University of Oklahoma Athletics

No. 24 Oklahoma Set To Host Texas In Red River Rivalry Baseball :: Sooners and Longhorns tied for fourth in Big 12 Conference.

No. 24 Oklahoma Set To Host Texas In Red River Rivalry Baseball :: Sooners and Longhorns tied for fourth in Big 12 Conference. No. 24 Oklahoma Set To Host Texas In Red River Rivalry Baseball

Sooners and Longhorns tied for fourth in Big 12 Conference.




Mark Roberts will take the hill on Friday night to battle the No. 9 Texas Longhorns.

April 11, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format

Dates: April 12-14

First Pitches: Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m.

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

Location: Norman, Okla.

Radio: All three games versus Texas can be heard on KREF-1400 AM, as well as through OU's official athletic website, soonersports.com. James Hale will call the action.

Rankings: Oklahoma is ranked No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Texas is ranked as high as No. 9 in the three major polls, and no lower than 16th.

Coaches: Oklahoma is coached by Larry Cochell, who is 434-262-1 in his 12 seasons with the Sooners, and 1,230-722-4 over his 35-year coaching career. Augie Garrido leads the Longhorns and during his 33-year coaching career, has compiled a record of 1,352-660-9. He is ranked first among all active coaches in all-time wins, while Cochell is sixth on that list.

Series Notes: Texas leads the all-time series against Oklahoma by a margin of 108-45-2 ... Under head coach Larry Cochell, Oklahoma is 16-21 ... The Longhorns swept OU during the 2001 regular season in Austin by scores of 11-4, 8-1 and 5-2 ... Current Sooners Evan Greusel, Rocky Cherry and Austin Mix took those losses last season ... The Sooners, however, beat UT when it counted, in the 2001 Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, by a score of 9-7 ... In that game, OU pounded out 18 hits and Greusel picked up the win to advance in the tournament ... Oklahoma features 10 players on its roster from the state of Texas: Matt Bose (Midland), Blair Robinson (Allen), Brandon Jones (Texarkana), David Purcey, Scott Rooker and Aaron Adair (Dallas), Austin Mix, Rocky and Zack Cherry (Coppell) and Luke Alexander (Carthage) ... Texas reliever Buck Cody is the only Oklahoman on the UT roster ... He attended Casady High School in Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma Baseball: At A Glance

Scouting the Longhorns

Texas enters this weekend's Red River series on a roll, with a 29-9 record and having won 13 of its last 16 games. The Longhorns defeated No. 3 Rice in Austin on Tuesday, and won two of three contests with Big 12 rival Kansas this past weekend. UT has had winning streaks of both eight and 10 this season, and battled No. 2 Stanford extremely well the final week of March, despite dropping two of three to the powerful Cardinal. Currently tied with the Sooners (and Texas A&M) at 7-5 in Big 12 play, this weekend's three games will be crucial in determining the balance of power in the conference.

As a team, Texas has a .314 batting average, good for fourth in the league. Led by Tim Moss (.371, 24 RBI, 24 stolen bases), Dustin Majewski (.352, three HR, 22 RBI) and Jeff Ontiveros (.306, eight HR), the Longhorns are an imposing offensive group. Catcher Ryan Hubele leads the club with 36 RBI and 13 doubles, and Omar Quintanilla, who has played just 17 games due to an NCAA-imposed suspension, is batting .394 and has already driven in 20 runs. Collectively, UT has stolen 59 bases and sports a league-best .970 fielding percentage.

Texas excels on the mound, as well, boasting a 2.59 team ERA, tops in the Big 12. Lefty Justin Simmons leads the staff with a 9-0 record and a 1.91 ERA in 66 innings pitched. Fellow lefty Brad Halsey (4-1, 2.54 ERA, 55 Ks in 60.1 IP) will make the start on Friday night and the Sooners can expect to see relievers Jason Merle (1-1, 1.04 ERA), Alan Bomer (4-2, 4.62 ERA, two saves) and Huston Street (2-1, 1.37 ERA, two saves).

Oklahoma Blows Six-Run Lead In 9-6 Loss To Arkansas

The No. 24 Oklahoma baseball team stormed out to a 6-0 lead against Arkansas on Tuesday night at Baum Field, but the Razorbacks battled back to eventually take the lead and earn a 9-6 win. Arkansas batted around its lineup and enjoyed a five-run sixth inning and the Sooners were unable to re-take the lead. Sooner OF Chris Jakubauskas entered the contest with two doubles on the season and doubled that figure to four. The senior from Upland, Calif., went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in. Catcher Spencer Wyman hit his third home run of the season and the sophomore went 2-for-4 with three RBI versus the Hogs.

