Mizzou Baseball Game Day: Oklahoma Sooners

■ Rankings (3/24):

RPI (Boydsworld.com): MU 172nd; OU 34th

ISR (Boydsworld.com): MU 166th; OU 37th

Strength of Schedule (Boydsworld.com): MU 190th; OU 185th

■ The Sooners started their season going 16-0, but they ride into Taylor Stadium having lost 5 of their last 6 games

Going into their series with Arkansas-Little Rock on March 11, the Sooners team stats:

.383 BA, 189 H, 152 R, 17 HR, 2.76 ERA

Coming into the series with Mizzou, just 2 weeks later, the stats:

.337 BA, 241 H, 173 R, 19 HR, 3.32 ERA

That's a drop of 3.2 hits per game, 6 less runs per game, only 2 HRs in 6 games rather than more than 1 HR per game previously

Sooners' current team stats

■ Oklahoma tumbles, Texas A&M rises (sbnation.com)

The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper ranked the Oklahoma Sooners 10th in their college baseball rankings a week after placing them second
. . .
They're 8-2 since then, although they haven't yet played a conference game; their 11-9 overall record has them ninth in the conference. Missouri begins their conference schedule against Oklahoma on March 25 at Taylor Stadium. After that they'll play three games against Texas, currently tops in the Big 12 with a 3-0 record.

■ Sooner baseball drops conference-opening series to Texas A&M (The Oklahoma Daily)

After a pitcher’s duel and a blowout, Sunday’s rubber game between the No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners and the No. 11 Texas A&M Aggies was a close one.

However, the Aggies edged the Sooners, 5-2, to drop their conference-opening series and lose for the fifth time in their last six games.

Although the Sooners were previously leading the Big 12 in a number of offensive categories, they scored just 10 runs in the last six games.

■ Calvin Drinnen, pitcher Arkansas-Little Rock Two-hits Oklahoma in a 7-0 upset (collegebaseballtoday.com, March 14)

You knew the streak would come to an end sometime. It’s a little surprising that OU would lose to Little Rock. It’s shocking that a Sunday pitcher for the Trojans would hold THIS offense to two stinkin’ hits. Wow. Drinnen struck out six, walked three and threw a complete game. It was UA-LR’s first win over a No. 1 team since beating No. 1 Oklahoma in 1987.

■ Undefeated Oklahoma focuses on big picture, ultimate prize (ninacasper563.livejournal.com)
Oklahoma baseball coach Sunny Golloway has a three-part mantra he preaches to his players: be mentally tough, live in the moment and get better every day. Three weeks into the season, the Sooners are following those guidelines perfectly.
. . .

■ CollegeBaseballToday.com, March 6th:

As Oklahoma SID Craig Moran wrote in the game story headline, the Sooners made history today. With the 5-3 win over No. 14 Cal, the Big Red improved to 13-0 for the first time ever to start a season. Yes, that includes the Enos Semore and the Larry Cochell years in Norman too. Bravo boys. Bravo.