Baseball Takes on Baylor at Home This Weekend

Apr. 8-10 | Norman, Okla. | L. Dale Mitchell Park

Baylor

Oklahoma

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Oklahoma Sooners
Record: 15-14-1 (2-4 Big 12) Coach: Pete Hughes (3rd Season) Career Record/Years: 602-455-3/20 Rank: NR

Baylor Bears
Record: 15-14 (3-3 Big 12) Coach: Steve Rodriguez (1st) Career Record/Years: 415-312/13 Rank: NR

On the Air
Radio	KREF 1400 AM TuneIn Radio App Toby Rowland Ross Hubbard
TV	Friday: FSOK Sunday: FCS-Central Chad McKee (PBP) George Frazier (Color)
Stream	Fri./Sun.: FOX Sports Go Saturday: SoonerSports.tv

Player to Watch
OF-Hunter Haley, Sr. Haley is a career .429 (12-for-28) hitter against Baylor over the last three seasons. On Tuesday, he posted the 22nd multi-RBI game of his career and fourth of the season.

NORMAN, Okla. – The Oklahoma baseball team welcomes Baylor to L. Dale Mitchell Park for a three-game, Big 12 series to finish a seven-game, 10-day homestand. Game one is set for Friday night at 6:00 pm. Saturday's game will begin at 5:00 pm after the OU football spring game at Memorial Stadium.

The Sooners have won four out of five, including a 2-1 series win over Texas last weekend. Oklahoma, fresh off a 12-2 drubbing of Dallas Baptist, is a game over .500 at 15-14-1 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12. Junior shortstop Sheldon Neuse possessed a blistering hot bat in the first half of the season and has continued to crush as he went yard for his sixth home run of the year on Tuesday. Neuse is hitting .396 with 23 runs driven in, 19 scored and slugging .706 with a .504 on-base percentage. Junior infielder Jack Flansburg is second on the team at .286 as the OU clean-up hitter. He has scored 22 runs and knocked in 19. Freshman third baseman Cade Harris is up to a .284 average as he has hit first or second in the Sooner lineup in each of his last nine starts. Freshman right-hander Chris Andritsos (4-2) owns a 2.65 earned run average and 0.76 WHIP after making his first Big 12 start last Friday; a 7.2-inning, one-run effort against Texas.

Baylor is 15-14 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12, following a series win over Kansas, under first-year head coach Steve Rodriguez. Left fielder Darryn Sheppard is the Bears' top hitter at .351 with three home runs 27 RBI. Two others are hitting over .300, including first baseman Kameron Esthay (.330) and catcher Matt Menard (.328). Lefty Daniel Castano (2-4) and righty Drew Tolson (3-1) return to anchor Baylor's weekend rotation. Castano has struck out 40 in 44.1 innings with a 4.87 ERA, while Tolson has fanned 33 in 43.2 innings to the tune of a 4.12 ERA.

Weekend Pitching Match-Ups

Game	Oklahoma	baylor
Friday	RHP-Chris Andritsos, Fr. (4-2, 2.65, 22 K)	LHP-Daniel Castano, Jr. (2-4, 4.87, 40 K)
Saturday	RHP-Ryan Madden, Fr. (1-1, 2.55, 9 K)	RHP-Drew Tolson, Jr. (3-1, 4.12, 33 K)
Sunday	RHP-Jake Elliott, Jr. (0-0, 4.88, 21 K)	RHP-Kyle Hill, Fr. (1-1, 3.60, 19 K)

Promotions

Friday night marks the team's annual "Go Mitch Go" game in honor of Mitchell Whitaker, a friend of the program that passed in 2007 from Leukemia. The first 300 fans in attendance will receive an OU baseball pennant. The game will be followed by a postgame fireworks display. On Saturday, fans with tickets to the OU football spring game can show their ticket at baseball for $4 admission. Sunday's game will be followed by a free postgame yoga session. The first 300 fans will receive OU yoga themed tank tops. There will also be OU baseball mini helmet ice creams being given away and a face painter and balloon artist at the ballpark.

Last Time They Met

Oklahoma salvaged the series with a Sunday win in Waco last season. The Sooner offense struggled in 3-0 and 7-2 losses to start the series, but came to life for a dominant 13-3 showing in the finale. OU totaled 21 hits, including a game-high four from Craig Aikin. Anthony Hermelyn and Alex Wise each recorded three hits and three RBI. Right-hander Robert Tasin got the win in a six-inning start. In the first two games, Castano and Tolson pitched back-to-back complete games. The Sooners left 11 runners on base in the shutout loss to Castano and the Bears. Alec Hansen struck out eight and gave up just two earned runs in 6.1 innings for OU on Saturday.

Last 10 Meetings

Year	Result	Location
2015	Win, 13-3	Waco
	Loss, 2-7	Waco
	Loss, 0-3	Waco
2014	Loss, 5-10	Norman
	Win, 13-7	Norman
	Loss, 2-3	Norman
2013	Win, 2-0	Oklahoma City
	Loss, 10-12	Waco
	Win, 3-1	Waco
	Loss, 1-2	Waco

All-Time vs. Baylor

Despite having lost each of the last three series against the Bears, the Sooners lead the all-time series, 38-35. Oklahoma has gone 1-2 in each of the last three regular seasons against Baylor plus a 2-0 complete-game, 12-strikeouts performance from Jon Gray in the 2013 Big 12 Championship opener. The last time the Bears visited Norman, the Sooners won the Saturday game, 13-7, behind three home runs between Sheldon Neuse, Anthony Hermelyn and Hector Lorenzana.

Triple Nation

Oklahoma ranks second in the Big 12 and 97th in the NCAA with seven triples. Sheldon Neuse is the team leader at three. He is second in Big 12 lead and 46th in the country. He recorded the 13th of his career at CSU Bakersfield (3/19/16-Gm2). Neuse has the fifth most career triples among active players in the NCAA and is now tied for ninth all-time at OU with Jim Richardson (1985-86) and Derek Wathan (1996-98). His 13 are the most at OU in the Big 12 era.

Fresh Faces

Coach Hughes started a season-high six freshmen in the lineup against Wichita State (3/8), including RHP Kyle Tyler making his first career start. The Sooners have started three or more freshmen in 18 of the last 20 games and 19 times overall this season.

Oh man, oh man, oh man, not again...

Sheldon 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). He later homered against Texas (4/3) and Dallas Baptist (4/5) in back-to-back games. Neuse has homered in back-to-back games four 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 19 career home runs are the most among active Sooners and are the most at OU since the introduction of the BBCOR bats in 2011; passing Matt Oberste's (2012-13) 17.