Baseball Season Opens Friday

Friday, February 14

Pensacola, Fla.

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Virginia

February 13, 2020 | Baseball

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¹⁶ Oklahoma

²⁵ Virginia

Friday-Sunday, Feb. 14-16 / Pensacola, Fla.

TV / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

Pitching Matchups*
First Pitch	Oklahoma	Virginia
Friday, 6 p.m.	RHP Cade Cavalli (5-3, 3.28)	RHP Griff McGarry (3-5, 4.56)
Saturday, 4 p.m.	LHP Levi Prater (7-4, 3.26)	RHP Chesdin Harrington (5-1, 3.49)
Sunday, 11 a.m.	RHP Dane Acker (N/A)	RHP Mike Vasil (2-6, 5.93)
* 2019 Stats

First Pitch:
• Oklahoma opens the 2020 season with a three-game series against Virginia at the Wahoos Classic. The event will take place at Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola, Fla., home of the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
• Game times are 6 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday.
• All three games will be broadcast on Sportstalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM KREF.
• OU is in its third season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson. Johnson has led the Sooners to a 71-48 record and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2018.
• Since 1962, Oklahoma is 39-19 on opening day and has won nine of its last 11 season openers. The Sooners began the 2018 season with a 6-3 neutral site win over Indiana at Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• The Sooners returned 20 players and welcomed 15 newcomers for the 2020 season. Of the 20 returning players, six are seniors, nine are juniors, four are sophomores and one is a redshirt freshman.
• OU returned eight of nine position starters, three pitchers who made at least 12 starts and six relievers that made at least 19 appearances last season.
• Sophomore right-hander Cade Cavalli will toe the rubber for the Sooners on opening day for the second straight year. He will be making his 15th career start. Last year he went 5-3 with a 3.28 ERA in 12 starts, logging 60.1 innings.
• Junior left-hander Levi Prater will get the ball on Saturday, making his 19th career start. As OU's primary Sunday starter last year he went 7-4 with a 3.26 ERA and a team-high 97 strikeouts in 80.0 innings.
• Junior right-hander Dane Acker will make his first career start at OU. The transfer from San Jacinto College posted a 10-0 record and 2.36 ERA with 97 strikeouts in 76.1 innings last year. He began his college career at Rice.

On the Air:
• Taylor Maples will call the action locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF.
• The games will be broadcast on Cox Sports TV (CST) and Yurview. A Cox cable subscription is required.
• Friday's game will be live on Yurview, available in markets in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida, Virginia and Nebraska. It will air tape delayed on CST, including in Oklahoma markets, at 9 p.m.
• Saturday's game will be live streamed on Yurview.com, available only in Louisiana and Florida. It will air tape delayed on CST, including in Oklahoma markets, at 8 p.m.
• Sunday's game will air live on CST at 11 a.m.

Series History:
• Oklahoma leads the all-time series against Virginia 3-2. The last four meetings came in the NCAA postseason.
• The Sooners defeated the Cavaliers 5-4 in the 2012 NCAA Charlottesville Regional.
• OU won the 2010 Super Regional at Charlottesville to advance to its 10th College World Series. The Sooners rebounded from a 3-2 defeat in the opener to win 10-7 and 11-0.
• Oklahoma and Virginia first met in 1999 in Orlando, Fla. UVA won that contest 12-4.

About the Sooners:
• Under Skip Johnson's tutelage, OU's pitching staffs have posted a progressively lower ERA in each of the last three seasons (since Johnson arrived as pitching coach for the 2017 season). OU's 3.92 team ERA in 2019 was only the seventh team ERA under 4.00 since 1980, and the first since 2015.
• The Sooners are ranked as high as No. 16 in preseason national polls. OU is ranked No. 16 by Perfect Game, No. 19 by Baseball America and No. 24 by D1Baseball and the NCBWA.
• Oklahoma returns starters at first base (Tyler Hardman, 56 starts), second base (Conor McKenna, 56 starts), shortstop (Brandon Zaragoza, 56 starts), catcher/DH (Brady Lindsly, 47 starts and Justin Mitchell, 32 starts), and four outfielders who started at least 36 games in 2019 (Tanner Tredaway, 40 starts; Brady Harlan, 38 starts; Jordan Vujovich, 37 starts; Diego Muniz, 36 starts).
• Relievers Jason Ruffcorn (30 appearances, 11 saves), Wyatt Olds (31 appearances), Ledgend Smith (28 appearances), Zack Matthews (24 appearances, 1 save), Aaron Brooks (22 appearances) and Jaret Godman (19 appearances, 2 starts, 3-0 record) are all back for the 2020 season.

National Award Watch Lists:
• Cade Cavalli was named on the Golden Spikes Award Watch List, awarded by USA Baseball. He was a John Olerud Award semifinalist in 2019.
• Jason Ruffcorn is on the Stopper of the Year Watch List, presented by the NCBWA.

Preseason Honors:
• Junior right-hander Cade Cavalli was recognized as a third-team Preseason All-American by Baseball America.
• Senior right-hander Jason Ruffcorn was honored as a second-team Preseason All-American by the NCBWA and a third-team Preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
• Cavalli was selected as the Big 12 Preseason Pitcher of the Year. Ruffcorn, senior catcher Brady Lindsly and junior left-hander Levi Prater were named on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team.
• Oklahoma was picked to finish fourth in the Big 12 by the league's head coaches.

Opening Day Starters:
Right-hander Cade Cavalli is slated to start on the mound for the Sooners on opening day. He will become the third pitcher to make back-to-back opening day starts since 2015 (Jake Elliott, 2015-16 and Jake Irvin, 2018-19). Dillon Overton also made consecutive opening day starts in 2012-13. This is the fifth consecutive season OU will start a right-hander on opening day following three years in a row of lefties getting the nod.