Baseball Set for Midweek Pair at New Mexico

March 19-20 | Albuquerque, N.M. | Santa Ana Star Field

Oklahoma

New Mexico

?Notes

Pitching Matchup
First Pitch	Oklahoma	New Mexico
Tues. 7 p.m. CT	RHP-Ben Abram (4-0, 1.64 ERA)	RHP-Tristin Lively (1-0, 3.00)
Wed. 1 p.m. CT	TBA	TBA

FIRST PITCH

? Oklahoma is on the road for a pair of midweek contests at New Mexico. Game times are 7 p.m. CT Tuesday and 1 p.m. CT Wednesday from Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque, N.M. Wednesday's game has been moved up one hour from the originally scheduled time of 2 p.m. CT.
? The games will be broadcast on Sportstalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM. Live video can be found at WatchStadium.com and links to live the live video and live stats can be found at SoonerSports.com.
? The Sooners will return home this weekend to open Big 12 play against Kansas. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
? Oklahoma is ranked No. 25 in two national polls this week ? the D1Baseball Top 25 poll and the Collegiate Baseball Poll. This is the second time this season the Sooners have appeared in a national poll. OU was ranked No. 25 in Collegiate Baseball on March 4.
? Oklahoma is at least 16-4 to start a season for the second time in three years. In 2017 ? when Skip Johnson joined OU as pitching coach ? the team started the season 17-3.
? OU ranks seventh in the country with a 2.38 team ERA. The Sooners rank 11th in the country in triples (9), fifth in shutouts (4) and 10th in double plays (20).
? Sophomore first baseman Tyler Hardman ranks 21st nationally in hits (31), 44th in total bases (49) and 54th in RBIs (22).
? OU leads the Big 12 in ERA (2.38) and walks per nine innings (3.44). Hardman leads the league in hits (31) and is tied for fourth in RBIs (22). Junior shortstop Brandon Zaragoza is tied for fourth in runs scored (20) and sophomore outfielder Jordan Vujovich is tied for second in walks (17). Sophomore Levi Prater is second in innings pitched (31.2), third in strikeouts (40) and fourth in opponent batting average (.168).

ON THE AIR

? The games will be broadcast on Sportstalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM and audio will be streamed Sportstalk1400.com and the TuneIn mobile app with Toby Rowland on the call. Live video streaming will be available via WatchStadium.com.

ABOUT THE SOONERS

? OU is in its second year under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson. Johnson is 54-29 as OU head coach, and led the Sooners to an NCAA regional appearance last season.
? OU is batting .294 as a team and averaging 6.95 runs per game, with 34 doubles, nine triples and 12 home runs. The Sooners allow opponents 3.1 runs per game and a .221 batting average.
? The OU bullpen has pitched in 67.2 innings this season, allowing 32 runs and 56 hits while striking out 73 batters.
? The starting pitchers have a 1.89 ERA and have struck out 114 batters and allowed 84 hits in 109.1 innings.
? For the second straight week, sophomore Levi Prater was outstanding in a rubber game to lead the Sooners to a series win. On Sunday, he posted a career-high 15 strikeouts and allowed one hit and one walk in seven innings. He struck out the side three times and twice struck out five in a row, including the final five batters of his outing.
? Prater's 15 strikeouts tied for the fourth-most in school history. The last OU pitcher to strike out 15 batters in a game was Jared Hoerman in 1999 against Central Oklahoma. Jackson Todd also struck out 15 batters in seven innings against LSU in 1972.
? Prater has allowed one run in his last three starts, spanning 21 innings. The solo home run in the fourth inning Sunday broke a 17-inning scoreless streak.
? In two games as the designated hitter this weekend, sophomore Cade Cavalli went 5-for-10 at the plate with two home runs. He hit a three-run homer on Saturday to open an 8-2 lead, and his two-run homer on Sunday made the score 5-1. He is the first Sooner to homer in back to back games since Kyler Murray did so against UCF last May. In his start on the mound Friday, he struck out seven and allowed no runs in 5.1 innings.
? Junior second baseman Conor McKenna batted .600 (9-for-15) in four games last week, driving in one run in each contest and scoring three runs. He was 8-for-11 in the series against Missouri State. In the seventh inning on Saturday he made all three plays including a diving stop for the second out, and then led off the bottom half with a triple.
? Sophomore outfielder Jordan Vujovich reached base in 12 straight plate appearances through Friday's game, in which he drew five walks. He singled in his final at bat last Sunday at Rice, then reached five times against UT Arlington on Tuesday and six times on Friday. During his streak he collected four hits, seven walks and was hit by a pitch once.
? Junior Nathan Wiles was very good on Saturday, striking out nine batters and allowing two runs, four hits and one walk in OU's bounce back win to even the series.
? Freshman Ben Abram pitched 6.0 innings on Tuesday, allowing one unearned run on three hits and one walk. The walk was his first of the season, snapping a 20-inning streak without allowing a base on balls.
? Sophomore first baseman Tyler Hardman went 9-for-18 and scored seven runs last week. Junior catcher Brady Lindsly went 5-for-10 with a double, a triple, four RBI, three runs scored and three walks.

ABOUT THE LOBOS

? New Mexico is in its 12th year under head coach Ray Birmingham, who has led the Lobos to a 372-291-3 record and five NCAA postseason appearances.
? The Lobos dropped two of three games at Nevada last weekend and took two of three at home from Cal State Fullerton two weekends ago. UNM lost to Nevada 5-3 and 6-4 with a 9-3 win in the second game of the series. It beat Fullerton 6-4 and 18-11 before dropping the finale 13-7.
? New Mexico is hitting .313 as a team, and averaging 7.8 runs and 3.5 extra base hits per game. Jared Mang leads the team with a .403 batting average, 11 doubles, 17 extra base hits, 30 RBIs and 24 runs scored.
? The Lobos have a 5.31 team ERA and 118 strikeouts against 74 walks in 156.0 innings.

SERIES HISTORY

? Oklahoma and New Mexico have played 16 times. The Sooners lead the series, 15-1 and have won eight straight meetings.
? The last meeting was a 10-8 OU win in 2013 at an early season tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas.
? The Sooners won all three games in a 2012 series in Albuquerque and four games in Norman during the 2011 season.
? The Lobos won 11-2 in 1988 in the second of two games in Norman, the first of which OU won 6-2.
? The teams first met in 1964 when Oklahoma won three games in Albuquerque. OU also won three meetings in 1977.