University of Oklahoma Athletics

Oklahoma Baseball Team To Open Big 12 Season Against Missouri :: Sooners have won seven consecutive games vs. Tigers.

Oklahoma Baseball Team To Open Big 12 Season Against Missouri :: Sooners have won seven consecutive games vs. Tigers. Oklahoma Baseball Team To Open Big 12 Season Against Missouri

Sooners have won seven consecutive games vs. Tigers.




Third baseman Denver Kitch and the Sooners will battle Missouri this weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

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Dates: March 8-10

First Pitches: Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m.

Ballpark: L. Dale Mitchell Park (2,700)

Location: Norman, Okla.

Radio: KREF 1400 AM will carry Saturday and Sunday's games. James Hale will call the action.

Television: None.

Rankings: Neither Oklahoma nor Missouri are not ranked in any of the three major polls.

Coaches: Oklahoma is coached by Larry Cochell, who is 423-253-1 in his 12th season with the Sooners, and 1,219-713-4 over his 35-year coaching career. Missouri is led by Tim Jamieson, who during his eight years in Columbia, has compiled a career record of 229-179-1. Jamieson led the Tigers to a first-place finish in the conference in 1996 and a No. 3 placing at the 1999 Big 12 Tournament.

Series Notes: Oklahoma leads the all-time series with Missouri 128-91, including the last seven meetings ... OU swept MU in Columbia last season with wins of 6-0, 13-9 and 9-6 ... In 2000, the Sooners took a three-game set from Missouri in Norman, as well as a 12-6 victory at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City ... Oklahoma last lost to the Tigers on April 18, 1999 ... Missouri features five Oklahomans on its roster, including Cody Ehlers of Stillwater, Derek Roper of Elk City, Bo Davis of Tulsa, Justin James of Yukon and Travis Wendte of Moore ... Ehlers was a high school teammate of current Sooner Jarod McAuliff, while Davis played with Buddy Blair and Tyler Johnson at powerful Jenks High ... James and OU infielder Denver Kitch nearly won a state title together at Yukon High School.

Scouting Missouri

Missouri comes into its series with Oklahoma on the heels of a doubleheader sweep on Tuesday. MU defeated Missouri Baptist 10-4 and Lindenwood 14-7 to improve its season mark to 5-4. The Tigers were scheduled to have to played Youngstown State in Columbia last weekend, however poor weather forced the series to be cancelled.

Missouri is led by sophomores Cody Ehlers and Lee Laskowski, who are batting .485 and .405, respectively. Ehlers has added five home runs and 13 runs batted in thus far in 2002. Junior OF Jayce Tingler is an All-Big 12 candidate and has batted .357 on the young season. He is a career .324 batter and is an excellent defensive player, as well. Jody Roughton is a junior infielder from Carthage, Mo., and boasts a .395 batting average with a home run and eight RBI.

On the mound, the Tigers have a starting rotation of Aaron Patterson, Drew Endicott and Abel Newton. Garrett Broshuis has seen action in five contests out of the bullpen, picking up a save, and in addition to playing first base, Ehlers has a 2.45 ERA in his three appearances. As a team, Missouri has a 6.06 ERA.

Oklahoma Drops Series to UC Riverside, Two Games to One

Oklahoma was scheduled to have been played a three-game series against California-Riverside in Norman, however winter weather in central Oklahoma forced the Sooners west. OU and UCR played a doubleheader on Saturday and a single game on Sunday. The Sooners won the first game 5-1 behind the pitching of senior Rocky Cherry, who pitched into the eighth inning and struck out seven. Mark Roberts picked up the save for OU as the Sooners overcame a stellar pitching effort by UC Riverside starter Chris Smith. Smith pitched eight innings and a third, and from the third through the eighth inning, retired 18 Sooner batters in a row.

UCR won the second half of the doubleheader 8-6, a game that lasted almost four hours. Austin Mix took the loss for Oklahoma after giving up three runs on five hits in four full innings. Charlie Frasier hit his fourth home run of the year in the game and catcher Ryan Richardson went 2-for-3 with a run driven in. In Sunday's game, OU dropped a heartbreaker to the Highlanders, 9-7. Evan Greusel pitched five solid innings, however a three-run eighth UCR inning proved to be too much for the Sooners to overcome. Jason Fransz, playing just minutes from his Corona, Calif., home, hit his fourth homer as a Sooner.

Texas-San Antonio Game Cancelled

Due to last-minute nature of Oklahoma's trip to California for the UC Riverside series, OU's March 4 contest against Texas-San Antonio was cancelled. The Sooners did not return to Oklahoma until late Monday night and due to scheduling conflicts for the remainder of the season, the game was cancelled. Oklahoma's 2002 schedule now stands at 56 games.

