Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Host Kansas Seeking to Snap 5-Game Skid
By Chip Rouse
It has been almost two weeks since Oklahoma baseball tasted victory. The Sooners host Kansas this weekend, looking to snap a five-game losing skid.
Oklahoma has to be delighted to be back home after an eight-game road swing that produced just one victory, a narrow 2-1 win over Big 12 archrival Texas on April 9. The Sooners are 20-3 when playing at home at L. Dale Mitchell Park this season.
Despite falling on difficult times over the past couple of weeks, OU is still seven games better than where it was a year ago and ranked 22nd in the current USA Today Coaches Poll.
“We’ve got some adversity. Normally, you get a little adversity here one weekend, adversity there, We’ve got ours in seven days,” said Sooner head coach Pete Hughes in an interview with the Oklahoma City Oklahoman published on Friday. “Let’s just wear it and come out on the other side of it stronger, and we still have what we’ve done.
“I’m not going to panic,” Hughes said. “Let’s go back to our foundation: hard work and fundamentals.”
After boasting an impressive record of 26-6 heading into the series with Texas, the Sooners are currently 27-13 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12. After 40 games last season, OU was 20-19-1.
Kansas comes to Norman with an overall record of 17-19. The Jayhawks are 6-6 in Big 12 action.
The Sooners are led offensively by sophomore outfielder Steele Walker, who is hitting .356 with a team-high 35 runs batted in and a Big 12-best .570 slugging percentage. Walker is the only Big 12 player who ranks in the top five in the conference in batting average (third), hits (second), runs (third) and RBI (fifth).
OU senior catcher Renae Martinez is close behind Walker, averaging .342 at the plate with a .525 slugging percentage and 27 RBI.
Kansas is last in the Big 12 in hitting, with a .237 average through all games. In Big 12 action only, however, the Jayhawks are sixth in the conference, and ahead of the Sooners, with a .236 average. Oklahoma is batting only .219 as a team against conference opponents.
Shortstop Matt McLaughlin leads KU in the hitting department with a .317 average through all games. He also is the only Jayhawk with more than one home run this season. He has two.
The opening game in the series, on Friday night, will pit the two aces: right-hander Jake Irvin of Oklahoma against southpaw starter Taylor Turski of Kansas. Irvin is 5-0 with an earned run average of 1.30 in six starts this season. Turski is 2-3 with an ERA of 2.54 and 47 strikeouts in 46 innings.
Irvin has pitched just once since March 17. He was held out of action with what was reported to be inflammation.
Kansas is 1-6 this season against ranked teams and has not won a road series in two seasons.
Oklahoma leads the all-time series with the Jayhawks 134-72 and is 39-19 against Kansas since the Big 12 was formed.