Sooners Host Baylor in Big 12 Baseball Opener

Oklahoma

Baylor

Friday-Sunday, March 25-27 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park

Matchups
Game Time	OU Projected Starter	BU Projected Starter
Friday, 6:30 p.m.	LHP Jake Bennett	LHP Tyler Thomas
Saturday, 2 p.m.	RHP David Sandlin	LHP Kobe Andrade
Sunday, 2 p.m.	LHP Chazz Martinez	RHP Will Rigney

First Pitch

• Oklahoma (12-7, 0-0 Big 12) opens Big 12 conference play against Baylor (11-9, 1-2 Big 12) this weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
• With the postponement of Tuesday's contest at Wichita State until May 16, the Sooners' homestand continues through this weekend. What was once a nine-game stand will now become 12 games. OU has gone 7-2 in the first nine contests.

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.
• Fans will be treated to a fireworks show following Friday's series opener.
• Saturday is "The Office" Day, and will include a mug giveaway.
• For Sunday's series finale, fans can take home an OU baseball growler upon exiting L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Watch/Listen/Follow

• The games will be televised on Bally Sports Oklahoma Extra (Friday), SoonerSports.tv (Saturday) and Bally Sports Oklahoma (Sunday). Chad McKee and George Frazier will call the action on Friday, and Toby Rowland will join Frazier for the Saturday and Sunday telecasts.
• The series will be broadcast locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF with Toby Rowland on the call Friday and an audio simulcast of the TV broadcast with Rowland and Frazier on Saturday and Sunday. The radio broadcast can also be found at Sportstalk1400.com and on the Sportstalk1400 app.
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Leading Off

• OU scored at least seven runs in eight straight games between March 8-19. The Sooners had a similar run between March 9-21 of last season, but this was only the third occurrence in the last 11 years. Oklahoma opened the 2011 season by scoring at least seven runs in nine consecutive games.
• Baylor is hitting .250 as a team and averaging 5.2 runs and 1.9 extra base hits per game (24 doubles, 10 home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 3.86 ERA, 145 strikeouts to 93 walks and 151 hits in 181.2 innings and has allowed a .226 opponent batting average.
• Looking ahead to OU's rivalry week next week: the Sooners will play the first Bedlam contest of the season against Oklahoma State at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, before the Red River Rivalry series against Texas, April 1-3, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
• 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 124-87 record since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

Series History

• Oklahoma leads the series against Baylor 49-43. The Sooners won three of four games last year — one in Round Rock, Texas and two of three in Waco. The Bears last visited Norman in 2018, when OU swept three games by scores of 4-2, 5-4 and 6-1.

#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.

Noting the Current Homestand

• Oklahoma is 7-2 in the first nine games of the current homestand. OU swept a three-game series against UTSA March 12-13, then swept a midweek set against Air Force, before dropping two of three games against New Orleans last weekend.
• During the first nine games of its now 12-game homestand, Oklahoma has batted .351 with 28 extra base hits (20 doubles, six HR) and averaged 8.7 runs and 11.9 hits per game. The Sooners have allowed a .265 batting average and 6.7 runs per contest. The six starting pitchers have combined to go 5-1 and allow 18 runs (12 earned, 2.57 ERA) in 42.0 innings over the first nine games.
• Jimmy Crooks has paced the Sooners with a .433 batting average, a .575 OBP, 13 hits (tied) and three doubles (tied), and is tied for second during the stretch with 10 runs scored. Eleven Sooners have batted better than .300 over the last nine games.
• OU is 26 for 31 on stolen base attempts in the last nine games (average of 2.9 steals per game). Twelve different players have registered at least one steal during that stretch, led by Tanner Tredaway's team-high four steals.
• Tredaway has batted .375 with eight runs and seven RBIs, while Diego Muniz (.345 average) leads the team with 10 RBIs and Cade Horton has scored a team-leading 12 runs during the homestand. Jackson Nicklaus has hit two home runs and scored 10, and is sixth on the team among qualifying hitters with a .342 batting average. Other qualifiers batting better than .300 are Sebastian Orduno (.364), Blake Robertson (.344) and Peyton Graham (.321).

Theft on the Basepaths

• The Sooners have registered 48 stolen bases in 59 attempts through 19 games, already surpassing last year's season total of 46. 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 eight, while Peyton Graham and Blake Robertson each have six steals so far this season.
• OU's most steals over the last 12 seasons was 98, in 2010. The Sooners registered 56 steals in 2016, 62 in 2013 and 79 steals in 2011.
• 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. In five games last week vs. Air Force and New Orleans, the Sooners were 15 of 16 in stolen bases.
• 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.