Baseball Brings the Beach to OU for Spring Break

Mar. 11-13 | Norman, Okla. | L. Dale Mitchell Park

Long Beach State

Oklahoma

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Oklahoma Sooners
Record: 5-7-1 (0-0 Big 12) Coach: Pete Hughes (3rd Season) Career Record/Years: 592-448-3/19 Rank: NR

Long Beach State Dirtbags
Record: 8-4 (0-0 Big West) Coach: Troy Buckley (6th Season) Career Record/Years: 156-137/6 Rank: 30^CBN

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Radio	KREF 1400 AM TuneIn Radio App SSTV Audio
TV	Friday: FSSW+/FCS-Central Saturday: FSOK+/FCS-Central Sunday: FSOK/FCS-Central George Frazier Mickey Tettleton
Stream	FOX Sports Go

Player to Watch
SS-Sheldon Neuse Neuse, the Sooners' top hitter at .326, has homered in three of the last five games, including the last two. He has now hit home runs in back-to-back games three times in his career.

NORMAN, Okla. – The University of Oklahoma baseball team is home for four games this week beginning Tuesday night against Wichita State. First pitch is set for 6:00 pm from L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Following a weekend against three-straight top-25 opponents, Oklahoma returned home for a 4-2 midweek win over Wichita State on Tuesday night. The Sooners are now 5-7-1 overall entering the second home series of the season. Oklahoma is 5-2 on its home turf to begin the year. Junior shortstop Sheldon Neuse leads OU with a .326 batting average and .674 slugging percentage on three doubles, two triples and three home runs. He has made four relief appearances as the Sooner closer to the tune of a 1.29 earned run average and .182 opponent batting average. In the rotation, Oklahoma has been led on Friday nights by junior right-hander Jake Elliott, who moves into the Sunday role. He has three no-decisions to start the season despite a 3.24 ERA. Taking over the pitching duties in game one is junior RHP Alec Hansen. Coming off an 11-strikeout performance in a loss at No. 14 UCLA, he is 0-2 with a 5.23 ERA and a team-leading 17 strikeouts in 10.1 innings of work.

Long Beach State is off to an 8-4 start to the season, including 11 of 12 games played at home. The Dirtbags have picked up series wins over Holy Cross, Arizona State and Nebraska plus midweek wins at UCLA and against previously undefeated Fresno State. Third baseman Zack Domingues has emerged as the team's top hitter in the early going at .500 (13-for-26). Shortstop Garrett Hampson has been in the lineup all 12 games and hitting .413 (19-for-46) with 22 RBI and eight stolen bases.

Weekend Pitching Match-Ups

Game	Oklahoma	Long Beach State
Friday	RHP-Alec Hansen, Jr. (0-2, 5.23, 17 K)	RHP-Chris Mathewson, So. (1-2, 4.76, 22)
Saturday	RHP-Chris Andritsos, Fr. (2-0, 0.75, 11K)	RHP-Darren McCaughan, So. (2-0, 0.84, 18)
Sunday	RHP-Jake Elliott, Jr. (0-0, 3.24, 11 K)	RHP-Tanner Brown, Sr. (2-1, 3.86, 16)

All-Time vs. The Beach

Oklahoma has lost two of its three match-ups against Long Beach State. The two teams first met in 1989 at the NCAA West I Regional in Tucson, Ariz. The Dirtbags won, 11-4, in a winner's bracket game. In 1997, LBSU got the better of OU, 1-0, in the opener of the NCAA South I Regional in Baton Rouge, La. Oklahoma picked up a win in the most recent meeting; a 2-1 decision at the Rice Tournament in 2006. P.J. Sandoval went toe-to-toe with future MLB pitcher Vance Worley to earn the win.

Oh man, oh man, oh man, not again

Neuse smashed his second home run of the season vs. Mississippi State (3/6) at Dodger Stadium and followed with a home run against Wichita State (3/8). All three of his home runs have come over the last five games within an eight-day stretch. Neuse has homered in back-to-back games three times in his career. He did so twice in 2015 against BYU (2/28) and Little Rock (3/3) and later against Purdue (3/7-8). His 16 career home runs are the most among active Sooners and the second most at OU since the introduction of the BBCOR bats in 2011; behind Matt Oberste (2012-13) with 17.

Most MLB Starts by College (2015)

Rank	Team	Starts
1.	Long Beach State	70
T-2.	Oklahoma	68
T-2.	TCU	68
4.	Arkansas	66
5.	Missouri	65
T-6.	UCLA	63
T-6.	Vanderbilt	63
8.	Stetson	62
9.	San Diego State	61
10.	Texas Tech	56

Big League Pitchers

In 2015, Sooner baseball alums combined to start 68 games on the mound in Major League Baseball. That total ranks the second highest among NCAA teams; second only to Long Beach State (70). Garrett Richards (32), Chase Anderson (27) and Jon Gray (9) each took to the hill in 2015 with Gray making his MLB debut on August 4.

Bullpen Bagels

The OU bullpen owns a 1.97 ERA with three saves and two wins on the season, while holding opponents to a .228 batting average. Sooner relievers have totaled 45 shutout innings in 51 complete innings pitched. Over the last two games, Oklahoma relievers have combined to throw a season-high 12-consecutive scoreless-innings.

Against the West

Under head coach Pete Hughes, the Sooners are 4-2 against schools from California. When playing against teams from the Pacific or Hawaii Time Zones, OU is 10-7. When playing in the Pacific of Hawaii Time Zones, the Oklahoma is 8-4. In the last two seasons, the Sooners have played seven of the 11 Pac-12 schools and posted a 3-4 record.