Baseball on the Road for Series at West Virginia

March 29-31 | Morgantown, W.Va. | Monongalia County Ballpark

Oklahoma

West Virginia

WVU Video

KREF 1400

Live Stats

Notes

Twitter

Pitching Matchup
First Pitch	Oklahoma	West Virginia
Fri. 5:30 p.m. CT	RHP-Cade Cavalli (3-1, 1.64)	RHP-Alek Manoah (3-1, 2.97)
Sat. 3 p.m. CT	RHP-Nathan Wiles (5-0, 2.89)	LHP-Jackson Wolf (2-2, 4.50)
Sun. Noon CT	LHP-Levi Prater (5-1, 0.98)	RHP-Kade Strowd (2-2, 4.00)

FIRST PITCH

• Oklahoma is on the road for a three-game Big 12 conference series at West Virginia this weekend. Game times are 5:30 p.m. CT Friday, 3 p.m. CT Saturday and noon CT Sunday at Monongalia County Ballpark.
• The Sooners swept their conference-opening series over Kansas at home last weekend while the Mountaineers dropped three games at Baylor.
• Oklahoma is ranked this week at No. 19 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 22 in the D1Baseball Poll, No. 23 in the NCBWA poll, No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll and No. 25 in the Baseball American and Perfect Game polls. OU is up three spots in the D1Baseball poll and one spot in the CBN poll, and appears in the other two polls for the first time this season.
• Oklahoma is at least 21-5 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 22-4.
• OU ranks fifth in the country with a 2.56 team ERA. The Sooners rank seventh in the country in triples (12), 10th in shutouts (4) and fifth in double plays (27).
• Junior catcher Brady Lindsly ranks fifth nationally – and first among catchers – with four triples. Sophomore first baseman Tyler Hardman ranks 28th nationally in hits (38) and 44th in RBIs (28). Sophomore outfielder Jordan Vujovich and junior shortstop Brandon Zaragoza rank 17th (24) and 35th (22) in walks, respectively.
• OU leads the Big 12 in ERA (2.56) and walks per nine innings (3.38). Hardman is tied for the league lead in hits (38) and is third in RBIs (28). Vujovich ranks second in walks (24) and third on-base percentage (.500). Sophomore Levi Prater is third in strikeouts (46) and third in opponent batting average (.163).

ON THE AIR

• The game will be broadcast on Sportstalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM and the Sooner Sports Network with Toby Rowland on the call. The radio call will be streamed Sportstalk1400.com and the TuneIn mobile app. Live video will be available for free via WVUSports.com.

ABOUT THE SOONERS

• OU is in its second year under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson. Johnson is 59-30 as OU head coach, and led the Sooners to an NCAA regional appearance last season.
• Oklahoma won its 2,600th game in program history on Sunday. The Sooners are 2,600-1,502-12 (.633) all-time in their 119th season of competition.
• OU has allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 26 games this season, and allowed one or zero runs 11 times.
• OU is batting .288 as a team and averaging 6.88 runs per game, with 47 doubles, 12 triples and 14 home runs. The Sooners allow opponents 3.2 runs per game and a .229 batting average.
• The Sooners have a 2.56 team ERA with 227 strikeouts to 87 walks in 231.2 innings. The starting pitchers have a 1.93 ERA and have struck out 142 batters and allowed 110 hits in 144.1 innings.
• Junior Jason Ruffcorn was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Monday. He appeared in all five games last week, earning three saves. He saved the games Saturday and Sunday, closing out the Sooners' series sweep of Kansas, holding a 4-3 lead Saturday and getting five outs on Sunday.
• Sophomore outfielder Jordan Vujovich has reached base in 20 straight contests, dating back to Feb. 20 against Dallas Baptist. He has tallied 16 hits, 24 walks, been hit by a pitch seven times and scored 15 runs in that span. He reached base in 12 straight plate appearances from March 10-15.
• In his last 12 games, junior second baseman Conor McKenna
has batted .447 (21-of-47) with 15 RBIs, 10 runs scored, five walks, two doubles, two triples and a home run. He has tallied at least two hits in eight of those games and raised his season batting average from .212 to .323 in that span.
• Sophomore first baseman Tyler Hardman has reached base in 10 straight games. In that span, he has tallied 16 hits, five walks, 14 runs scored, six RBIs, three doubles and a home run while batting .372. He leads the team with 13 multiple hit games and seven multiple RBI games.
• Sophomore catcher Justin Mitchell has recorded a hit in each of the last four games in which he has played. He has made 11 starts in 13 games and recorded at least one hit in 10 contests. He is batting .400 for the season.
• Sophomore Levi Prater struck out six batters over 5.0 innings and allowed one unearned run in Sunday's win over Kansas. He dropped his ERA to 0.98 for the season. He has allowed one earned run, and two runs overall, in 26.0 innings over his last four starts. He has totaled 32 strikeouts and allowed five walks and 10 hits in those four starts.

ABOUT THE MOUNTAINEERS

• West Virginia is in its seventh year under head coach Randy Mazey, who has led the Cowboys to a 190-154 record.
• The Mountaineers, which are 6-0 at home this season, rebounded from a weekend conference sweep at Baylor with a 15-3 win at Marshall on Wednesday.
• WVU is hitting .243 as a team, and averaging 5.95 runs and 2.96 extra base hits per game. Tyler Doanes leads the team with a .319 batting average while Darius Hill has a team-high 13 extra base hits and 17 RBIs.
• The Mountaineers have a 3.62 team ERA and 220 strikeouts against 102 walks in 208.2 innings.

SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma and West Virginia have played 22 times. The Sooners lead the overall series, 13-9, and have won five straight meetings.
• OU won all three meetings last season in Norman (19-6, 10-2, 2-1), and won the final two games in Morgantown in 2017 (3-1 and 7-4).
• The Mountaineers won the 2017 series opener 4-2 and won the final three of five meetings in 2016.
• OU leads the series in West Virginia 5-4, and won two of three meetings in Morgantown in 2015 and 2017. WVU won two of three games in Charleston in 2013 when the schools first met as conference rivals.
• OU and WVU first met in 2012 in Eugene, Ore., in an early season tournament game that the Sooners won 5-2.