Week of Rivals Rolls on for OU Baseball

Oklahoma

No. 25 Texas

April 10-12 | Austin, Texas | Disch-Falk Field

Pitching Match-Ups
Oklahoma	Texas
RHP-Jake Elliott 3-3, 2.88, 47 Ks	RHP-Parker French 2-2, 2.31, 29 Ks
RHP-Alec Hansen 4-3, 3.04, 64	RHP-Kyle Johnston 0-1, 2.55, 17
RHP-Robert Tasin 5-1, 1.69, 32	RHP-Kacy Clemens 2-2, 4.59, 17

On the Air
Radio	KREF 1400 AM \| KEBC 1560 AM Toby Rowland \| Ross Hubbard Brendan Flynn (Saturday)
TV/Video	Longhorn Network Kevin Dunn \| Greg Swindell Keith Moreland

Player to Watch
Hunter Haley // Jr. // LF Through several injury battles, Haley has come on strong of late; hitting .500 (8-for-16) in the last six games with two doubles and two steals.

NORMAN, Okla. – Oklahoma baseball is back on the road for a crucial Big 12 series at Texas this weekend. Game one of the series is scheduled for 7:00 pm Friday, April 10.

The Sooners are 22-13 overall and 6-3 in Big 12 play. Five players are hitting .300-or-better, led by junior second baseman Kolbey Carpenter at .354. The two-time Big 12 Player of the Week leads OU with six home runs and a .577 slugging percentage. Junior center fielder Craig Aikin (.345) is second on the team, while scoring a team-high 29 runs. Redshirt-senior right fielder Taylor Alspaugh (.325), junior first baseman Anthony Hermelyn (.319) and sophpmore shortstop Sheldon Neuse (.304) round out the group. Hermelyn has notched a team-leading 16 multi-hit games, while Neuse leads the way with 31 RBI. Sophomore right-handers Jake Elliott (3-3) and Alec Hansen (4-3) are at the top of the Oklahoma rotation. Elliott owns a 2.88 earned run average with 47 strikeouts and will start on Friday night. Hansen, who goes on Saturday, leads the league with 64 strikeouts and holds a 3.04 ERA.

Scouting the Longhorns

Coming off an appearance at the College World Series in 2014, where it lost to eventual-champion Vanderbilt, Texas is 18-15 overall and 5-4 in the league. After ending a seven-game losing streak Tuesday, Texas looks to outfielder Ben Johnson, who has 24 runs scored and 22 driven in. Catcher Tres Barrera is a .290 hitter with a team-high five home runs. Starting the series on the mound for Texas, RHP Parker French (2-2) has gone 46.2 innings with a 2.31 ERA.

King of the K

The Sooner pitching staff leads the Big 12 with 315 strikeouts; averaging a league-best 9.02 per nine innings. Sophomore RHP Alec Hansen struck out 10 vs. Texas Tech (3/22) and leads all Big 12 pitchers with 64. Fellow sophomore righty Jake Elliott is third in the league at 47 after not striking out a single batter Friday. OU pitchers have combined to strike out 10-plus 19 times this season.

Putting the Ball in Play

Oklahoma led the Big 12 in fewest strikeouts per game in 2014 at 4.86. Once again, the Sooners are at the top of the league; striking out at a rate of 5.17 per game. Kansas (5.91) is second. On balls hit in play, Oklahoma is hitting .313, led by Aikin and Carpenter at .381. Hermelyn (.339) is the third toughest to strikeout in the Big 12 with one strikeout for every 11.0 at-bats.