAYER TO WATCH - MAX WHITE
The 2010 freshman All-American in left field has made a smooth transition to first base in 2012. White has started 11 of the first 12 games of the season at first base. After driving in just two runs in the first seven games, White has quickly moved into second place on the team with 11 RBI. He is batting .421 (8-for-19) with nine RBI during a current five-game hitting streak.
2012 Season Stats: .273 batting avg., 3 doubles, 11 RBI

March 8, 2012 | Video: OU Update with Golloway and John
The Sooners won their fifth straight game on Wednesday at home against Arkansas Pine Bluff. Since starting the year 1-2 at Pepperdine, OU has rattled off eight wins in the last nine games. View video below as head coach Sunny Golloway and redshirt sophomore Jordan John talk about the Sooners' progress and the upcoming Nike Showcase in Oregon.

SOONERS ROLLING
The Sooners have won eight of the last nine games since starting the year 1-2 at Pepperdine, including five straight games. OU is hitting .302 in the last nine games while holding opponents to a .249 clip.

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners swept a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday against Arkansas Pine Bluff. OU won game one, 9-4, and followed it up with a 5-4 victory in game two.

ON DECK
The Sooners travel to Dallas Baptist for a 6:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, March 13. The midweek game is followed up by the Big 12 opener on March 16-18 against No. 25 Texas. All three games will be televised by the Sooner Sports Network (Cox Ch. 3/703 HD) in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

JOHN NAMED BIG 12 PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Redshirt sophomore reliever Jordan John was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on March 5 after tossing 5 1/3 scoreless innings in two games at New Mexico over the weekend. John received the win on Friday and the save on Sunday. He allowed one hit in the two appearances, combined for a shutout and held opponents to a .059 batting average. It marks the second honor for John who was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 28, 2011.

GOLLOWAY GETS WIN No. 600
On Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012, the Sooners recorded an 8-3 victory, marking the 600th in head coach Sunny Golloway's career. At OU, Golloway has won 265 games, the third most in school history and just 16 behind Jack Baer, who coached OU to the 1951 National Championship. In his 14 full seasons as a DI head coach, Golloway's teams have averaged 42.14 wins per year.

SOONER DEBUTS
On opening day, five newcomers made their career debuts, including three in the starting lineup. Freshman Hunter Lockwood started at catcher, sophomore Matt Oberste started at designated hitter and junior Garrett Carey started at third base. All three of the newcomers collected two hits apiece and drove in a run during the 4-3 victory. In addition, junior Damien Magnifico made his debut in the ninth inning on the mound and recorded a strikeout in his first career save.

OU PICKED THIRD IN BIG 12 PRESEASON POLL
The Sooners were picked to finish third in the 2012 Big 12 Coaches' Preseason Poll on Feb. 14. It marks the fourth straight year that the Sooners were picked in the top four spots in the preseason poll.

Texas A&M was selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2012 Big 12 baseball regular season title, followed by Texas, Oklahoma, Baylor, Missouri, Oklahoma State,Texas Tech, Kansas and Kansas. A complete poll is listed on page 5.

PRESEASON TOP 25 POLLS
Oklahoma is ranked in the top 25 preseason polls for the fourth straight year, with its highest recognition coming from the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) at No. 14. OU is also ranked No. 15 by the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' poll, No. 16 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 19 by Baseball America. Turn to page four for all the preseason listings.

WHO'S BACK
The Sooners return 15 letterwinners and seven starters (five position players, two pitchers) from the 2011 team. In the offseason, the coaching staff signed a class of 21 players that were ranked as high as No. 4 (Collegiate Baseball) in the recruiting rankings. View the listing of each player on page 3.

2011 DRAFT RECAP
OU will feature some new faces in 2012 as 11 Sooners were drafted last June, a mark that led the Big 12 and marks the most taken in program history, topping the 10 selected in 1998 and 1995. The 11 selections ranked in a tie for second place in the nation behind Vanderbilt (12). Arizona State, Florida and South Carolina also had 11 while Texas was eighth with nine selections. The most players drafted in the Sunny Golloway era was nine, accomplished twice in 2009 and 2006. Overall, 43 Sooners have been drafted on Golloway's watch, including at least four in every season but one. In addition, 22 of the players came to Norman undrafted in their careers. Of the 11 Sooners taken in 2011, eight were selected for the first time and two others improved their draft status by at least four rounds.

DRAFTED PLAYERS ON 2012 ROSTER
Below is a look at the nine players taken in the Major League Baseball Draft on the current roster. It spans the last three years and includes seven players taken a year ago, including two-time draftees Jonathan Gray and Steven Okert.

