Eight-Week Big 12 Slate Begins in Lubbock

Mar. 24-26 | Lubbock, Texas | Rip Griffin Park

Oklahoma

Texas Tech

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Oklahoma Sooners
Record: 11-10-1 (0-0 Big 12) Coach: Pete Hughes (3rd Season) Career Record/Years: 598-451-3/20 Rank: NR

Texas Tech Red Raiders
Record: 13-7 (2-1 Big 12) Coach: Tim Tadlock (4th Season) Career Record/Years: 550-209/13 Rank: NR

On the Air
TV (Thurs.)	FSSW+ Robert Giovannetti Mike Gustafson
Radio	Sooner Sports Network Brendan Flynn Ross Hubbard

NORMAN, Okla. – Eight consecutive weekends of Big 12 play starts on the road for the University of Oklahoma baseball team. The Sooners open the conference season on Thursday night at 6:30 pm against Texas Tech at Rip Griffin Park.

Oklahoma saw its season-best six-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday night at Oral Roberts and head towards Big 12 action and Texas Tech at 11-10-1 overall. Junior shortstop Sheldon Neuse leads the Sooners' lineup with a .377 average after recording the 10th multi-hit game of his season on Tuesday. Neuse is slugging .688 and has driven in 18 runs. Junior Jack Flansburg, who has made multiple starts at all four infield positions, is second on the team at .308 with a team-high 19 runs scored. Freshman third baseman Cade Harris and senior right fielder Alex Wise have given the offense a boost of late. Harris has seen his average climb to .295, while making starts at the top of the OU batting order. Wise is hitting .289, including a .364 average over an 11-game hit streak, with 14 runs scored.

Texas Tech is 13-7 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12 after taking a series on the road at Baylor last weekend. Earlier this season, the Red Raiders posted a 2-1 weekend down at Minute Maid Park with wins over No. 6 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 9 Houston. Center fielder Tanner Gardner leads Tech's offense with a .469 batting average to go with 16 runs scored. Right fielder Stephen Smith is hitting at .366 with 15 RBI, while first baseman Eric Gutierrez is hitting .338 with a team-high 21 driven in. Right-hander Davis Martin got the win in his first career Big 12 start at Baylor last Friday. He is 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 20.2 innings pitched.

Weekend Rotation

Game	Oklahoma	Texas Tech
Thursday	RHP-Alec Hansen, Jr. (0-3, 6.05, 28 K)	RHP-Davis Martin, Fr. (2-0, 2.18, 15 K)
Friday	RHP-Chris Andritsos, Fr. (3-1, 2.05, 14 K)	LHP-Steven Gingery, Fr. (1-1, 4.40, 21 K)
Saturday	TBA	RHP-Ty Harpenau, Fr. (0-0, 4.50, 12 K)

Last Time They Met

The Sooners took two out of three from the No. 10 Red Raiders at home to open conference play in 2015. Oklahoma bounced back from a 6-1 loss in the opener to win the next two by scores of 5-2 and 3-2. Alec Hansen was dominant in the Saturday start as he went the distance and struck out 10, while allowing just three hits. Robert Tasin bailed the Sooners out on Sunday as he entered in the top of the first with a run in, the bases loaded and nobody out. Tasin left all three aboard and OU tied the game in the bottom half. Taylor Alspaugh led the Sooner offense with a 4-for-4 afternoon.

All-Time vs. Tech

Oklahoma leads the all-time series with Texas Tech, 44-32-1, including a 31-26-1 mark in Big 12 regular season games and a 12-17 record on the road. In Pete Hughes' first two seasons, the Sooners went 3-4 against the Red Raiders, including a 9-8 walk-off win to eliminate Tech at the 2014 Big 12 Championship. Prior to the formation of the Big 12 in 1997, the two teams faced nine times beginning in 1976 as OU led the series 6-3.

Big 12 Openers

The Sooners are 9-10 in the first Big 12 match-up of the season after a 6-1 loss to Texas Tech (3/20/15). OU has won four of its last six conference openers. Oklahoma won its first Big 12 game in the league opener vs. Iowa State (3/7/97), 7-4.

Cody Returns to Tech

Junior outfielder Cody Thomas made his first road trip to Lubbock as a freshman on the Sooner baseball team in 2014. He would make two pinch-hit appearances and drive in a run on the weekend. Roughly seven months later, Thomas returned to Texas Tech as he led the OU football team on to the field for his first career start as the Sooner quarterback. He led Oklahoma to a 42-30 victory as he threw and ran for a touchdown, while totaling 133 yards in the air and 108 on the ground.