Oklahoma Baseball: It’s Time to Play Ball!

"Spring has sprung in the world of college sports. Outdoor track and field is getting ready to get underway, and the season opener for Oklahoma baseball is this weekend.The Sooners begin the 2016 baseball season on Friday, opening up a three-game home series against Northeastern University out of Boston.Projected by the Big 12 baseball coaches to finish fourth this season in the Big 12 behind TCU, Oklahoma State and Texas, OU lost 11 players to the Major League Baseball draft off of the 2015 team that went 34-27 overall and finished 13-11 and in fourth place in the Big 12. That is the most players lost to the MLB draft of any college team in the nation.As a result, this will be somewhat of a rebuilding season for the Sooners, who have replenished the roster with 21 newcomers, including a recruiting class rated the 10th best, according to one national rating service.Even inn a rebuilding year, though, OU head coach Pete Hughes and his coaching staff have something good going for them in that the strength of the team is at the top of the pitching rotation and up the middle on defense and offense.Oct 18, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cheerleaders during the game against the Kansas State Wildcats at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY SportsJunior right-handed starters Alec Hansen and Jake Elliott. Both started 15 games for the Sooners last season. Hansen will be the No. 1 starter this season. In 2015, he compiled a 5-6 record and an earned run average of 3.95 in 82 innings. He also led the OU staff with 94 strikeouts.Elliott was the Sooners Friday starter a year ago. He was 5-6 with a 3.05 ERA in 88.1 innings and was Oklahoma’s second-best strikeout pitcher on the staff with 80 punch-outs.Although OU will be well served at the top of the pitching rotation, they still need to replace nearly 60 percent of the innings pitched by last year’s staff. After Hansen and Elliott, the remainder of the starting rotation will likely be filled by junior-college transfer Austin Kearns and one or more freshman hurlers.Returning position starters include shortstop Sheldon Neuse. The Big 12 Rookie of the Year in 2014, hit for a .275 average his sophomore season in 2015 along with six home runs, 43 runs batted in, 97 total bases and a .424 slugging percentage. The Sooner shortstop was named to the All-Big 12 First Team last season.Sophomore Kyle Mendenhall is the lead candidate for the second-base position. He hit .357 in 14 Big 12 starts at second base last season.“Our goal as a team is to be tough, be competitive and put the team first. I think we have that at the core of our team.” —Pete Hughes, Sooner head coachAlso back in 2016 is senior center fielder Hunter Haley, who is the lone remaining link to the 2013 Big 12 championship Sooner team. Haley has started 40 or more games in each of his first three seasons and is a career .266 hitter with 12 home runs, 75 RBI and 27 stolen bases.Haley was one-third of an outfield trio that through last season started a total of 86 games together. Center-fielder Craig Aiken and right-fielder Taylor Alspaugh are now gone. Senior Alex Wise will end up in one of the starting outfield spots.Former OU football backup quarterback Cody Thomas has decided to no longer play football and instead return to the Sooner baseball team. Thomas started one game as a member of the OU baseball team his freshman year in 2014. He will likely compete for one of the vacant outfield positions.There will also be a new face at catcher. Last year’s starter Anthony Hermelyn is among the departed. His replacement will likely be junior-college transfer Renae Martinez from San Pedro, Calif.“Our goal as a team is to be tough, be competitive and to put the team first,” said Hughes in an article published on the Oklahoma athletic website. “I think we have that at the core of our team. It’s a different group of guys from last year, and they’re going to have to be because that’s a tough schedule.”Oklahoma is scheduled to play a total of 55 regular-season games in 2016. The Sooners will play 25 games at home at L. Dale Mitchell Park and 30 games away from home this season. The 30 road games is the most by an OU team since the 1999 season, when there were 32 road contests on the schedule."