Chris Burgess (2011 - 30th round - Tampa Bay)
Adam Choplick (2011 - 17th round - Arizona)
Jonathan Gray (2011 - 10th round - NY Yankees and 2010 - 13th round - Kansas City)
Jordan John (2011 - 28th round - Houston)
Hunter Lockwood (2011 - 17th round - LAA Angels)
Damien Magnifico (2009 - 5th round - NY Mets)
Steven Okert (2011 - 33rd - Milwaukee and 2010 - 43rd round - Milwaukee)
Dillon Overton (2010 - 26th round - Boston)
Drake Roberts (2011 - 49th round - Minnesota)

BREAKDOWN OF 2012 SCHEDULE
- 30 home games, including four Big 12 series
- Home Big 12 series with Texas, KSU, Missouri & Baylor
- Non-conference home games vs. Oral Roberts, Air Force, Arkansas, DBU and TCU
- Other key non-conference games vs. Pepperdine, New Mexico, Connecticut, Oregon, West Virginia, Oregon State and Oklahoma State.
- Bedlam Series in Tulsa and OKC, May 4-6
- 12 opponents from 2011 NCAA Tourney (28 games)
- 8 teams that finished 2011 ranked in top 25
- Seven foes with 40-plus wins a year ago
- Two 2010 CWS participants (Texas & Texas A&M)
- Three other Super Regional teams (DBU, Oregon State and Connecticut)
- First time opponents in Oregon, Connecticut, West Virginia, Alabama State, Hartford and Samford

BASEBALL ON KREF 1400 AM IN 2012
The 2012 season marks the second with KREF 1400 AM serving as the flagship station of Sooner baseball. The partnership provides expanded coverage for OU fans to listen to 50-plus regular season games live over the air and extends into postseason play.

Additionally, 18 of the 24 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 March 30 against Kansas State. Overall, 23 games will be carried on the network with non-conference games against Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts and TCU.

The entire 56-game regular season schedule will also be broadcast live on the internet via Oklahoma All-Access, OU's premium content site.

2012 TELEVISION SCHEDULE
The University of Oklahoma announced the television schedule thru the month of March for the 2012 Sooner baseball schedule. Eight baseball games produced by the Sooner Sports Network will be televised in the state of Oklahoma on Cox Communications Cable (Cox Ch. 3/703 HD) and some of the games will be aired nationwide on DirecTV via Fox College Sports (Ch. 617 or 623).

Each of the games will be televised live from Norman with local sports personality Chad McKee calling the play-by-play and additional contests will be added throughout the season. Please check your local cable or satellite provide for coverage in your area.

The Sooners are also scheduled to appear in two games on Fox Sports Southwest. The first of the two nationally televised games will be played on Friday, May 4 in Tulsa, Okla., for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Bedlam Series. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at ONEOK Field in downtown Tulsa. The second game comes during the final Big 12 series of the year against Baylor. The Sooners and Bears will tangle at 2 p.m. on Saturday May 12 on FSN.

Sooner Sports Network-Cox Ch. 3 in OKC/Tulsa)
March 16 - Texas (6:30 p.m.)
March 17 - Texas (2 p.m.)
March 18 - Texas (1 p.m.)
March 20 - Air Force (6:30 p.m.)
March 21 - Air Force (3 p.m.)
March 30 - Kansas State (6:30 p.m.)
March 31- Kansas State (2 p.m.)

Fox Sports Southwest
May 4 - vs. Oklahoma State (7 p.m. in Tulsa)
May 12 - Baylor (2 p.m.)

ESPNU
April 7 - at Texas A&M (3:30 p.m.)

SOONERS INK 15 FOR 2013 SEASON
Oklahoma signed 15 student athletes as part of the 2013 incoming class back in November.

The OU coaching staff inked 11 high school players, including four of the state of Oklahoma's best in Jacob Evans, a two-way player from Broken Arrow H.S., Taylor Hawkins, a catcher from Carl Albert H.S., Carson McPherson, a left-handed pitcher from Ardmore H.S., and Colt Pickens, an infielder/outfielder from Yukon H.S.

The Sooners also plucked three of the best south of the Red River in Kolbey Carpenter (infielder from West ISD), Ralph Garza (RHP/INF from New Braunfels H.S.) and Huntey Haley (INF/OF from Central Heights H.S.), while adding Justin Burba (OF from Wichita Campus High), the No. 3 recruit from the state of Kansas.

Overall, 11 of the 15 recruits are from the high school ranks while the Sooners also added four junior college players.

Craig Aiken | OF | R/R | 5-10 | 160
Coppell, Texas (Coppell H.S.)

Justin Burba | OF/1B | L/L | 6-0 | 185
Wichita, Kan. (Wichita Campus H.S.)

Kolbey Carpenter | INF | R/R | 6-0 | 175
Waco, Texas (West H.S.)

Ralph Garza Jr. | RHP/INF | R/R | 6-3 | 185
New Braunfels, Texas (New Braunfels Senior)

Hunter Haley | INF/OF | R/R | 5-10 | 175
Nacogdoches, Texas (Central Heights H.S.)

Taylor Hawkins | C | R/R | 5-11 | 185
Oklahoma City, Okla. (Carl Albert H.S.)

Kyle Hayes | INF/RHP | R\L | 6-2 | 210
Santee, Calif. (Santana H.S.)

Anthony Hermelyn | INF | R/R | 6-1 | 200
McKinney, Texas (McKinney H.S.)

Hayden Jones | 1B/LHP | L/L | 6-1 | 190
Houston, Texas (Langham Creek H.S.)

Hector Lorenzana | INF | R/R | 5-11 | 190
San Diego, Calif. (Howard College)

Carson McPherson | LHP | R/R | 6-0 | 190
Ardmore, Okla. (Ardmore H.S.)