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Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners at Kansas State

By Chip Rouse

Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans , LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans take photos before the 2017 Sugar Bowl against the Auburn Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 2, 2017; New Orleans , LA, USA; Oklahoma Sooners fans take photos before the 2017 Sugar Bowl against the Auburn Tigers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Sooners are hopeful Oklahoma baseball has regained its winning ways after taking two of three at West Virginia last weekend, and that the current two-game win streak will carry over to this weekend and the final road swing of the regular season at Kansas State.

Oklahoma owns a sizeable advantage in the all-time series with Kansas State. The Sooners are 156-69 overall vs. the Wildcats and 55-31 against the Cats in games played in Manhattan.

In the last 10 games between the two teams, Oklahoma has won six of the 10, including the last three.

Both teams are riding winning streaks heading into the weekend series. K-State has won its last four games, all outside of the Big 12. The Wildcats were victorious in their last Big 12 series, taking two of three at home over West Virginia.

Oklahoma brings an 8-7 record in the Big 12 and a fourth-place standing in the conference, into the Kansas State series.

The Sooners are 30-16 overall and have won three of their last four games. Before that, however, they were mired in a seven-game losing streak that took them from a 27-8 record and a top-20 ranking to a record of 27-15 and a mudslide out of the rankings.

Kansas State,, with an overall record of 25-20 and 4-11 in the Big 12, is led at the plate by left fielder Will Brennan and second baseman Cameron Thompson. Brennan carries a .360 batting average and has scored 31 runs and stolen seven bases. Thompson is hitting .322, with 34 runs scored and 11 stolen bases.

First baseman Jake Scudder wields the power bat for the Wildcats. He has a league-leading 13 home runs, a slugging percentage of .598 and has knocked in 52 runs.

For the Sooners, sophomore outfielder Steele Walker and senior catcher Renae Martinez share the team lead in hitting, both with .345 averages. Walker leads the team with a slugging percentage of .552, which includes six home runs, 12 doubles and 41 runs scored and batted in.

A trio of right-handers will draw the starting assignment on the mound this weekend for the Sooners. Jake Irvin (5-0, 2.14 ERA) will start the opener on Friday. Kyle Tyler (0-1, 3.27 ERA) will get the start on Saturday and Devon Perez ( 4-2, 4.10) will take the mound in Sunday’s series finale.

The same three OU pitchers started last week against West Virginia. They combined for 15 innings of work and gave up a total of just four runs while striking out 15 Mountaineers.

As frustrating as the month of April was for Oklahoma baseball – the Sooners finished the month with a 6-11 record after beginning the month at 24-5 – the Crimson and Cream are still ahead of where they were at this same time a year ago.

After 46 games in 2016, OU was 22-23-1 overall and 7-12 in the Big 12.

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