Baseball Resumes Big 12 Play in Lawrence

April 26, 2012

Oklahoma (26-16, 7-8 Big 12) at Kansas (17-25, 4-11 Big 12)
Game 43	Friday, April 27, 6 p.m.
Game 44	Saturday, April 28, 6 p.m.
Game 45	Sunday, April 29, noon
Location	Lawrence, Kan. \| Hoglund Ballpark (2,500)
Radio	Sooner Sports Network \| KREF 1400 AM
TV \| Webcast	None \| KUathletics.com
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com
Game Info	Game Notes \| 2012 Media Guide \| Baseball Blog \| Twitter

KANSAS PREVIEW
• No. 23 Oklahoma (26-16, 7-8 Big 12) returns to Big 12 play this weekend with a three-game set at Kansas (17-25, 4-11). Friday's opener at Hoglund Ballpark is set for 6 p.m. Saturday's game will also get underway at 6 p.m. and Sunday's finale is slated for noon.
• The Sooners returned to the top 25 this week and come in at No. 23 in Collegiate Baseball's poll. Kansas is not ranked.
• OU is 8-2 in the last 10 games, but dropped its last two games following a season-high eight-game winning streak.
• The Sooners return five position starters from the 2011 squad that finished 41-19 overall and third in the Big 12 (14-11).
• Kansas returns 17 letterwinners a 2011 team that finished 26-30 overall and 10th in the Big 12 with a 9-18 mark.
• The Jayhawks are 4-6 in their last 10 and recorded an 8-7 win in 11 innings at home over Kansas State Wednesday. The win came after dropping two out of three games at Texas last week. KU has a series win over Texas Tech and losses to UT, TAMU, BU and OSU.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU radio broadcast with play-by-play announcer Toby Rowland and Craig Moran (color) can be heard throughout the weekend on the Sooner Sports Network (KREF 1400 AM in Norman/OKC). Every game is also online at SoonerSports.com.
• Fans inside Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence can listen to the OU broadcast on 87.5 FM.
• Live stats and a live webcast are available for the entire series with links available on SoonerSports.com.

PITCHING ROTATIONS
Oklahoma: LHP Jordan John (7-4, 2.54 ERA) vs. Kansas: RHP Frank Duncan (4-5, 3.17 ERA)
Oklahoma: RHP Jonathan Gray (3-4, 4.72 ERA) vs. Kansas: LHP Wes Benjamin (2-5, 4.28 ERA)
Oklahoma: TBA vs. Kansas: RHP Thomas Taylor (4-5, 4.08 ERA)

PLAYER TO WATCH - JORDAN JOHN
The junior has lasted at least seven innings in all five of his starts and tossed the first nine-inning complete game shutout of his career in his last start versus Alabama State with a career-high 12 strikeouts. John is tied for second in the Big 12 with seven wins, fourth with two complete games, fifth with four saves and sixth with 68 strikeouts, sixth with 70.2 innings and eighth with a 2.55 ERA.
2012 Season Stats: 7-4, 2.54 ERA, 68 K's, 71 innings

KANSAS SERIES
- The Sooners lead 123-62-1 since 1942 and won each of the last eight games in the series, including threegame sweeps in 2011 (Norman) and 2010 (Lawrence).
- In Big 12 play, OU has won 11 of 15 series openers (lost series in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009).
- KU's 2008 sweep was its first in Big 12 play vs. OU. The Sooners have swept the Jayhawks five times (1997, 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2011) since the Big 12 formed in 1997.
- OU is 12-3 in Big 12 series openers with KU. The team that wins the series opener has gone on to win 14 of the series. OU won the opener in 2007 but lost the next two games.
- The Big series between OU and KU has gone to a decisive game three on four occasions with the team splitting those meetings. OU won in 1998 and 2002 and KU won in 2003 and 2007.
- Sooners have scored 10 or more runs versus the Jayhawks in 18 of the 45 Big 12 meetings.
- 23 games have been decided by three runs or less in the Big 12 era (OU leads 17-6), including nine one-run games where the Sooners are 8-1.

ON DECK
The Sooners remain on the road for another big midweek showdown at TCU on Tuesday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m. Following the game in Fort Worth, OU and OSU will tangle in the Oklahoma Farm Bureau Bedlam Series. Friday's opener in Tulsa is set for 7 p.m. while the series shifts to Oklahoma City on Saturday (7 p.m. ) and Sunday (4 p.m.).

