2015 Baseball Schedule Central

2015 Oklahoma Sooners Baseball

Opening Weekend
February 13-15

L. Dale Mitchell Park
Norman, Okla.

Oklahoma opens the 2015 season at home with five games in three days at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The Sooners host Notre Dame on Opening Day, February 13 at 5:00 pm. The action continues with doubleheaders on both February 14 and 15 as the Sooners will face the Fightin' Irish in the openers followed by match-ups against SIU Edwardsville in the nightcaps.

Scouting the Irish: Notre Dame posted a 22-31 overall record in 2014 along with a 9-21 mark in its first season in the ACC. The Irish return sophomore infielder Cavan Biggio, who played with OU's Craig Aikin, Jacob Evans and Anthony Hermelyn on the Harwich Mariners in the Cape Cod Baseball League this past summer. The connections continue between the two programs as ND is the alma mater of Sooner volunteer assistant coach Ryan Connolly. Notre Dame's head coach Mik Aoki and Oklahoma's Pete Hughes have had intersecting careers over the years with Aoki succeeding Hughes as head coach at Boston College in 2007.

What about SIUE?: Tony Stoecklin's Cougars made their first-ever appearance in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in 2014 with a 16-14 league mark on the way to a 21-33 overall mark.SIUE returns a pair of quality senior outfielders in Denton Reed and Nick Lomardo. Reed hit a team-high .344, while Lombardo hit .321 with 45 runs scored. Each stole 13 bases in 2014.

Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge
February 18-22

Cactus League
Spring Training

A five-game set in Arizona begins with a stand alone game at Arizona State in Tempe on February 18 before Oklahoma heads to MLB's Cactus League spring training sites for four games in the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge. OU plays two games in Mesa, the spring training home of the Cubs plus one in Surprise (Royals/Rangers) and Goodyear (Indians/Reds).

Playing in the Desert: Last season the Sooners came away from Surprise with a 2-1 mark in the ASU Tournament, held at the spring training home of the Royals and Rangers, but a game against the Sun Devils was rained out. Oklahoma pulled in wins over Manhattan and Santa Clara by scores of 9-0 and 8-4. The Sooners posted a 1.67 ERA in the tournament led by six-scoreless innings from Corey Copping.

Scouting the Field: Arizona State (33-24, 19-11) returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2014 and was bounced in two games from the San Luis Obispo. The Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge gets underway when OU faces Washington State (24-30, 14-16) on February 19. The slate rounds out with games against Washington (41-17, 21-9), Oregon State (45-14, 23-7) and Utah (16-36, 4-26).

Big 12 Home Series
Mar. 20-22/Apr. 2-4/May 14-16

L. Dale Mitchell Park
Norman, Okla.

The Big 12 portion of the slate begins with a three-game series against Texas Tech, March 20-22. Oklahoma hosts just three Big 12 series at L. Dale Mitchell Park this season and will be the home team for the Bedlam Series in Tulsa and OKC in the first week of May. Kansas comes to town April 2-4 and the regular season wraps up with the defending Big 12 Tournament Champions TCU, May 14-16.

CWS Contenders: The Big 12 was represented by three teams in the 2014 College World Series in Omaha, including Texas Tech and TCU. The Red Raiders (45-21, 14-10) were nearly unbeatable at home last season, going 33-4. Junior first baseman Eric Gutierrez returns for Tech after belting a team-high 12 home runs on a .304 batting average. Fellow All-Big 12 First Team performer Tim Proudfoot (.309) returns to the Red Raider lineup. TCU (48-18, 17-7), which defeated Texas Tech in its CWS opener, looks to build around senior All-American right-hander Preston Morrison (9-4, 1.32). Also returning to the rotation is sophomore lefty Tyler Alexander (10-3, 2.36).

Kansas Comes Calling: The Sooners took two-out-of-three in Lawrence early in the Big 12 schedule last season. The Jayhawks went on to finish the year 35-26 with a 15-9 mark in league play. Kansas earned its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2009 after finishing 2013 one win away as Oklahoma defeated KU in the Big 12 Tournament Championship. Junior second basman Colby Wright (.314) and senior DH Conor McKay (.259, 9 HR) return for the Jayhawks following All-Big 12 Second Team honors a year ago.

Bedlam Series
May 1-3

ONEOK Field (Tulsa)
Bricktown Ballpark (OKC)

Following a non-conference game in Stillwater, the site of an 18-inning win for OU in 2014, the Bedlam Series returns to its neutral site roots with the Sooners as the home team. The opener will be played at Tulsa's ONEOK Field on May 1 followed by two games at OKC's Bricktown Ballpark on May 2 and 3.

Sooners vs. Cowboys: The series went to a new level in 2014 as the two teams faced off seven times; five in the regular season and twice in the Big 12 Tournament. Oklahoma picked up a road win over OSU in 18 innings in the second contest of the season and won again in the regular season finale in Tulsa. Craig Aikin hit .417 (15-for-36) in seven games against the Cowboys, while Sheldon Neuse hit .303 (10-for-33) with eight RBI. All-Big 12 First Team picks, junior infielder Donnie Walton (.310) and RHP Jon Perrin (8-5, 2.38) return to lead Josh Holliday's squad.