Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma baseball: Sooners off to their best Big 12 start

By Chip Rouse

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 05: Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (R) greets New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway (L) prior the start of the home opener for the Nationals April 05, 2018, at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 05: Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez (R) greets New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway (L) prior the start of the home opener for the Nationals April 05, 2018, at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Two Big 12 series sweeps and Oklahoma baseball finds itself atop the league standings and off to its best start in the 22-year-history of the conference.

The Sooners have won four straight games and six of their last seven, including series sweeps over West Virginia and Baylor the past two weekends. Both series were played in Norman. The only OU loss in its last seven games was a 7-1 defeat to in-state rival Oklahoma State in a midweek game that did not count in the conference standings.

This weekend, Oklahoma (21-10, 6-0) takes to the road to face TCU (14-11, 3-3) in Fort Worth. The Sooners won two of three from the Horned Frogs last season in Norman, but the year before, on their last visit to Fort Worth, they were swept, with TCU outscoring Oklahoma by the combined score of 25-5.

Friday night’s series opener at TCU’s Lupton Stadium will mark the 104th game in the baseball series between the Sooners and Horned Frogs. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 59-33. TCU is 5-1 vs. the Sooners when playing at home since becoming a member of the Big 12 and 10-7 all-time.

Oklahoma will be seeking its fifth consecutive series win this season when it goes up against TCU this weekend.

Sooner right-hander Jake Irvin, the winningest pitcher in the Big 12 this season with a 5-0 record and a 2.27 ERA, will get the start on the mound on Friday. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Week this week, Irvin is holding opposing hitters to a .167 batting average. Devon Perez (3-0, 2.27), another right-handed starter, will go  Saturday and Nathan Wiles (2-1, 3.90) gets the start in Sunday’s finale.

More from OU Baseball

Oklahoma is led offensively by Brady Lindsly. The sophomore catcher is batting a team-best .374 with 20 runs batted in and a slugging percentage of .500. Junior right fielder Steele Walker also is supplying plenty of punch with a .321 batting average to go along with three home runs, 22 runs and 21 RBI.

Redshirt senior Michael Landestory leads TCU in hitting with a .337 batting average. The hot hand lately has been wielded by third baseman Conner Shepherd, who has hit safely in seven consecutive games, with five multi-hit games, and is batting .500 over that stretch. Five Horned Frog starters have driven in 17 or more runs.

The TCU pitching, which has been a team strength in recent seasons, has been rather pedestrian in 2018. The Frogs rank fourth (3.52) in the Big 12 in staff ERA. Right-hander Jared Janczak, who the Sooners will face on Friday, has been TCU’s best starter this season, posting a 1-1 record and a 3.07 ERA in seven starts.

Oklahoma will be seeking its fifth consecutive series win this season when the Sooners square off with TCU this weekend. It will be OU’s first game away from home since the opening weekend back in mid-February.

Home/OU Baseball