College Baseball Preview: Kansas State At Oklahoma

The Sooners notched their first conference series win last week when they took two of three games from Texas Tech in Lubbock. Now they are home for a weekend series against Kansas State and with a road trip to College Station looming next week this KSU series becomes a must win.

The Wildcats return 19 players from last year's team that finished 36-25. They are currently even with the Sooners in Big XII play at 2-4. As a team Kansas State is batting .300 which is an improvement over Oklahoma's .279 team batting average. However, believe it or not, the Sooners have a pitching advantage over the Wildcats by sporting a team ERA of 4.56 as opposed to KSU's 5.48.

Lefty Jordan John will start the series for Oklahoma for the second consecutive weekend. He's 3-4 on the season with a 3.14 ERA. In his 37.1 innings of work he's given up 36 hits and struck out 34 batters while allowing 16 runs to score. He'll be matched up against KSU's Matt Applegate who is 2-2 on the season with a 5.56 ERA. He's worked a team high 34 innings this season, striking out 32 batters and allowing 24 runs to score off 39 hits.

Saturday's match-up will put Oklahoma's Dillon Overton against Kansas State's Joe Flattery. Overton is 4-0 this season with a 2.89 ERA. He's pitched a team high 46.2 innings but has only allowed 21 runs to score off 44 hits while also striking out a team high 39 batters. Flattery is 3-2 on the season with a 4.03 ERA. He's worked 29 innings, allowing 16 runs on 33 hits while striking out 19 batters.

In the finale on Sunday OU's Jonathan Gray will go up against KSU's Bahramzadeh. Gray is 2-3 on the season with a 5.58 ERA. He has struck out 28 batters while allowing 19 runs off 41 hits in 30.2 innings. Bahramzadeh has a 3-1 record with a 5.40 ERA. He's struck out 24 batters and allowed 16 runs off 33 hits in 26.2 innings of work.

The Wildcats have five players batting .300 or better, led by Jared King who is batting .414. Wade Hinkle leads the team in home run (5) and RBIs 28.

The Sooners also have five players hitting .300 or better. Freshman Brian Brightwell was inserted into the lineup last weekend against Texas Tech and in the six games he's played in for OU he's hitting .500 but recording a base hit in six of his twelve at bats. Freshman Hunter Lockwood's home run count is up to a team high seven and Max White continues to pace the team with 24 RBIs.

First game in the series is set for a 6:30 start tonight.