OU Welcomes New Orleans for Weekend Set

Friday, March 18

Norman

6:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

New Orleans

Tickets

Photo by: Ty Russell

OU Welcomes New Orleans for Weekend Set

March 17, 2022 | Baseball

Tickets Watch Listen #LaunchPad

Oklahoma

New Orleans

Friday-Sunday, March 18-20 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park

SS.tv ($) | Radio | Live Stats | Game Notes | Twitter

Matchups
Game Time	OU Projected Starter	UNO Projected Starter
Friday, 6:30 p.m.	LHP Jake Bennett	LHP Tyler LeBlanc
Saturday, 2 p.m.	RHP David Sandlin	LHP Brandon Mitchell
Sunday, 2 p.m.	LHP Chazz Martinez	RHP Collin Horton

First Pitch

• Oklahoma concludes its nine-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against New Orleans at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Watch/Listen/Follow

• The games will be broadcast locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF and streamed live on SoonerSports.tv. Toby Rowland will be on the call for all three games. The radio broadcast can also be found at Sportstalk1400.com and on the Sportstalk1400 app.
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Tickets/Promotions

• Tickets are available via SoonerSports.com. The L. Dale Mitchell Park ticket office and entrance gates will open 60 minutes prior to the scheduled game time. The ticket office and will call windows are located behind home plate, along W. Imhoff Rd.

Leading Off

• OU has won six games in a row and scored at least eight runs in all six games. It is the first time the Sooners have scored at least eight runs in six straight games since 2010.
• In the first six games of this homestand, Oklahoma has batted .365 with 16 extra base hits (nine doubles, six HR) and averaged 8.8 runs and 11.7 hits per game. The Sooners have allowed a .224 batting average and 5.2 runs per contest. The six starting pitchers combined to go 5-0 and allow just 13 runs in 37.0 innings over the first six games.
• New Orleans is hitting .261 as a team and averaging 6.2 runs and 2.1 extra base hits per game (22 doubles, eight home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 3.95 ERA, 131 strikeouts to 66 walks and 122 hits in 132.0 innings and has allowed a .251 opponent batting average.
• Oklahoma is in its fifth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (including the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 123-85 record since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

Series History

• Oklahoma leads the series against New Orleans 10-3. The teams last met in 2013, when the Sooners swept three games in Norman. All 10 prior meetings were played in New Orleans between 1972 and '89, where OU held a 7-3 advantage.

#LaunchPad

• The #LaunchPad is back for 2022. For the second straight year, pledged donations to a customized dollar amount for every homer that OU baseball hits in 2022 will go towards the the stadium renovation project. For more information, visit TheSoonerClub.com/LaunchPad.
• All donations from the Pledge Per Home Run Campaign will be treated as charitable donations supporting either the OU Softball Stadium Project or the OU Baseball Stadium Renovation Project and are tax-deductible.

Player Leaders

• Diego Muniz now paces OU with a .353 batting average (12 for 34 in 10 starts). He is tied for the team lead with four doubles. Jackson Niclaus is batting .341 (15 for 44) with three home runs, three doubles, seven RBIs and 11 runs scored. Six players with at least four starts this season are batting above .300.
• Jimmy Crooks has reached base safely in 11 straight games and is batting .327 (18 for 55) with a .471 OBP. His 18 hits also lead the team. Blake Robertson paces the team with a .472 OBP and 17 walks, and is hitting .315 (17 for 54). Nicklaus, Tanner Tredaway and Cade Horton share the team lead with 11 runs scored.
• Horton leads the Sooners with 11 RBIs. Tredaway (tied with Roberson for second with eight RBIs apiece) is also tied for the team lead four doubles, matched by Muniz.
• Peyton Graham has multiple hits in six of his 14 games this season. Crooks is on a nine-game hitting streak and Tredaway has reached base safely in nine straight games. Jake Bennett has allowed three runs (two earned), 11 hits and six walks in 24.0 innings this season. David Sandlin has posted a 1.29 ERA in his two wins (vs. NSU and UTSA).

Recapping Last Week

• Oklahoma swept a three-game series against UTSA last weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park, winning by scores of 10-5, 8-3 and 9-5. OU then swept a midweek set against Air Force, winning 10-4 and 8-7.
• Carson Atwood earned the victory on Tuesday with 3.0 hitless relief innings and three strikeouts. Javier Ramos pitched 3.0 scoreless innings in the start on Wednesday to earn the win. The Sooners hit four home runs in Wednesday's contest, their most in a single game since hitting four at Oklahoma State on April 30, 2021.
• The OU starting trio of Jake Bennett, David Sandlin and Chazz Martinez combined to allow just 10 hits, four runs (three earned), six walks and compile 14 strikeouts in 21.0 innings vs. UTSA.
• David Sandlin was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after his eight-inning, two-hit performance against UTSA on Sunday. He went 8-plus innings, took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with six strikeouts, two hits and a walk allowed. He retired the first nine batters of the game, and then turned back nine in a row after giving up the first hit of the contest.
• Over the last six games, Jimmy Crooks leads OU with a .476 batting average (10 for 21), and has three RBIs and five runs scored. Jackson Nicklaus has batted .370 (10 for 27) with eight runs, four RBIs, two home runs and a double. Tanner Tredaway has batted .368 (7 for 19) with three RBIs and five runs. Nine players with at least seven at bats over the last six contests are hitting .333 or better in that span.

Theft on the Basepaths

• The Sooners have registered 40 stolen bases in 50 attempts this season. Kendall Pettis, who led OU with seven steals last season, already has a team-high nine stolen bases. Tanner Tredaway (six steals last year) has seven while Peyton Graham has five steals so far this season.
• OU's most steals over the last four seasons was 46, last year. The Sooners registered 32 steals in 18 games during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, 29 steals in 2019 and 44 steals in 2018.
• Oklahoma finished opening weekend with six stolen bases over three games, then went off for 11 steals against Wichita State on Feb. 22. Three players — Graham, Pettis and Tredaway — each had three stolen bases in the game.
• Prior to Feb. 22, no single Sooner had stolen three bases in a game since Erik Ross against Hartford in 2012. Oklahoma (3-1) finished the Wichita State game one steal shy of the school record of 12, set in 1937 against East Central (Okla.) University.