LAST TIME OUT
The Sooners lost a pair of games in midweek action, including an 8-2 loss at home on Wednesday. OU lost 6-1 in a non-conference meeting with Oklahoma State on Tuesday. The losses snapped an eight-game winning streak.

PITCHING IMPRESSIVE DURING EIGHT-GAME STREAK
OU allowed 13 earned runs and posted a 1.60 earned-run average during the eight-game winning streak. The Sooners topped then-No. 9 Arkansas (April 10) to start the streak and also beat Oral Roberts in a midweek game while recording three-game sweeps over Missouri and Alabama State. OU posted three of its four shutouts on the season in the winning streak with a 4-0 win over Arkansas and two shutouts over Alabama State (7-0 and 5-0). The Sooner hurlers allowed just over six hits per contest in that span and opponents were hitting .202.

FIVE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
The Sooners are 24-3 on the season when holding opponents to five runs or less and 2-13 when the opposition scores six or more. OU has limited the opposition to five or less runs in 18 of the last 22 games and hold a 15-7 record in that span.

ONE-RUN GAMES UNDER GOLLOWAY
The Sooners are 8-6 in one-run games in 2012 after going 4-9 a season ago. OU is 75-41 (.647) in one-run games under head coach Sunny Golloway. OU has won double-digit games in that situation in 2006 (15), 2007 (11), 2009 (10) and 2010 (14).

DOUBLE DIGITS
The Sooners are 13-5 when collecting 10 or more hits in a game with wins over Pepperdine, Hartford (2), New Mexico (3), UAPB (1), Air Force (2), Texas Tech (2), Missouri (2) and Alabama State. OU is also 2-0 when scoring double-digit runs with victories over Hartford (2/25) and New Mexico (3/3). OU is 1-3 when allowing 10-plus runs against Pepperdine (2/18), UTA and Oregon State. The Sooners are 8-13 when giving up 10 or more hits.

SOONERS AND THE LONGBALL
OU currently ranks third in the Big 12 with 21 home runs on the season, including a league-best nine dingers from freshman Hunter Lockwood. The Sooners are 12-4 when they hit a home run in a game this year and 2-1 with multiple longballs (Feb. 24 vs. Hartford and April 14 vs. Missouri). The Sooners have ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the Big 12 each of the last three seasons, including a league-best 105 in 2010 and 91 in 2009.

TIME FOR A RALLY
In the 26 victories in 2012, the Sooners have come from behind in 14 of those contests. Of Sunny Golloway's 287 wins at OU, 146 (.509) have been in come-from-behind fashion, including 18 last year (22 in 2010).

MAGNIFICO NAMED BIG 12 NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK
RS-Sophomore Damien Magnifico claimed a share of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on April 16. Magnifico was one out short of his first complete game on Tuesday as he tossed 8 2/3 shutout innings to defeat No. 9 Arkansas. He improved to 1-0 after his second start of the year and 14th appearance.

LOCKWOOD COLLECTS TWO BIG 12 WEEKLY AWARDS
Freshman Hunter Lockwood was named Co-Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week and earned the Newcomer of the Week award outright on April 2. Lockwood hit safely in all four games last week to continue his season high eight-game hitting streak. He batted .429 (6-for-14) with two homers, eight RBI, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage as OU won three of its four games, including a series win over KSU.

OVERTON AND GRAY COLLECT BIG 12 WEEKLY HONORS
Two Sooner hurlers earned Big 12 baseball weekly honors on for games played March 5-11. Dillon Overton earned the Pitcher of the Week award after winning two games in that week, including a complete game win against West Virginia in the Nike Showcase. Jonathan Gray was tabbed the Newcomer of the Week after striking out 10 batters in the win over No. 9 Oregon.

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. John allowed one hit in the two appearances, combined for a shutout and held opponents to a .059 batting average.

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.

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 for the 2012 Sooner schedule and 16 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). Six of those same games will be carried 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.)
April 1 - Kansas State (1 p.m.)
April 10 - vs. Arkansas (6:30 p.m.)
April 13, 15 - vs. Missouri (6:30 p.m., 1 p.m.)
May 11, 13 - vs. Baylor (6:30 p.m., 1 p.m.)
May 15 - vs. TCU (6:30 p.m.)
May 17,18,19 vs. Samford (6:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 1 p.m.)

Fox College Sports
March 16, 17 - Texas (6:30 p.m., 2 p.m.)
March 30 - Kansas State (6:30 p.m.)
April 10 - vs. Arkansas (6:30 p.m.)
May 13 - vs. Baylor (1 p.m.)
May 15 - vs. TCU (6:30 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.)