Baseball to Face SFA and UTA This Week

²⁵ Oklahoma

Stephen F. Austin

UT Arlington

Tuesday-Wednesday, Feb. 23-24 / Globe Life Field / Arlington, Texas

Watch ($) | Radio | Tickets | Game Notes | Twitter

Pitching Matchups
First Pitch	Oklahoma	Opponent
Tuesday vs. SFA, 7:30 p.m.	RHP Luke Taggart	Stephen F. Austin: TBA
Wednesday vs. UTA, 7:30 p.m.	LHP Braden Carmichael	UT Arlington: RHP Zach Norris

First Pitch:
• Oklahoma faces Stephen F. Austin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (Feb. 23) and UT Arlington at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 24) at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, home of MLB's Texas Rangers.
• Oklahoma and UT Arlington played the final game of the schools' respective 2020 seasons on March 10, three days before the remainder of the spring sports seasons were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. OU won that game 3-0 at UTA.

Leading Off:
• Oklahoma is opening its season with seven games in an eight-day span. The Sooners began with two home games against Omaha on Sunday and Monday, and following Wednesday's contest at Globe Life Field, will continue on to the Round Rock Classic (Friday through Sunday) at Dell Diamond.
• OU will play each of its next nine games in professional ballparks. Games on Tuesday and Wednesday will be played at Globe Life Field, home of MLB's Texas Rangers. The Round Rock Classic is held at Dell Diamond, home of the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate Round Rock Express. The Frisco Classic will be held at Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas, home of the Rangers' Double-A affiliate Frisco RoughRiders.
• This will be the third straight season in which Oklahoma has played at least one game in a Major League Ballpark. The Sooners faced Minnesota at Target Field during the 2019 season and competed in the Shriners College Classic at Houston's Minute Maid Park during the 2020 season.
• OU is in its fourth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson. Johnson has led the Sooners to an 86-53 record and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2018.

Watch/Listen/Follow:
• Taylor Maples will be on the call for Tuesday night's game and Toby Rowland will call Wednesday's game locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF (also available through the TuneIn app).
• The games will be broadcast via FloBaseball.tv. Subscription is required.
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Series History vs. SFA:
• This will be the eighth meeting between Oklahoma and Stephen F. Austin, and the first since 2010. OU leads the series 7-0. All seven previous contests were played in Norman. The Sooners won that 2010 meeting, 5-4.

Series History vs. UTA:
• This will be the 36th meeting between Oklahoma and UT Arlington. OU leads the series 24-11. The Sooners have won three in a row and four of the last five against the Mavericks, including a 3-0 victory last season in Arlington, Texas (at UTA).

About the Sooners:
• Oklahoma's first home run of the 2021 season was a grand slam in the eighth inning of Monday's 8-5 win over Nebraska Omaha. Conor McKenna's blast put the Sooners up 8-3, all but securing the team's first victory of the season. It was McKenna's first career grand slam at OU (he transferred from Palomar College prior to the 2018-19 academic year).
• The Sooners returned 23 players and welcomed 19 newcomers for the 2021 season. The 42 players on OU's roster exceeds the usual mandated roster limit of 35. After the 2020 season was shortened by about two-thirds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA issued a blanket eligibility waiver for student-athletes of spring sports and lifted the roster limit for the 2021 season.
• As a result, 24 of the 42 players on Oklahoma's roster are at least in their third year of college (including junior college) while eight others are in their second year of college.
• OU returned players who have made significant starts at all eight defensive positions (except pitcher), just two pitchers who started at least two games and eight pitchers who made at least four relief appearances over the 18-game 2020 season.
• Under Skip Johnson's tutelage, OU's pitching staffs have posted a progressively lower ERA in each of the last three full 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. OU pitchers combined for a 2.85 ERA through the 18 games played during the 2020 season.
• For 2021, Oklahoma returned 12 position players who made at least four starts, and 11 pitchers who made at least three starts or four relief appearances during the 2020 season.