Sooners to Face Kansas State at Mitchell Park

Friday, April 29

Norman

6:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Kansas State

Tickets

Photo by: Gerald Leong

Sooners to Face Kansas State at Mitchell Park

April 28, 2022 | Baseball

Tickets Watch Listen Live Stats #LaunchPad

Oklahoma

Kansas State

Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park

Watch | Radio | Live Stats | Game Notes | Twitter

Matchups
Game Time	OU Projected Starters	KSU Projected Starters
Friday, 6:30 p.m.	LHP Jake Bennett	RHP Connor McCullough
Saturday, 2 p.m.	RHP David Sandlin	RHP Griffin Hassall
Sunday, 2 p.m.	RHP Cade Horton	RHP Blake Adams

First Pitch

• Oklahoma (25-14, 7-5 Big 12) is looking for a second straight Big 12 series win as it plays host to Kansas State (21-19, 3-9 Big 12) in a three-game series at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• The weekend is loaded with first pitches, fan giveaways and concessions promotions,as well as Bark in the Park on Saturday.

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.
• The ceremonial first pitch before Friday's game will be thrown by OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel. The women's gymnastics national championship team will throw out the first pitch prior to the game on Saturday.
• Friday is OU baseball's Mental Health Awareness game. Players will wear bright green arm bands to promote mental health awareness and there will be green bands giveaway for fans. Gates will open at 5 p.m. — "It's 5 o'clock somewhere" — and fans can take advantage of $3 beers and $3 hot dogs until first pitch.
• Saturday is Bark in the Park. Dogs are welcome (owners must sign a waiver prior to entering the ballpark). Bandanas and dog toys will be the giveaway, and there will be designated relief stations and a kiddie pool of water. Country Roads Animal Rescue will be on site will dogs for adoption or fostering. Gates open at 12:30 p.m.

Watch/Listen/Follow

• The Friday and Sunday games will be televised via SoonerSports.tv and Saturday's game will be televised on Bally Sports Oklahoma, with Chad McKee and George Frazier calling the action on Friday and Toby Rowland and Frazier on the call for Saturday and Sunday.
• All three games will be broadcast on the Sooner Radio Network (locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF, Sportstalk1400.com and the Varsity Network app anywhere), with Rowland on the call. He will be joined by Frazier on a TV/radio simulcast on Saturday and Sunday.
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.

Leading Off

• Through 10 weeks of the season (39 games), the Sooners are 12-9 against the RPI top 100, including six top-50 wins (6-8) and three top-25 wins (3-4). OU's overall strength of schedule is ranked 14th in the country while its non-conference SOS is ranked 28th nationally.
• Redshirt sophomore first baseman Blake Robertson ranks among the national and Big 12 leaders in several categories: .519 OBP (eighth nationally; 2nd in Big 12), 17 doubles (17th nationally; T-1st in Big 12), 39 walks (10th nationally; second in Big 12), .386 batting average (51st nationally; fourth in Big 12).
• Since April 2 (15 games), Robertson has batted .492/.615/.814 (29 for 59) with 23 RBIs, 21 runs, 11 doubles, one triple, two home runs, 17 walks and 11 strikeouts.
• Oklahoma is hitting .291 as a team and averaging 7.2 runs, 9.7 hits and 2.9 extra base hits per game (75 doubles, 30 home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 5.25 ERA, 344 strikeouts to 149 walks and 375 hits in 351.1 innings and has allowed a .273 opponent batting average.
• Kansas State is hitting .289 as a team. The Wildcats average 6.6 runs, 9.9 hits and 4.0 extra base hits per game (95 doubles, 60 home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 5.44 ERA, 390 strikeouts to 203 walks and 351 hits in 350.2 innings and has allowed a .260 opponent batting average. K-State head coach Pete Hughes was OU head coach from 2014-17.
• 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 137-94 record since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

Series History

• Oklahoma and Kansas State have met 234 times in baseball. OU leads the overall series 171-64 and holds a 79-17 advantage against K-State in Norman.
• The Sooners have won seven of the last 10 meetings, but the Wildcats won the series last season Manhattan. Each of the last six meetings were played in Manhattan (2019 and 2021). KSU last visited Norman in 2018.
• Oklahoma swept its last home series against K-State in 2018. The Wildcats last won a series played in Norman in 1971.

