Feeling at Home in Virginia

2013 NCAA Blacksburg Baseball Regional
Friday, May 31 (All Times Central)	Game 1 \| 12 p.m. \| Oklahoma vs. Coastal Carolina Game 2 \| 4:30 p.m. \| Connecticut vs. Virginia Tech
Saturday, June 1	Game 3 \| 12 p.m. \| Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser Game 4 \| 4:30 p.m. \| Game 1 Winner vs. Game 2 Winner
Sunday, June 2	Game 5 \| 12 p.m. \| Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser Game 6 \| 4:30 p.m. \| Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
Monday, June 3 (If necessary)	Game 7 \| 6 p.m. \| Game 4 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner
Online	NCAA Baseball Central
Location	Blacksburg, Va. \| English Field \| Information
Tickets	OU Athletics Ticket Office \| 1-800-456-GoOU
Radio	Sooner Sports Network \| Sirius 111 \| XM 202
Live Stats	SoonerSports.com GameTracker
Additional Info	Twitter \| Instagram \| Media Guide \| Game Notes

NCAA Blacksburg Regional Teams

Virginia Tech (38-20, 15-14 ACC)
Twitter | Roster | Schedule | Stats
The No. 1 seed Hokies are in their 10th NCAA Tournament, but host a regional for the first time in school history. Outfielder Tyler Horan leads VT with a .349 batting average and 11 home runs.

Oklahoma (40-19, 13-11 Big 12)
Twitter | Roster | Schedule | Stats
The No. 2 seed Sooners swept through the Big 12 Championship (4-0) with highlight-reel defense backing up aces Jonathan Gray (9-2, 1.55 ERA) and Dillon Overton (9-2, 2.89 ERA).

Coastal Carolina (37-21, 18-6 Big South)
Stats
No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina is making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Chanticleers needed an at-large bid after falling to Liberty in the Big South Championship, ending a run of 17 consecutive wins in the conference tournament.

Connecticut (34-26, 9-15 Big East)
Stats
The No. 4 seed Huskies beat Notre Dame as an 8-seed to earn the automatic bid for their 18th NCAA appearance. Head coach Jim Penders is the first to win a Big East baseball tournament title as a player (1994) and coach (2013).

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The Sooners begin the Road to Omaha pitched in the landscape between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Chesapeake Bay. And they feel right at home.

It's Oklahoma's third trip to Virginia in the last four seasons for an NCAA Championship run. The Sooners won two of three against the University of Virginia in Charlottesville en route to a 2010 College World Series appearance. Last season while facing elimination, OU reeled off four straight victories in an NCAA Regional at the same site.

“Clearly, the Commonwealth of Virginia has been a home away from home for us two of the last three years in the postseason. I think we have that going for us,” OU head coach Sunny Golloway said.

“(Seniors Jack) Mayfield and (Max) White have gone in there a couple of times and had success and I realize that we're talking about a different ACC school, but it's still the same proximity as far as travel and how we'll go about doing things.”

Virginia Tech hosts an NCAA Baseball Regional for the first time in its school's history and preparations were still being made at English Field Thursday as the No. 2-seed Sooners prepared for Coastal Carolina, their first opponent. Connecticut, which made a run through the Big East Tournament to earn an automatic bid, is the No. 4 seed.

“Looking at the field, it looks like a very even field,” Golloway said. “In two polls we're ranked higher than the host. In two polls the host is ranked higher than us by just a couple. I'm trying to figure out who might give us the biggest challenge on the mound. We want to know their lineups pretty good before we decided if we're going to go with Gray or Overton in Game 1, but we also want to know who they are going to counter with and if that's going to keep our offense at bay.”

There is little familiarity between Oklahoma and its potential opponents. Friday's meeting with Coastal Carolina will be the first between programs. OU's only meeting with Virginia Tech came in 1978 and Connecticut last year.

Yet the Sooners are riding a wave of momentum after sweeping through the Big 12 Championship undefeated, claiming their first conference title since 1997.

“We're playing inspired. We, as coaches, have gotten out of the way. Since we've done that, our players have really taken ownership, even the young guys have a sense of freedom about them. They've inspired each other. Their community has inspired them and, hopefully, they've inspired their community.”

The Sooners met and regrouped after a May 18 loss to Kansas State. After spending the season as a third-base coach, Golloway moved into the dugout to put more focus on directing the offense. Position changes occurred and freshman catcher Anthony Hermelyn took over pitch-calling duties.

“We've never been closer as a squad,” junior second baseman Hector Lorenzana said. “It all started with the events of the past week and it's going to transfer over to Virginia. It's a new start. We've got to be stronger mentally. Ever since that loss Saturday at Kansas State, I think something special happened … and it's been helping ever since. We took it upon ourselves to make some changes. We united.”

It also doesn't hurt that the Sooners will put one of two early-round picks of the upcoming MLB Draft on the mound.

Right-hander Jonathan Gray and southpaw Dillon Overton combined for an 18-4 record in 27 starts this season. Gray pitched a complete-game, three-hit shutout in his last outing, earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the Big 12 Championship. Overton returned from a forearm strain to pitch five shutout innings to improve the Sooners to 2-0 in the conference tournament.

Losing Overton for a few weeks of May added to the strain of a downward spiral as the Sooners lost seven of their last nine to end the regular season.

Now Oklahoma has all the pieces in place, and a familiar path, to lead them back to their ultimate goal.

“Every year, we always hit that one stride and this year was a little later than in the past couple years,” Mayfield said. “You can't pick a better time than right now going into regionals. Our pitching is doing well, our defense is good -- we've turned a lot of double plays -- and our hitting is coming around.

“We're on the right side of things and looking forward to it.”