Oklahoma Third In Big 12 In Batting

With a team batting average of .330, Oklahoma is currently ranked third in the Big 12 Conference in team batting. Texas leads the league with a .368 team batting clip. In addition, OU has three players in the conference's top 10 in individual batting. Luke Alexander is currently fifth in the league with a .424 average, while Reggie Willits is sixth at .419. Jason Fransz's .395 batting average is good for ninth in the Big 12. Chris Jakubasuskas (.829) and Fransz (.767) have the conference's second and third best slugging percentages, respectively. Jakubauskas and Charlie Frasier each have four home runs and 15 RBI, which place them second and fourth in those categories among all conference players.

Recap of OU's 2001 Sweep of Missouri

Oklahoma completed a series sweep of Missouri with a 9-6 victory in the series finale at Taylor Stadium/Simmons Field. The sweep marked the second time in a row that Oklahoma swept Missouri in a three-game regular season series. Rocky Cherry won Friday's 6-0 contest, Austin Coose earned the victory on Saturday as OU prevailed 13-9 and Evan Greusel notched a W in OU's 9-6 win in the series finale. For the series, Greg Dobbs batted .583 (7-for-12) with three home runs, five runs scored and seven RBIs.

Rocky On A Roll

Senior Rocky Cherry, an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection a year ago, has been solid for the Sooners to date in 2002. Cherry has a 2-2 mark with an impressive 1.78 ERA and picked up OU's only win against UC Riverside. He threw seven innings and a third against the Highlanders, striking out seven and giving up just one run on one hit. During last season, Cherry became OU's all-time leader in appearances with 72 when he started against Centenary on April 29, 2001.

Cool Hand Luke Turns It On

Junior DH Luke Alexander was a star at Panola Junior College in Texas the past two season and has now gotten into a good rhythm at the plate for OU. He is currently leading the Sooners with a .424 batting average, including a 6-for-11 performance in the UC Riverside series (.545). Alexander now finds himself the Big 12 Conference's fifth-best batter.

REG-GIE! REG-GIE!

One of Oklahoma's top hitters on the season has been junior Reggie Willits, who transferred to OU from Seminole State College. He currently has a .419 batting average, and a team-high on-base percentage of .500. He has three doubles, four stolen bases and seven RBI. He has shared the center fielding duties with fellow newcomer Matt Arkison thus far, but has definitely made his presence felt for the Sooners.

Fransz Brings Big Stick to Norman

Junior Jason Fransz brought some impressive numbers to Norman from his two-year stint at Riverside Community College, also the Big Stick Award. The award is given annually to the top hitter in the junior college ranks and after two consecutive championships at Riverside, Fransz is ready to bring his winning ways to Oklahoma. He has not missed a beat at Oklahoma. He is the team's third-leading hitter with a .395 average and has added three home runs, 12 runs batted in and a team high-tying five doubles.

Big David Lives Up to Hype

Coming out of Trinity Christian Academy in Dallas, David Purcey turned down a sizable bonus from the Seattle Mariners' organization to attend OU on a baseball scholarship. He has not disappointed, throwing 10.1 innings, striking out 12 and giving up just three earned runs. He currently has a 2.61 ERA.

Stealing Sooners

As has been his philosophy for many years, Larry Cochell has his players running. OU has stolen 19 bases so far this season and have been caught only five times. Sophomore Denver Kitch is the Sooners' leading base stealer, going 8-for-8 in 2002, good for second in the Big 12. Juniors Reggie Willits and Matt Arkison also blaze on the basepaths, each stealing four bases. Jason Fransz, Eddie Cornejo, Greg Kish and Spencer Wyman all have one.

Frasier's A Steady Force For Sooners

Senior Charlie Frasier is a natural right hander and after batting from the left side of the plate last season, he is now switch-hitting and is off to a hot start. In OU's series against Arkansas-Little Rock, Frasier went 7-for-9 (.778), hitting two home runs and driving in nine runs. He narrowly missed winning the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week award and followed that effort with by adding a home run and five runs batted in against Southeast Missouri State. He is currently batting .348 with four home runs and 15 RBI.

Oklahoma's Best Buddy

Sophomore Buddy Blair started the 2002 season on a roll, picking up two of Oklahoma's first five wins. Blair started against Arkansas-Little Rock and pitched four innings of shutout ball en route to the victory. He followed that performance with a win against Southeast Missouri State. He went five innings and gave up just one run to the Indians.