#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 Sooners

• During the first 10 games of the season, Oklahoma scored a total of 35 runs (average of 3.5 per game) and did not score more than six runs in any game. The Sooners have scored 245 runs during the last 29 games (8.4 per game). OU has scored at least seven runs in 23 of those 29 games, and has posted a 20-9 record in that span.
• OU is 72 for 92 on stolen base attempts in the last 29 games (average of 2.5 steals per game). Over the last 29 games, Peyton Graham leads the Sooners with 14 steals while Tanner Tredaway has 11 steals.
• Blake Robertson leads the Sooners with a .386 batting average (56 for 145), 39 walks, 17 doubles and a .519 OBP. Graham has team bests of 10 home runs and 45 runs scored while batting .342 (53 for 155) with 28 RBIs. Tredaway is batting .335 (53 for 158) with a team-high 37 RBIs, 10 doubles, two homers and 29 runs scored and Jimmy Crooks is hitting .293 (39 for 133) with 30 walks, 25 RBIs and 24 runs scored.
• OU has posted two separate eight-game stretches scoring at least seven runs: March 8-19 and April 12-24. The Sooners had a similar eight-game scoring run between March 9-21 of last season, but have only scored at least seven runs in eight or more games four times in the last 11 years. Oklahoma opened the 2011 season by scoring at least seven runs in nine consecutive games.
• During a nine-game stretch over two weeks (March 29-April 12), the Sooners played eight games against opponents ranked among the top-8 nationally. OU went 5-4 overall during that stretch (4-4 vs. ranked foes Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas Tech).
• During its 12-game homestand (9-3 record at L. Dale Mitchell Park from March 8-27), Oklahoma turned up the offense. The Sooners batted .336 with 40 extra base hits (average of 3.3 per game), 26 doubles, 12 home runs, 67 walks (5.6 per game) and 29 stolen bases. OU totaled 100 runs (8.3 per game) and registered 133 hits (11.1 per game).

Recapping the Last Week

• Oklahoma swept its three-game Big 12 series at Kansas by scores of 15-2, 7-6 (14 innings) and 24-4 (seven innings). and fell at Oral Roberts on Tuesday 5-1.
• The loss on Tuesday was Oklahoma's first midweek defeat of the season. The Sooners are now 8-1 in midweek games. At ORU, the Golden Eagles scored three runs in the first inning and OU was unable to overcome the deficit, registering four hits in the game and scoring its only run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch.
• The Sooners compiled 46 runs, 46 hits and 26 walks while outscoring the Jayhawks 46-12 in the series. The 24-4 victory on Sunday was OU's highest offensive output since 2011 (27-7 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff), its most runs against a conference opponent since 2009 (29-4 win at Kansas State) and most runs scored against Kansas since 1974 (25-1 win in Norman).
• Oklahoma registered its first conference series sweep since 2019 (vs. Kansas in Norman), its first road series sweep since 2017 (at Kennesaw State) and its first road conference sweep since 2010 (at Kansas).
• In the Sooners' series sweep of Kansas, Blake Robertson and Peyton Graham combined for 21 hits, 19 RBIs, 18 runs scored, 12 extra base hits and five walks. Robertson, the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, hit .647 (11 for 17) with 11 RBIs, eight runs, five doubles, one homer and two walks. Graham hit .588 (10 for 17) with eight RBIs, 10 runs, three doubles, two triples, a homer and two walks.
Robertson notched five hits in the opener on Friday. It was his second five-hit contest in a six-game span (also April 12 vs. Texas Tech) and tied for the most hits in a single game by a Big 12 player this season. OU totaled 17 hits, scoring three runs in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings, and four runs in the eighth. Robertson and Peyton Graham combined for eight hits, seven RBIs, six runs and four extra base hits. Jimmy Crooks and Max McGwire (second home run of the season) each added two RBIs. Jake Bennett struck out seven over 6.0 frames, allowing one earned run on five hits and two walk.
• On Saturday, the Sooners scored three runs in the ninth inning on four straight walks and a pinch-hit, two-out RBI single by Cade Horton that tied the game. Tanner Tredaway's sacrifice fly in the 14th inning gave OU its first lead of the contest. Trevin Michael finished the game by pitching 6.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts. Crooks threw out three runners stealing in the game, including one to end the ninth and another as part of a strike-out throw-out double play in the 10th inning. Graham and Robertson each registered four hits in the game, while Wallace Clark notched three hits and Crooks walked four times.
• Sunday, Oklahoma exploded for nine runs in the second inning – all with two outs – and led 19-4 after four frames. Robertson notched six RBIs on two hits (including a three-run homer), Graham has three hits and four RBIs and Tredaway led the team with four hits and had four RBIs.
• Nine players scored at least one run and four players scored four runs (Graham, Robertson, John Spikerman and Kendall Pettis). The top four batters in the OU lineup (Spikerman, Graham, Robertson, Tredaway) combined for 10 hits, 14 RBIs and 14 runs. Crooks hit a three-run home run, Clark went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Hudson Polk had two RBIs.
• Chazz Martinez struck out three batters over 2.1 relief innings to earn the win. Colton Sundloff and Javier Ramos closed the game with a scoreless frame each.