Sooners Close Regular Season at Baylor

Oklahoma

Baylor

Thursday-Saturday, May 20-22 / Waco, Texas / Baylor Ballpark

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Matchups
Game Time	OU Projected Starters	BU Projected Starters
Thursday, 6:30 p.m.	TBA	TBA
Friday, 6:30 p.m.	TBA	TBA
Saturday, 3 p.m.	TBA	TBA

First Pitch:
•   Oklahoma (25-25, 9-112 Big 12) wraps up the regular season this weekend with a three-game Big 12 series against Baylor (30-16, 10-11 Big 12) in Waco, Texas. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday at Baylor Ballpark.
•   Oklahoma has won two of its last three Big 12 series, including a road series victory at West Virginia two weeks ago. The Sooners won the first two games against Oklahoma State (April 30-May 2), won the last two games at WVU (May 7-8) and won the series opener vs. No. 7 Texas Tech before dropping the final two contests (May 14-16).
•   Baylor has won four of its last five Big 12 series, including four straight before dropping two of three games in its series at OSU last weekend.
•   The Sooners and Bears have already met once this season, back on Feb. 28 in the finale of the Round Rock Classic. Oklahoma won that game 9-3. That victory jump-started a 13-game stretch in which OU averaged 10.6 runs per game and won nine of those contests.

Watch/Listen/Follow:
•   All three games will be broadcast via Big 12 Now on ESPN+ via Baylor, with Lincoln Rose (Thursday and Friday)/Dave Sousa (Saturday) and analyst Pat Combs calling the action.
•   The radio broadcast will be carried on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (locally on SportsTalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF and via the TuneIn app anywhere) with Toby Rowland on the call.
•   Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Leading Off:
•   Oklahoma has played non-conference games against three Big 12 rivals this season, including Baylor. Typically, OU will only play Oklahoma State outside of the conference schedule. This year, in addition to a pair of contests against the Cowboys, the Sooners faced Texas Tech and Baylor. Three of those games were played at neutral sites (Baylor at the Round Rock Classic on Feb. 28, Tech in Amarillo on May 4 and OSU in Tulsa on May 11).
•   Oklahoma's 55 home runs this season are the most by a Sooners squad since the 2010 team hit 105 homers (most in the BBCOR era). OU has totaled 50 home runs only one other time since 2010 (51 in 2017). The 2010 season was also the last time three OU players have totaled 10 home runs in a single season (more details on page 2).
•   Oklahoma ranks 11th nationally in hits (504), 12th in walks (253), 12th in doubles (103), 16th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.5), 23rd in runs (350), 31st in doubles per game (2.1), 39th in batting average (.290) and slugging (.460), 43rd in home runs (55), 44th in scoring (7.0 runs per game) and 45th in OBP (.390).
•   OU leads the Big 12 in hits, doubles and doubles per game and ranks third in batting average, runs, triples, strikeout-to-walk ratio and strikeouts per nine innings.
•   Thirty-four percent of Oklahoma's hits (171 of 504) have gone for extra bases. The Sooners have totaled 103 doubles, 13 triples and 55 home runs in 47 games, an average of 3.4 extra base hits per contest.
•   Oklahoma's 45 stolen bases are the most by an OU team since the 2016 squad totaled 56 steals.

Series History:
•   Oklahoma and Baylor have played 96 times. The Sooners leads the series, 50-46.
•   OU defeated the Bears 9-3 on Feb. 28 in the final game of the Round Rock Classic.
•   The Bears won three of four games in 2019 and the Sooners won three of five meetings in 2018. The teams did not play during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but have otherwise met each year since 1995.

About the Sooners:
•   Oklahoma has outscored opponents in the last seven innings of games (innings three through nine) this season by a total of 289 runs to 211 (average of 5.8 to 4.2). In the first two innings of games, OU has been outscored by opponents 104 runs to 57 (average of 2.1 to 1.1). OU has allowed 2.8 runs in the first three innings of games, and just 3.5 runs across the last six innings of games.
•   The Sooners are 20-1 this season when leading after six innings, and are 19-11 when hitting at least one home run.
•   OU has scored at least seven runs in 24 games this season (averaging 7.0 runs per game overall), and notched double-digit hits in 24 games.
•   The Sooners are 6-12 in 18 games against ranked opponents so far this season. Three of thos victories have come against opponents ranked in the top 10 (ranked in the top-10 both at the time they played and currently).
•   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 110-778 record and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2018.

Key Player Trends:
•   Tyler Hardman, Peyton Graham and Jimmy Crooks have each hit 10 home runs this season. The last season in which OU had three players with at least 10 home runs was 2010 (first time in the BBCOR era). The 2010 team had seven players with double-digit homers: Garrett Buechele (17), Cameron Seitzer (16), Max White (15), Tyler Ogle (11) and Cody Reine (10).
•   Hardman ranks second nationally in hits (81; East Carolina's Connor Norby has 83 hits), third in total bases (133), 21st in batting average (.399), 45th in OBP (.487) and 61st in slugging (.655).
•   Hardman has notched multiple hits in 26 of OU's 50 games this season and has at least one hit in 43 contests (a hit in all but seven games).
•   Hardman is on the cusp of a .400 batting average for the season. Fifteen players in OU history have batted .400 or higher in a single season; the last to do it was Greg Dobbs, who batted .428 in 2001. The school record is held by Dale Mitchell, who batted .507 in 1946.
•   The fourth-year junior from Temecula, Calif., doubled three times on Sunday, becoming the first Sooner in 12 years with three doubles in a single game (J.T. Wise vs. Texas A&M in 2009). Hardman hit five doubles in the series against Texas Tech, and went 7 for 13 (.583 average) in the series.
•   In his last nine games (eight starts), Jace Bohrofen has batted .455 (15 for 33) with six runs scored, two doubles, two triples and four walks. He has been in the starting lineup for eight of OU's last nine contests. He started all three games and batted .384 (5 for 13) in the series against Texas Tech.
•   Justin Mitchell batted .667 (4 for 6) with three walks in two starts during the Tech series. In the series opener, he tripled to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning and scored on a wild pitch to give OU the win. In his last seven games, Mitchell has batted .429 (9 for 21) with six walks, three RBIs and three runs scored.
•   For the third straight week Jason Ruffcorn pitched an outing of at least 6.0 innings. He tossed 6.0 frames in his first career start last Friday against Texas Tech. In his prior two appearances, Ruffcorn pitched 6.2 innings in relief against Oklahoma State and 7.1 relief innings at West Virginia, earning the victory in both. He is 4-1 with a 2.68 ERA, 61 strikeouts in 43.2 innings and a .183 opponent batting average this season.
•   McKenna leads the Sooners with 14 multiple RBI games while Hardman has 13 and Crooks has 11 multiple RBI contests. Crooks also has 17 multiple-hit games, while McKenna and Graham each have 15 games with multiple hits this season.