Baseball Closes Regular Season at Home

May 16, 2012

No. 24 Oklahoma (33-20) vs. Samford (34-19)
Game 54	Thursday, May 17, 6:30 p.m.
Game 55	Friday, May 18, 6:30 p.m.
Game 56	Saturday, May 19, 2 p.m.
Location	Norman, Okla. \| L. Dale Mitchell Park (3,180)
TV	Thursday: Cox Ch. 3/703 HD
Radio	Sooner Sports Network \| KREF 1400 AM
Internet Audio	SoonersSports.com
Live Stats	SoonersSports.com
Promotions	Trading Cards, Senior Day and more
Tickets	$8 adult/ $5 youth
Game Info	Game Notes \| 2012 Media Guide \| Baseball Blog \| Twitter

SAMFORD PREVIEW
• No. 24 Oklahoma (33-20) concludes the regular season at home with Samford (34-19) in a three-game series in the first meeting between the two. Thursday's series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday's contest is at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday's finale is set for 2 p.m.
• The Sooners have won 18 of the last 24 games, including nine of the last 11 Big 12 games, and are ranked No. 24 in Collegiate Baseball's poll and receiving votes in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' and NCBWA poll. Samford is 7-3 in its last 10 games and is not ranked. The Bulldogs topped No. 3 Florida 12-7 at home on Tuesday, avenging a 5-3 defeat to the Gators in Gainesville on March 20.
• The Sooners return five position starters from the 2011 squad that finished 41-19 overall and third in the Big 12 (14-11).
• Samford returns 23 letterwinners from the 2011 team that finished 37-23 overall and third in the Southern Conference at 18-12.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU radio broadcast with play-by-play announcer Toby Rowland can be heard throughout the series on the Sooner Sports Network (KREF 1400 AM in Norman/OKC). Every game is also online at SoonerSports.com along with live stats.
• Thursday's game will be televised in Oklahoma City and Tulsa on the Sooner Sports Network (Cox Ch. 3/703 HD) with Chad McKee and Ross Hubbard. There will be a webcast available for all three games on SoonerSports.com.

PITCHING ROTATIONS
Oklahoma: LHP Jordan John (8-5, 2.23 ERA) vs. Samford: RHP Josh Martin (10-1, 3.06 ERA)
Oklahoma: RHP Jonathan Gray (6-4, 3.67 ERA ) vs. Samford: RHP Charles Basford (8-1, 3.86 ERA)
Oklahoma: TBA vs. Samford:LHP Lex Rutledge(1-3, 6.82 ERA)

PLAYER TO WATCH - STEVEN OKERT
Okert, the reigning Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, became the first Big 12 pitcher to defeat Baylor in 2012 after 1 1/3 scoreless innings in OU's 1-0 victory in the series opener on Saturday. In game two of the doubleheader on Saturday, Okert again appeared in relief and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings for his third save of the season. In addition to recording a win and a save in the same day, Okert had three strikeouts with one hit and zero walks. He ranks eighth in the Big 12 with six wins.
2012 Season Stats: 6-6, 3 saves, 3.26 ERA, 23 apps.

SENIOR DAY SATURDAY
The 2012 senior class consisting of Caleb Bushyhead, Evan Mistich, Cody Reine, Erik Ross and Tanner Toal will be honored prior to Saturday's 2 p.m. game. Bushyhead, Reine and Ross were all part of OU's 2010 College World Series team. The five players have combined to play in 629 games with 489 starts.

ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 TEAM
Seniors Caleb Bushyhead (communication) and Erik Ross (multi-disciplinary studies) were named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team. It marked the third career honor for Bushyhead and his second straight appearance on the first team. Ross made his first career appearance on the academic team. Redshirt-sophomore Jordan John (energy management major) rounded out the 2012 honorees with his selection, a career first, to the second team. Oklahoma has had at least two honorees on the academic all-conference team since 1993.

ON DECK
The Sooners make their 22nd straight appearance in the conference tournament with the start of the 2012 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday, May 23 at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in downtown Oklahoma City. OU is the only Big 12 team to qualify for every conference tournament since 1997 when the Big Eight switched to the Big 12.

LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma dropped a 1-0 decision on Tuesday to No. 20 TCU. The Horned Frogs completed the season sweep of the Sooners for the first time since 2004, snapping OU's six-game losing streak at home against TCU. Dillon Overton tossed a complete game with five strikeouts, zero walks and one run (unearned) off six hits.

BIG 12 SERIES WINS
The Sooners posted five series wins in 2012, topping the three recorded in 2011 (tied Mizzou). OU's five series wins (5-3) rank third in the Big 12 behind Baylor (6-1) and Texas A&M (6-1). OU has won at least four Big 12 series in four of Sunny Golloway's seven full seasons at OU. In addition, OU has recorded a Big 12 record over. 500 in each of the last four years. In 2012, the Sooners (13-10) were one win off of last year's mark (14-11).

FIVE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
The Sooners are 29-7 on the season when holding opponents to five runs or less and 3-13 when the opposition scores six or more. OU has limited the opposition to five or less runs in 28 of the last 33 games and hold a 21-12 record in that span.

ONE-RUN GAMES UNDER GOLLOWAY
The Sooners are 10-9 in one-run games in 2012 after going 4-9 a season ago. OU is 77-44 (.636) 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 17-5 when collecting 10 or more hits in a game. OU is also 4-0 when scoring double-digit runs with victories over Hartford (Feb. 25), New Mexico (March 3), MACU (April 30) and Baylor (May 13). OU is 1-3 when allowing 10-plus runs against Pepperdine (2/18), UTA and Oregon State. The Sooners are 9-13 when giving up 10 or more hits.

SOONERS AND THE LONGBALL
OU is currently fourth in the Big 12 with 25 home runs on the season, including a league-best nine dingers from freshman Hunter Lockwood. The Sooners are 15-4 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.

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.

TIME FOR A RALLY
In the 33 victories in 2012, the Sooners have come from behind in 16 of those contests. Of Sunny Golloway's 294 wins at OU, 148 (.503) have been in come-from-behind fashion, including 18 last year (22 in 2010).

BIG 12 SOONERS OF THE WEEK
Steven Okert - Big 12 Newcomer - May 14
- Posted a win and a save in doubleheader sweep of No. 2 Baylor

Max White - Big 12 Player - April 30
- Hit .444 (8-for-18) with four multi-hit games and nine RBI.

Damien Magnifico - Big 12 Newcomer - April 16
- 8 2/3 scoreless innings in first win over then-No. 9 Arkansas.

Hunter Lockwood - Big 12 Player/Newcomer - April 2
- Batted .429 (6-for-14) with 2 homers, 8 RBI, and a 1.000 slg %.

Dillon Overton - Big 12 Pitcher - March 12
- Went 2-0 with wins over UAPB and West Virginia (CG).

Jonathan Gray - Big 12 Newcomer -March 12
- 10 strikeouts in seven-inning win at then-No. 9 Oregon.

Jordan John - Big 12 Pitcher - March 5
- 5 1/3 scoreless innings for a save and win at New Mexico.

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 vs. Samford (6:30 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.)