Oklahoma
7Texas Tech
Friday-Sunday, May 14-16 / Norman, Okla. / L. Dale Mitchell Park
First Pitch:
• Oklahoma (24-23, 8-10 Big 12) plays host to Texas Tech (31-11, 10-8 Big 12) in a Big 12 series this weekend at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game times are 6:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
• The Sooners will honor seniors and graduates in a ceremony prior to the game on Sunday. Ceremonies will begin at approximately 1:35 p.m.
• Oklahoma is looking to continue a hot streak in Big 12 play. The Sooners have won two of three games in each of their last two Big 12 series, against Oklahoma State and at West Virginia.
• OU and TTU met on May 4 in a non-conference neutral-site contest in Amarillo, Texas. Tech won that game 14-4. The Red Raiders have not played since (their non-conference series scheduled for last weekend against Illinois-Chicago was canceled due to COVID complications with UIC).
Watch/Listen/Follow:
• The games on Friday and Sunday will be televised via SoonerSports.TV and Saturday’s game will be on Bally Sports Oklahoma. Toby Rowland and George Frazier will call the TV action for all three games.
• The radio broadcast will be carried on the Sooner Sports Radio Network (locally on SportsTalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF and via the TuneIn app anywhere) with Taylor Maples and Blake Brewster on the call.
• Live stats will be available at OUStats.com.
Leading Off:
• Braden Carmichael was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after pitching 7.0 no-hit innings in the series finale at West Virginia on Saturday night. He struck out a season-high 10 batters and walked four, and retired 13 straight from the third through seventh innings.
• Oklahoma’s 54 home runs this season are the most by a Sooners squad since the 2010 team hit 105 homers. OU has totaled 50 home runs only one other time since 2010 (51 in 2017).
• Oklahoma ranks sixth nationally in hits (475), 10th in walks (241), 14th in doubles (94), 17th in runs (337), 36th in scoring (7.2 runs per game), 27th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3), 34th in home runs (54), 36th in batting average (.291), 37th in slugging (.461), 38th in doubles per game (2.0) and 40th in OBP (.391).
• OU leads the Big 12 in hits, and ranks second in the league in runs, doubles per game and sacrifice flies (22), and third in batting average, doubles and strikeouts per nine innings.
• Thirty-three percent of Oklahoma’s hits (159 of 475) have gone for extra bases. The Sooners have totaled 94 doubles, 11 triples and 54 home runs in 47 games, an average of 3.4 extra base hits per contest.
Series History:
• This will be the 91st meeting between Oklahoma and Texas Tech. OU leads the all-time series 48-42-1.
• Texas Tech won six of the last seven games in the series, including all three in Norman in 2019 and two of three in Lubbock in 2018. The 2019 series represented OU’s first series loss to TTU in Norman since 1999.
• Oklahoma and Texas Tech competed in the first Big 12 Conference Championship final 25 years ago (1997 in Oklahoma City). OU won that contest 19-17.
About the Sooners:
• Oklahoma won two of three games at West Virginia last weekend. The Sooners rebounded from a 7-1 defeat Friday night to win 8-7 (11 innings) and 9-1 in a doubleheader on Saturday to clinch their first true road series win of the season (OU won two of three at the Round Rock Classic in February).
• The Sooners also won two of three games two weeks ago against Oklahoma State. OU won by scores of 16-2 and 5-3 before dropping the series finale 8-7 in 12 innings.
• Oklahoma has outscored opponents in the last two-thirds of games (innings four through nine) this season by a total of 218 to 158. In the first three innings of games, OU has been outscored by opponents 121 to 116 (allowed 2.6 runs in first three innings of games vs. 3.4 across last six innings).
• OU has scored at least seven runs in 23 games this season (averaging 7.2 runs per game overall), and notched double-digit hits in 23 games.
• The Sooners are 5-10 in 15 games against ranked opponents so far this season.
• OU is in its fourth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (third full year; the 2019 season ended after 18 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson has led the Sooners to a 109-75 record and an NCAA postseason appearance in 2018.
Key Player Trends:
• Tyler Hardman and Peyton Graham have each hit 10 home runs this season. The last season in which OU had two players with at least 10 home runs was 2018 (Steele Walker hit 13 and Kyler Murray hit 10 home runs).
• Hardman continues to lead the nation in hits (74). He ranks seventh in total bases (121), 19th in hits per game (1.57), 38th in batting average (.387), 57th in OBP (.480), 72nd in slugging (.634), 74th in runs (43) and 79th in RBIs (43).
• Hardman has notched multiple hits in 24 of OU’s 47 games this season and has at least one hit in 40 contests (a hit in all but seven games).
• In his last six games (five starts), Jace Bohrofen has batted .500 (10 for 20) with four runs scored, two RBIs, a double, a triple and four walks. He has been in the starting lineup for five of OU’s last seven contests. He went 3 for 5 with a triple and two runs in the May 4 contest against Texas Tech in Amarillo, and 2 for 2 with a double and a run in the first game of the doubleheader at West Virginia on Saturday.
• Conor McKenna has batted .421 (8 for 19) in OU’s last five games, including a .400 average (4 for 10) in the series at West Virginia. He homered on May 4 against Tech and in game one on Saturday. He drove in three runs and scored three runs at WVU.
• Justin Mitchell went 3 for 9 with three walks in the West Virginia series, including a 2 for 3 performance with two RBIs in game one on Saturday. He has hit in four of his last five contests and is batting .333 (5 for 15) in his last five games.
• Jimmy Crooks hit the game-winning home run in the top of the 11th inning in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader as Oklahoma evened the series at WVU. The two-run opposite-field blast was his ninth homer of the season, and his first hit of the series.
• Graham has homered in three straight games. He homered in the eighth inning against OSU on Tuesday, and homered in both games of the doubleheader at WVU last Saturday; one was inside the park. He hit the second pitch of the game Saturday over the left field wall, then banged an inside-the-park homer off the center field wall. he is tied with Hardman for the team lead with 10 home runs apiece.
• For the second straight week Jason Ruffcorn turned in a career-long outing. On Saturday, he entered to begin the second inning and pitched 7.1 frames, striking out seven batters. Last week, he punched out 10 batters over 6.2 relief innings to earn the victory, and was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week (May 3).
• McKenna leads the Sooners with 14 multiple RBI games while Hardman has 12 and Crooks has 10 multiple RBI contests.
