Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma baseball: Rivalry week continues with Red River Baseball Showdown

By Chip Rouse

Riverside baseball player Aaron Aguilar, one of the team's top batters, outfielder and pitcher Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at the high school baseball field in El Paso.MAIN_Riverside Aaron Aguilar 001
Riverside baseball player Aaron Aguilar, one of the team's top batters, outfielder and pitcher Tuesday, May 18, 2021, at the high school baseball field in El Paso.MAIN_Riverside Aaron Aguilar 001 /
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The Oklahoma baseball squad takes the momentum of a dramatic midweek win over rival Oklahoma State to Arlington, Texas, this weekend for a Red River Showdown with the No. 8 Texas Longhorns.

The series begins Friday night at Globe Life Field, home of the MLB Texas Rangers. This is the first time the Sooners (15-8, 2-1) and Longhorns (19-8, 1-2) have met at a neutral site in baseball during the regular season.

This year’s Red River rivalry series was originally scheduled to be played in Norman, but the unique opportunity was made possible because of the delay in the start of the Major League Baseball series created by the recent MLB lockout. The Texas Rangers and New York Yankees were previously scheduled to play at Globe Life Field this weekend.

Texas holds a sizeable advantage in the all-time series between the two bitter rivals with a 154-63-2 record. The last two times OU and Texas have played in the regular season, the Sooners won two of three in 2019, and the Longhorns took two of the three games last season. Both series were played in Austin. The 2020 series was cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Longhorns are going to present a big challenge for the Sooners this weekend. Texas leads the Big 12 in hitting with a team batting average of .321 and is second in both runs scored (221) and home runs (42). Texas’ home run total ranks 11th nationally.

If the Horns aren’t able to beat you with their bats, their pitching staff is also one of the best in the Big 12 with an ERA of 3.49 and an opponents’ batting average of .226.

Two Texas players, Murphy Stehly and Ivan Melendez, are hitting above .400 and rank in the top four of all Big 12 hitters. Melendez leads the Big 12 in runs scored (35), runs batted in (39), home runs (13), on-base percentage (.531) and slugging percentage (.922).

Forty-three percent of Texas’ runs this season have been scored with two outs. Nearly half of Melendez’s league-leading RBI total have come with two outs.

OU is coming off a long 12-game homestand in which it went 9-3. The Sooners offense came to life during the homestand. OU averaged 8.3 runs and 11.1 hits with a batting average of .336 over the 12 games. Twelve of Oklahoma’s 16 home runs for the season were hit during the recent homestand.

Last weekend, the Sooners took two of three from Baylor while the Longhorns lost two of three at No. 7 Texas Tech.

Oklahoma has already played six games at Globe Life Field this season and owns a 4-2 record.

The OU pitching rotation for the weekend is expected to be left-hander Jake Bennett (2-0, 1.45 ERA) on Friday, righty David Sandlin (2-1, 4.82) on Saturday and left-hander Chazz Martinez (2-2, 4.45) in the series finale on Sunday.

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