Despite striking out five batters in two innings, Evan Greusel (3-2) took the loss for Oklahoma after giving up two unearned runs on two hits. Austin Mix got the start for OU and pitched five innings, allowed five runs on six hits and struck out four. David Purcey also made a relief appearance, but the Razorbacks managed to score two unearned runs on the freshman in his one inning of work.

Sooners Fall To Cornhuskers In Two Of Three Games

Oklahoma entered its series with No. 12 Nebraska tied for first in the conference with a 6-3 record, however NU wasn't overly hospitable in its beautiful, new ballpark and took two of the three series games. The Sooners made themselves right at home at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Friday night, winning a thrilling 5-4 contest as junior Luke Alexander belted a home run over the right field wall in the ninth inning. It was the second consecutive game in which the lefty from Cathage, Texas, went deep and marked his third homer of the season. David Purcey (1-2) picked up his first win as a Sooner, despite giving up a run on two hits and allowing four walks. OU's Mark Roberts out-dueled Nebraska All-American Shane Komine, going five and one third innings, striking out three and allowing just one run on three hits. Komine went 4.2 innings and gave up three runs on six hits, but struck out eight batters.

Oklahoma dropped a hard-fought game, 7-6, Saturday. Behind three runs in the ninth inning, the Sooners rallied to score two runs and had runners on the corners with two outs, however NU reliever Jason Burch got Jason Fransz to fly out to seal the game. In the ninth, Oklahoma loaded the bases with consecutive base hits by Charlie Frasier, Denver Kitch and Reggie Willits. OU drew within one on an Eddie Cornejo sacrifice fly, and Alexander ripped a base hit to right to make it 7-6. With runners at the corners, Burch entered the game and Fransz, OU's cleanup hitter, hit a long fly ball directly at NU RF Adam Riddle, to end the game.

OU took an early lead in Sunday's series rubber match, however the Cornhuskers exploded for 11 runs between the second and fifth innings and after a seventh-inning home run, run-ruled OU 12-2. Sophomore catcher Ryan Richardson was OU's lone bright spot as he belted two homers on the day, doubling his season home run output to four. Richardson's two homers were two of OU's three hits on the day. Michael Bradbury (2-1) took the loss for OU in his first start of the season, after allowing six runs - five earned - on four hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

Walk-Off Willits

One of Oklahoma's top players, and most clutch performers, this season has been junior Reggie Willits. Willits has recorded two game-winning, walk-off base hits during the 2002 slate and has established himself as Mr. Clutch for the Sooners. In OU's 6-5 win over Baylor in the second leg of an Easter doubleheader, Willits knocked a base hit into right field to bring home Ryan Richardson and seal the game, and the series, for Oklahoma.

Against Missouri on March 8, the junior transfer from Seminole State College had a RBI base hit to tie the game in the ninth inning, and in the 12th, Willits roped a single to center for the game-winning RBI. He currently has a .323 batting average, seven doubles, 12 stolen bases and 16 RBI.

Bose and Purcey: Freshman All-America Candidates

OU head coach Larry Cochell snared two gems from the Lone Star State last recruiting season in Matt Bose and David Purcey. Bose, a third baseman from Midland, has smacked 12 doubles, four home runs, has driven in 26 runs (second on the team) and is improving every day at the hot corner.

Purcey is quickly establishing himself as OU's closer, picking up six saves and striking out 38 batters on the season (second-most on the club). Purcey's six saves this season are the sixth-most in Oklahoma history, and are the most for a freshman at OU. The 6-5, 235 pounder has been dominating at times and has an ERA of 3.00, good for eighth in the Big 12 Conference. In over 30 innings of work, his opponents are hitting just .217 against him.

Cool Hand Luke

Junior Luke Alexander turned some Sooner Magic into a win on April 5 at Nebraska's Hawks Field. The Sooners had been leading the game 4-1, but a three-run eighth brought the Huskers back even. Alexander ended any hopes of an NU comeback win by smashing his third home run of the season into the left field seats. The Sooners held on for a 5-4 win and for one night at least, Alexander was the hero.

He nearly hit another game-winning home run in the ninth inning of the following day's game, however a stiff wind carried the ball foul. On the season, the Carthage, Texas, native is batting .338 with seven doubles, a triple, three home runs and 13 RBI.

