Completed Event: Baseball versus (2) Georgia Tech on May 31, 2026 , Win , 15, to, 8
Final
Baseball
15
vs (2) Georgia Tech
8
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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Latest Class Readies OU Baseball for 2017
August 24, 2016 | Baseball
| 2016 Recruiting Class | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos. | Name | Class |
| IF | Jeremiah Adams | Fr. |
| RHP | Vincenzo Aiello | Gr. |
| IF | Lorin Archibald | Jr. |
| OF | Zach Farrar | Fr. |
| LHP | Braidyn Fink | Fr. |
| IF | Keone Givens | Fr. |
| C | Hunter Hudson | Jr. |
| C | Brady Lindsly | Fr. |
| RHP | Braden Minor | Fr. |
| LHP | Trevor Munsch | Fr. |
| IF | Kyler Murray | RFr. |
| RHP | Devon Perez | Jr. |
| OF | Mike Ragauskis | Fr. |
| RHP | Lane Ramsey | RSo. |
| IF | Brylie Ware | So. |
| RHP | Nathan Wiles | Fr. |
| IF | Brandon Zaragoza | Fr. |
NORMAN, Okla. – University of Oklahoma head baseball coach Pete Hughes announced the arrival of a 17-player incoming class on Wednesday afternoon. The class marks the second full crop of recruits scouted by the fourth-year head coach and his staff. A total of 10 true freshmen and seven transfers, including five from the junior college ranks, make up the class.
The focus for Hughes along with his assistants over the last few seasons has been an “inside-out” approach to recruiting in an effort to retain the best players in the state of Oklahoma and then branching out to neighboring regions. Arriving on campus this week are five new student-athletes from Oklahoma plus four from Kansas and three from Texas. The class also extends the OU baseball footprint from coast-to-coast with representation in Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Washington.
“We try to stick to our recruiting model, and that is do a great job in the state of Oklahoma and then extend to areas where we want to take advantage of the OU brand,” stated Hughes. “We're not a regional university. We can recruit all over the country. I think we did a good job in state and I think we did a good job with the neighboring regions, like Kansas and Texas.”
Coming to Norman from the Oklahoma high school fields are incoming freshmen Braidyn Fink, Keone Givens and Brandon Zaragoza. Fink is a 6-foot-1 lefty out of Moore and played at Westmoore High School. Givens, out of Jones, and Zaragoza, another Westmoore product, each play on the infield and were named All-State Large West this past spring.
Arriving from down in Texas is two-sport athlete Zach Farrar and catcher Brady Lindsly. Farrar, from Southlake Carroll in Dallas, will miss the fall baseball season as he is already through his first preseason camp as a wide receiver with the OU football team. Lindsly, who played high school ball at Keller, brings added depth behind the dish immediately. A left-handed hitter, he was a Rawlings Perfect Game All-Region Second Team.
Three Kansas prep pitchers join the Sooners' incoming class with Braden Minor, Trevor Munsch and Nathan Wiles arriving on campus. A right-handed pitcher, Minor played at Eisenhower High School in Wichita where he was the 2014 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year. Munsch is a 6-foot-4 lefty with a lot of upside that pitched for Lawrence Free State in Lawrence where he helped the team to a 2015 state title. Wiles, a 6-foot-4 righty, comes to OU from Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park. He and Minor were both 2016 Rawlings Perfect Game All-America Honorable Mention selections as seniors.
“We've recruited all these guys to have an impact in some sort of way in our program this year,” said Hughes. “We're coming off a year where we had 14 freshmen contribute. We expect the same thing out of this class. That's how we evaluate guys. When we go watch somebody and evaluate, the question we asked ourselves is, 'Can this kid play as a freshman?'”
The remaining true freshmen come from Massachusetts with Jeremiah Adams, a product of Tabor Academy in Mattapoisett, and Mike Ragauskis, from St. Viator High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. A super-athletic talent with the ability to play all over the field, Adams was a 2016 Rawlings Perfect Game All-America Honorable Mention. Ragauskis is a physical outfielder from the left side of the plate with exceptional speed.
Among the seven transfers in the class is the 2016 NJCAA National Player of the Year and Triple Crown winner Brylie Ware. He hit .560 with 29 home runs, 29 doubles and 125 RBI for Neosho Community College in Kansas. Originally from Sedgwick, Kansas, Ware, who will be a sophomore, is a corner infielder that will be looked upon for offensive production from the start.
“I thought we picked our spots, too, with the junior college ranks,” said Hughes. “It gives you a good balance. We do like to go heavy with our high schools and pick our spots with the JCs. This class is atypical to how we want to recruit in our recruiting model.”
From within the state of Oklahoma, the Sooners have brought in junior catcher Hunter Hudson, a Seminole State College product out of Chandler, and redshirt-sophomore right-handed pitcher Lane Ramsey, from Cisco College by way of Newman University. Hudson, a 5-foot-8 switch-hitter, hit .382 last season, while Ramsey, originally from Putnam City High School in OKC, sat out 2016 due to shoulder surgery.
Junior infielder Lorin Archibald comes to OU from Lower Columbia College. A product of Renton, Wash., he is a 6-foot-2 left-handed hitter. Junior right-handed pitcher Devon Perez, originally from Washburn, Va., arrives in Norman from Iowa Western Community College.
Rounding out the incoming class is a pair of transfers from four-year universities. Graduate transfer and right-handed pitcher Vincenzo Aiello appeared in 52 games, including 19 starts, over the last four seasons at Rider University in New York. Originally from Staten Island where he attended Tottenville High School, Aiello has been a two-time All-Star in the New England College Baseball League over the summer with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 2014 and 2016.
“We really lucked out on that kid,” Hughes said of Aiello. “He's got a chance to be a power arm for us. The night I watched him, he was 95-96 miles per hour with a wipeout slider. Skip [Johnson] met me in Boston. We went and watched him. He's the real deal. Back-end of the bullpen guy.”
The final member of the recruiting class is a second two-sport athlete. Redshirt-freshman infielder Kyler Murray will be sitting out the fall season with the OU football team and practicing as a reserve quarterback following his transfer from Texas A&M prior to the spring 2016 semester.
“We're excited that Kyler is at the university for a couple reasons, football and baseball,” added Hughes. “He could add that dynamic element that speed brings to the baseball field for us. I'm looking forward to working with him in the spring.”
Before suiting up on the football field for the Aggies last year, Murray was a 2015 Perfect Game Second Team All-American out of Allen, Texas and withdrew his name from consideration for the MLB Draft.
The start of fall ball is set for September 14 as the 17 newcomers join forces with 21 returning players, 17 of which played summer ball over the last few months. The fall season will culminate in the annual Red & White World Series plus the ALS Awareness Halloween Game. More details regarding these events will be available as the fall season progresses.
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