Year Two of Hughes Era Underway

Top Returners
Name	Pos.	BA/OBP/SLG
Aikin	OF	.326/.411/.389
Neuse	IF	.304/.369/.521
Haley	OF	.294/.357/.472
Hermelyn	C/1B	.289/.339/.360

What's Coming Up?
This Week	Updated Roster Release
Next Week	2015 Schedule Release
October 30	ALS Awareness Halloween Game
November 7	vs. Trinity (TX) University
Nov. 14-19	Fall World Series

Coach's Profile
Pete Hughes \| 2nd Year The Sooners went 29-29 under coach Hughes in his first season. The second year skipper starts 2014 fall ball with 14 newcomers on the roster.

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma baseball team opened its fall season with the first of 34 practice and game dates spread out over the next seven weeks on Monday afternoon. It marks the official beginning of the second season in the Pete Hughes era at OU. The Sooners are coming off a 29-29 season that ended on the third day of the Big 12 Championship.

Oklahoma returns far more experience and leadership than it had a year ago. Seven position players with at least 100 at-bats last season return along with seven pitchers that totaled 20 innings or more of work on the mound.

“I think our guys are pretty confident and motivated to be good because last year was a difficult time for a lot of us,” began Hughes. “Those years don't come by too often, but there are reasons for it and I think it was for us to be really good this year. Now we don't expect them to be young and inexperienced guys. We expect them to be talented and experienced guys.

“Last year was a year of transition. We had a ton of inexperience. Twenty nine percent of our conference innings pitched returned last year [from 2013]. This year it's 80%. There's nothing better for the improvement, the development of a kid in a program than experience. Sometimes you've got to cut your teeth to do it, like we did last year. It should pay off, when you've got that much experience coming back. Twenty two of our 24 conference starts return. The year before, I think we had four conference starts out of 24.”

Most significantly are the returns of left-handers Adam Choplick (Denton, Texas) and Jacob Evans (Broken Arrow, Okla.). Choplick, who led the Sooner staff with 72.1 innings pitched last season, was selected in the 32^nd round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft back in June. He was shut down for the summer after posting a 3-4 record, 5.35 earned run average and a team-leading 76 strikeouts. For Evans, who bounced between weekend starter and relief pitcher in 2014, his season continued into the summer with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. Evans followed a regular season in which he went 3-5 with a 5.52 ERA with a summer session that saw him earn Cape League All-Star status with a 0.31 ERA over 28.1 innings in the wood bat league.

“Our guys came back in shape this summer,” continued Hughes. “They all went out and played summer ball. We had 13 guys run under a 7.0 [second] 60 [yard dash] and last year we didn't have any. Zero to 13 is a huge jump in your athleticism and your approach to the game. To me that was a great sign.”

I think our guys are pretty confident and motivated to be good because last year was a difficult time for a lot of us.
Pete Hughes

Joining Evans at Harwich were catcher/first baseman Anthony Hermelyn (McKinney, Texas) and center fielder Craig Aikin (Coppell, Texas). Hermelyn, who gained valuable experience as a clean-up hitter, joined Evans on the All-Star Team with a .323 batting average, while Aikin battled back from injury to hit .279 and drive in 13 runs in 20 games.

“The three guys we sent out to the Cape, which is the best league in the country, didn't really surprise me,” stated Hughes. “Those guys are good baseball players. We just need to get the experience on the mound. Whoever has got the best arms and plays the best defense wins. We were one of the best offensive teams in the league [last year] and it didn't do us very good."

In the California Collegiate League, where he was recently named the No. 2 prospect by Baseball America, right-hander Alec Hansen (Loveland, Colo.) pitched for the San Luis Blues alongside infielders Sheldon Neuse (Fort Worth, Texas) and Austin O'Brien (Owasso, Okla.).

“Summer ball can give kids some confidence with success. Alec Hansen went out [to California] this summer and we really think he took a huge step with his confidence. That was the best thing that happened for our program, this summer, was to have Alec in the right frame of mind. We all know the arm and the skillset. Put some confidence with that skillset and it could be a really good thing for our program.”

Hansen, who struggled with control as a freshman and was limited to just 11.1 innings, went 3-2 in 15 appearances for the Blues. He owned a 4.60 ERA across 31.1 innings of work and struck out 52 batters, while walking just 22.

Neuse, the reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Year, built on his Freshman All-America season with a .312 batting average with the Blues after a stint with the Team USA Collegiate National Team. O'Brien, who slugged .415 as a freshman, showed off his power with five home runs and 27 RBI over the summer.

“I'd like [Neuse] to be one of the top leaders on our team, too,” added Hughes. “He certainly can do that. He's motivated to have a better year than he had last year and be more of an impact guy on the mound as well. He's got himself in really good shape. Now he knows the routine. He knows what it takes to prepare yourself at this level every day. I just think he is an awesome player. He's certainly one of the top players in the conference.”

Fall practices will continue to be open to the public. The team will host its second annual ALS Awareness Halloween Game on October 30 at 6:00 pm followed by a scrimmage against Trinity (TX) University of November 7 to raise money for breast cancer awareness. More details to follow.

Players Mentioned

Craig Aikin

Adam Choplick

Jacob Evans

Alec Hansen

Anthony Hermelyn

Sheldon Neuse

Austin O'Brien

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics