OU Baseball Notebook Feb. 21

Overall Record: 2-1

LAST WEEK RESULTS: 2-1
W 3-0 neutral vs. Auburn (Arlington, Texas)
L 4-14 neutral vs. No. 15 Arizona (Arlington, Texas)
W 6-1 neutral vs. Michigan (Arlington, Texas)

SCHEDULE THIS WEEK:
Tuesday, Feb. 22 vs. Wichita State – 2:30 p.m. (Norman, Okla.) – SS.tv
Friday, Feb. 25 vs. Northwestern State – 4 p.m. (Norman, Okla.) – SS.tv
Saturday, Feb. 26 vs. Northwestern State – 2 p.m. (Norman, Okla.) – SS.tv
Sunday, Feb. 27 vs. Northwestern State – 2 p.m. (Norman, Okla.) – SS.tv

KEY NOTES OF THE WEEK:

Oklahoma opened the 2022 season by winning two of three games in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown last weekend at Globe Life Field, home of MLB's Texas Rangers.
The Sooners registered six stolen bases in seven attempts over the weekend, including five on Sunday night against Michigan. Four different players stole a base.
Blake Roberson showed off his athleticism on opening weekend. The 6'5" first baseman – who was the designated hitter for all three games – led the Sooners with three steals (3 for 3). The junior college transfer redshirt sophomore also went 3 for 11 with three walks in his first regular baseball game in three years.
Trent Brown led the Sooners with four RBIs, and all of them came on two hits. He hit a two-run single in the fourth inning against Arizona, as OU cut into the five-run deficit, then gave the Sooners a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Michigan with a two-run double into the left center field gap.
Tanner Tredaway drove in three runs but had to wait until the seventh inning Sunday night to find his first base hit of the season. The super senior drove in two runs via sacrifice fly and another with a groundout before singling to right field against Michigan. He also stole a base, scored two runs and recorded five putouts in center field.
Jake Bennett pitched 5.0 scoreless innings in Friday's win over Auburn, allowing just one hit and two walks. After a double to lead off the second inning, he faced just one over the minimum for the rest of his outing, retiring six in a row following the hit.
David Sandlin pitched 4.1 innings against Arizona on Saturday night, striking out four batters. He retired the first five batters in the order, worked around a single in the second and rebounded from the Wildcats' five-run third inning with a scoreless fourth frame.
Chazz Martinez struck out five batters over 4.2 innings in the Sunday night finale against Michigan. He scattered four hits, walked none, and the lone run allowed was unearned. After Michigan's RBI double in the fourth inning, he retired four in a row.
Jaret Godman became familiar with his new closer role, pitching in the ninth inning on Friday and Sunday. He earned the save against Auburn, then was perfect to retire Michigan in the ninth Sunday night. He struck out three batters (two on Friday) and got the other three to fly out.
The bullpen was electric in the two victories. Freshman Colton Sundloff pitched 2.0 shutout innings with one hit and one walk against Auburn and Griffin Miller went 2.2 against Michigan, punching out four batters and retiring his first eight. Carter Campbell, after tossing an inning on Friday, got the final out of the eighth inning on Sunday, and Carson Atwood stranded two runners with a strikeout looking in the fifth inning.
Jimmy Crooks and Diego Muniz joined Robertson with three hits and three walks over the weekend. Crooks, who was also hit twice, posted a .667 on-base percentage while Muniz (hit once) turned in a .700 OBP.
Peyton Graham hit OU's only home run of opening weekend – a two-run blast to left field in the seventh inning of the opener to give the Sooners a 2-0 lead. He also singled, doubled and scored two runs.
Several players made their first appearance in an Oklahoma uniform in the event. Junior college transfers Robertson, Sandlin, Martinez, Miller, Campbell, Sebastian Orduno and Creed Watkins all saw action. Redshirt freshman Cade Horton, who missed the 2021 season with an injury, started all three games at third base. True freshmen Sundloff, Aaron Calhoun, Max McGwire and Jackson Nicklaus made their collegiate debuts in the major league ballpark.
Pledged contributions for every home run that OU hits this season will go towards the stadium renovation project. For more information or to make a pledge, visit TheSoonerClub.com/LaunchPad.

QUOTABLE:
"(Saturday) was a big day because we had a lot to learn from that loss. There's winning and there's learning. In losing you can learn a lot if you can just make sure you have the details in it. (Saturday), we had the character. If you look, we go down 5-0, we score two runs, Sandlin goes back out there and puts a goose egg up, we get another run and it's 5-3. In one of those two innings, if we get a big hit in there, it might be 5-4 or 5-5, or we might be winning. That's the momentum we talk about in the game, just trying to keep the momentum. (Sunday), when we got the momentum – when Brownie got the big hit – we kept the momentum. We almost lost it a little bit, but (Martinez) made some quality pitches to get out of that inning, which was huge." – OU head coach Skip Johnson

Players Mentioned

Carson Atwood

Jake Bennett

Trent Brown

Aaron Calhoun

Carter Campbell

Jimmy Crooks

Jaret Godman

Peyton Graham

Cade Horton

Chazz Martinez

Max McGwire

Griffin Miller

Diego Muniz

Jackson Nicklaus

Sebastian Orduno

David Sandlin

Colton Sundloff

Tanner Tredaway

Creed Watkins

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