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Game 1 | Friday, March 15, 6:30 p.m. CT (TV: FOX College Sports) |
Game 2 | Saturday, March 16, 2 p.m. CT (TV: FOX College Sports) |
Game 3 | Sunday, March 17, 1 p.m. CT (TV: FOX Sports Southwest Plus/FOX College Sports) |
Radio | KREF Sports Talk 1400 & the Sooner Sports Network |
The Demons are 3-6 this season on the road and 9-10 overall on the season. They've yet to announce a Sunday starter but will be throwing Robert Baker and A.J. Funk on Friday and Saturday. Baker is 2-0 on the season with a 2.52 ERA. He has struck out 11 batters this season, while issuing seven walks, in his 25 innings of work. Funk is 0-2 on the year with a 4.00 ERA. He has the same strike out/walk ratio as Baker in only 18 innings of work this season.
They'll be facing a Sooner lineup that has been streaky this season and appears to be on a bit of an upswing. Matt Oberste is the only OU batter batting above .300 and he's doing it at an eye popping .448 with team highs in home runs (5), RBI (25) and total bases (55). As a team the Sooners are batting .287 for the year.
Northwestern State is batting .254 as a team but has three players hitting above .300 through their first nineteen games. Will Watson leads the way with a .362 ERA. He has a team high 13 RBI and is one of four players with a home run this season.
The bigger story for this series is that Oklahoma seems to be set on their weekend rotation with freshman Adam Choplick as the Sunday starter. This will mark the third consecutive weekend that Choplick has been called upon. For the year he is 2-0 on the season with a 2.93 ERA. He has fanned 13 batters in 15.1 innings pitched this season.
The change to the rotation comes tonight when Jonathan Gray will take the mound as the Friday starter and Dillon Overton moves to the Saturday spot. Gray and Overton are two of the best hurlers in the Big 12 and really are interchangeable. The strategic move here is to set up a righty-lefty-righty starting rotation to keep opponents from finding a groove. Gray is 3-1 on the season with a 2.03 ERA while Overton is 4-1 with a 3.30 ERA.