OU Baseball Notebook April 19

Record: 19-17, 4-8 Big 12

LAST WEEK RESULTS: 3-2
W 6-0 (7) home vs. Texas Southern (Norman, Okla.)
W 5-1 (7) home vs. Texas Southern (Norman, Okla.)
L 2-3 (10) road at Kansas State (Manhattan, Kan.)
W 6-4 road at Kansas State (Manhattan, Kan.)
L 3-8 road at Kansas State (Manhattan, Kan.)

SCHEDULE THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, April 20 vs. No. 5 Texas Tech – 7 p.m. (Amarillo, Texas)
Friday, April 23 vs. Georgia Southern – 6:30 p.m. (Norman, Okla.)
Saturday, April 24 vs. Georgia Southern – 1 p.m. (Norman, Okla.)
Sunday, April 25 vs. Georgia Southern – 1 p.m. (Norman, Okla.)

KEY NOTES OF THE WEEK:

Oklahoma face Texas Tech in a neutral-site non-conference matchup Tuesday in Amarillo, Texas. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and it will be televised on ESPNU.
The Sooners will be back at home this weekend for a three-game set against Georgia Southern. Game times for that series are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Oklahoma ranks second nationally in hits (366), fourth in doubles (78), 11th in runs (267) and walks (187), 25th in OBP (.398), 27th in slugging (.469), 28th in scoring (7.4 runs per game) and 31st in batting average (.295).
OU leads the Big 12 in hits, doubles per game (2.17) and sacrifice flies (18), ranks second in the league in doubles, strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.53) and triples (nine), and third in batting average, scoring and slugging.
The Sooners have outscored opponents in the last two-thirds of games (innings four through nine) this season by a total of 171 to 126. In the first three innings of games, both OU and its opponents have totaled 95 runs.
Tyler Hardman continues to lead the nation in hits (63) and total bases (104). He ranks fourth nationally in batting average (.444), fifth in hits per game (1.75) and OBP (.538), 11th in runs scored (39) and doubles (13), 20th in slugging (.732) and 29th in walks (27).
Hardman has notched multiple hits in 21 of OU's 36 games this season, and has at least one hit in 32 contests (a hit in all but four games). His batting average (.444) has not been lower than .440 since March 14 (first game of the Arkansas State doubleheader when he hit for the cycle with five hits). He maintained an average of .458 or better for 20 games (from March 14 through April 14), and his average was .460 or better for all but one game in that stretch (following March 26 series opener at Texas).
In 24 games since March 14, he has batted .474 (45 for 95) with all eight of his home runs, both of his triples and 12 of his 13 doubles on the season. In the first 12 games of the season from Feb. 21 through March 9, he batted .383 (18 for 47).
Peyton Graham has reached base in 32 consecutive games. The last game in which he did not reach base was Feb. 23 vs. Stephen F. Austin – OU's third game of the season. He batted .417 (5 for 12) in the series at Kansas State with a home run, three doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Brett Squires has a hit in 10 of his last 11 games and has reached base in 11 straight contests. In that span since April 3, he has batted .389 (14 for 36) with 10 of his 15 extra base hits (six doubles, one triple, three home runs) and raised his season batting average 49 points from .294 to .343. Fifteen of his 24 hits this season have gone for extra bases.
Tanner Tredaway has a hit in seven straight games and has reached base in 11 straight contests. He has batted .356 (11 for 31) with seven RBIs, eight runs scored, two homers and two doubles in his last seven games. He carried a 17-game hitting streak from Feb. 24 through March 24.
Breydon Daniel tallied three hits last week, including an RBI triple against Texas Southern on Wednesday and a home run in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Kansas State. The homer was his second of the season (also at Arkansas on March 16).
Jake Bennett started the series opener at Kansas State and turned in one of his sharpest outings of the season, pitching four scoreless frames to begin the game. He struck out six batters and allowing just two runs on four hits in 4.1 innings.
Wyatt Olds pitched in relief for the first time this season in the opener and was outstanding. He struck out eight batters over 5.1 innings and held the Wildcats at two runs from the sixth through ninth innings. After the first batter he faced singled, Olds retired 15 of the next 17 K-State hitters.
Carson Carter pitched 3.0 scoreless frames with three strikeouts and just two hits and no walks allowed in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader. In his last three outings, Carter has registered 5.2 innings and allowed just two unearned runs on five hits with four strikeouts.
Conor McKenna leads the Sooners with 11 multiple RBI games while Hardman has 10 multi-RBI contests. Hardman and McKenna have each registered a team-high 34 RBIs.
Zaragoza has already registered 26 RBIs on the season. His career high prior to this year was 30 RBIs in 2019.
Thirty-five percent of Oklahoma's hits (127 of 366) have gone for extra bases. The Sooners have totaled 78 doubles, nine triples and 40 home runs in 36 games, an average of 3.5 extra base hits per contest.
Pledged contributions for every home run that OU hits this season (40 so far; 19 in the last 12 games alone) will go towards the stadium renovation project. For more information or to make a pledge, visit TheSoonerClub.com/LaunchPad.

Players Mentioned

Jake Bennett

Carson Carter

Breydon Daniel

Peyton Graham

Tyler Hardman

Conor McKenna

Wyatt Olds

Brett Squires

Tanner Tredaway

Sponsors

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