OU Set to Host Georgia Southern

Saturday, April 24

Norman

1 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Georgia Southern

Tickets

Photo by: Ty Russell

April 22, 2021 | Baseball

Tickets Game Day Info Watch Listen Live Stats #LaunchPad

Oklahoma

Georgia Southern

Saturday-Sunday, April 24-25 / L. Dale Mitchell Park / Norman, Okla.

SS.TV | Radio | Live Stats | Game Notes | Twitter

Pitching Matchups
Game Time	Oklahoma	Georgia Southern
Saturday (Game 1), 1 p.m.	RHP Wyatt Olds	RHP Tyler Owens
Saturday (Game 2), 45 minutes after Game 1	LHP Jake Bennett	LHP Braden Hays
Sunday, 1 p.m.	LHP Braden Carmichael	RHP Jordan Jackson

First Pitch:
•   Oklahoma (19-17) takes a break from conference play this weekend and welcomes Georgia Southern (22-14) for a three-game series at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The teams will play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday (with Game 2 to follow approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game) and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
•   Friday's game was postponed to Saturday due to incelement weather.
•   The Sooners have won six of their last nine games, including five of the last six at home. OU's scheduled midweek non-conference game against Texas Tech was postponed until May 4.
•   The Eagles have won nine of their last 10 contests, defeating Kennesaw State 11-5 on Wednesday and winning two of three games against Coastal Carolina last weekend.

Tickets:
•   Tickets for all three games remain available for purchase.

Watch/Listen/Follow:
•   The Sunday game will be broadcast on SoonerSports.TV, with Toby Rowland and Blake Brewster calling the action. Saturday's contests will be a live web stream on SoonerSports.TV, with Taylor Maples and Brewster on the call.
•   The radio broadcast will be carried locally on SportsTalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF and via the TuneIn app or SportsTalk1400.com anywhere, as a television simulcast.
•   Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Leading Off:
•   Oklahoma ranks seventh nationally in hits (366) and doubles (78), 11th in walks (187), 12th in runs (267), 27th in OBP (.398), 29th in slugging (.469), 31st in scoring (7.4 runs per game) and 32nd in batting average (.295).
•   OU ranks seventh nationally and second among Big 12 schools with its 78 doubles this season (2.2 per game), and has registered 60 doubles in its last 25 outings (average of 2.4 per game; best in the Big 12). The national leader in doubles per game (Creighton) averages 2.7 per contest. The Sooners registered a season-high nine doubles against Houston on March 20.
•   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.
•   OU leads the Big 12 in doubles per game (2.17), ranks second in hits, doubles, triples (9), sacrifice flies (18) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.53), and third in batting average (.295).
•   First baseman Tyler Hardman was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List and recognized as a midseason All-American by D1Baseball. The fourth-year junior leads the nation in hits (63) and ranks third nationally in total bases (104), fifth in batting average (.444) and hits per game (1.75) and sixth in on-base percentage (.538). He is the 43rd Sooner to register at least 100 hits (180), 100 runs (111) and 100 RBIs (104) in his career.
•   OU has scored at least seven runs in 18 games this season (averaging 7.4 runs per game overall), and notched double-digit hits in 17 games.

Series History:
•   This will be the first meeting between Oklahoma and Georgia Southern in baseball.

About the Sooners:
•   Tyler Hardman continues to lead the nation in hits (63). He ranks third nationally in total bases (104), fifth in batting average (.444) and hits per game (1.75), sixth in OBP (.538), 11th in doubles (13), 15th in runs scored (39), 20th in slugging (.732) and 35th 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.
•   Brandon Zaragoza has already registered 26 RBIs on the season. His career high prior to this year was 30 RBIs in 2019.
•   In his first career start on April 14 against Texas Southern, true freshman catcher Hudson Polk recorded his first career hit with a two-run home run to left field in the sixth inning.
•   Zaragoza ranks fourth in program history with his 231 games played (record is 239 by Max White [2010-13]), second with 572 career assists (record is 728 by Rich Hills [1992-95]), sixth with 817 career at bats, seventh with 115 career walks and 20th with 215 career hits.
•   Jason Ruffcorn ranks third at OU with his 19 career saves (trailing Jeff Bajenaru [28; 1999-00]) and Ryan Duke [35; 2008-11]).
•   OU is in its fourth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (third full year; the 2019 season ended after 18 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson has led the Sooners to a 104-69 record and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2018.
•   Oklahoma has 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, the total runs scored by OU and its opponents are tied 95-95.