Fransz Named Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week

Oklahoma junior outfielder Jason Fransz of Corona, Calif., was tabbed the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Player of the Week for his play during the week of March 4-10. Fransz had a career weekend against Missouri as the Sooners (11-4, 3-0 Big 12) swept the three-game series. He hit two home runs, drove in 11 runs, had 14 total bases (including two doubles, a triple and the pair of homers), scored five runs and produced a 1.000 slugging percentage while going 6-for-14 against the Tigers.

Fransz helped OU stay close in an the 10-9 comeback win in 12 innings, and then drove in seven runs with a three-run triple and a grand slam in the 16-10 OU triumph. Fransz's seven RBI were just shy of the OU school record of nine, most recently set in 1987 by Chris Ebright. The junior left fielder, who transferred to Oklahoma from Riverside (Ca.) Community College, now leads the Sooners with eight home runs and 35 RBI to compliment his .352 batting clip.

OU Nearly .500 Against Ranked Clubs in 2002

Oklahoma is 6-7 this season against ranked teams (2-1 vs. then-No. 11 Arizona State, 1-2 vs. then-No. 17 Texas A&M, 0-1 vs. then-No. 5 Alabama, 2-1 vs. then-No. 10 Baylor and 1-2 vs. then-No. 10 Nebraska). OU's remaining games against ranked clubs are: three versus Texas and Oklahoma State, and one game against both Arizona State (in Oklahoma City) and Wichita State.

Cherry And Greusel Chasing Mound Marks

Already OU's all-time leader in appearances with 78, Rocky Cherry is now setting his sights on OU's all-time records for wins and innings pitched. Cherry currently has 23 wins as a Sooner, good for seventh in school history. Cherry's pitching coach, Ray Hayward, is third with 26 wins during his career (1980-83) and Bob Shirley holds the all-time school mark with 31 wins. Cherry's 271.1 innings pitched place him in seventh place all-time. The next former Sooner that he'll pass? Hayward, who pitched 275 innings as a Sooner.

Evan Greusel now needs just three appearances to move into second place in the OU record books in that category. The senior from Diamond Bar, Calif., currently had 195 strikeouts for his career and needs just 19 more to move into the top 10 on the all-time school list. Greusel also needs 10 more innings pitched to crack the top 10 in that statistical area.

McAuliff Picking Up College Game Quickly

Freshman Jarod McAuliff came to OU as the most highly-touted high school pitcher in the state of Oklahoma, and as a freshman at the collegiate level, has been just a dominant. McAuliff made his first start of the season against Baylor on March 31, going seven innings, scattering nine hits and allowing just one BU run en route to the win. On the year, the Stillwater, Okla., native, is 1-1 with a 4.44 ERA. In Big 12 Conference play, McAuliff's ERA is 3.57.

Austin Mixes It Up

Austin Mix, currently sixth in Oklahoma history with 240 strikeouts over his two-plus years as a Sooner, nearly pitched three innings of perfect relief against Missouri, earning his second win of the season. Save for one throwing error, Mix did not allow a single hit, run or walk against the Tigers. Mix followed up with a six-inning, seven-strikeout performance against Arkansas en route to his third win and against Arizona State, Mix struck out six and won the crucial series rubber match. Mix has surpassed his win total for all of last season.

Roberts Wins Two Versus Mizzou

Mark Roberts doubled his season win total of one when he won two of Oklahoma's three games against Missouri. He pitched an inning of no-hit relief in the series' first game and got the win when OU scored in the 12th. He relieved Buddy Blair in the Sunday game and pitched 6.1 innings and struck out seven en route to the win. Now Oklahoma's No. 1 starter after beginning the season in the pen, Roberts out-dueled Nebraska's Shane Komine and will start on Friday night against Texas.

Oklahoma Bats Coming Alive

With a team batting average of .302, Oklahoma is currently ranked seventh in the Big 12 Conference in team batting. Texas leads the league with a .332 team batting clip. Reggie Willits' .340 average places him 14th in the Big 12, while Jason Fransz ranks 16th with a .353 batting average. Fransz's eight homers are good for third in the Big 12, while Fransz and Matt Bose are tied for the league lead with 12 doubles.

Stealing Sooners

As has been his philosophy for many years, Larry Cochell has his players running. OU has stolen 51 bases so far this season, third in the Big 12 behind Texas and OSU. Sophomore Denver Kitch is the Sooners' leading base stealer, going 20-for-24 in 2002, good for second in the Big 12. Junior Reggie Willits also blazes on the basepaths, stealing 12 bases, sixth in the conference. Jason Fransz and Eddie Cornejo have three apiece, while Matt Fisher and Spencer Wyman have two and Brandon Jones, Matt Bose and Blair Robinson one. Before his injury, Matt Arkison was 5-for-5 on stolen base attempts.