Game Day: MU @ OU - Stormin' Norman

OU Coach Sunny Golloway
Stirring up a storm

♦ Weather Changes Series Times Against Missouri (SoonerSports.com)

The threat of inclement weather this weekend has changed the game times for the Oklahoma baseball home series against Missouri.

The Sooners (19-14, 4-8 Big 12) and Tigers (18-14, 3-6) will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 3 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Game two of the doubleheader is slated for its original time of 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Oklahoma and Missouri will look to finish out the three-game set on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and will use Sunday, if necessary, to complete the series.

♦ As the storm system progresses gradually eastward Friday, much of Oklahoma and Kansas will be under the threat of severe weather, along with northwest Missouri into southeast Nebraska and southern Iowa; all modes of severe weather will be possible. The "main event" at this point appears to be Saturday, with the threat shifting very little as compared to the previous day. Forecast models have continued to show the wind fields and instability associated with this storm system coming together to support a widespread tornado outbreak scenario, with supercell thunderstorms a possibility along a warm front that is likely to be oriented across central Iowa and southeast NE, and extending south along a dryline that will stretch from around Grand Island, NE into northern and central Texas. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted this area as a rare "Day 3 Moderate Risk"; the last issuance of such an outlook was in association with the devastating April 27 outbreak in the southeast United States last year. (Reid Timmer, TornadoVideos.net)

♦ The Oklahoma Sooners are 19-14 overall, compared to Mizzou's 18-14 record.  In the Big 12, OU is in 7th place at 4-8, behind MU in 5th place at 3-6.  Oklahoma is coming off being swept by A&M last weekend, but they beat Arkansas on Wednesday night.

♦ Oklahoma' losses:

• Lost 2 of 3 at Pepperdine, 2/17-19
• Lost 1 to UT-Arlington, 2/29
• Lost 1 to Connecticut, 3/9
• Lost 1 to Oregon State, 3/11
• Lost 1 to Dallas Baptist, 3/13
• Lost 3 to Texas, 3/16-18
• Lost 1 of 3 to Texas Tech, 3/23
• Lost 1 of 3 to Kansas State, 3/31
• Lost 3 to Texas A&M, 4/5-7

The Sooners have struggled, in spite of being picked in the preseason polls to be in the top 25 or so.  They are currently ranked 41st in Perfect Game's Top 50.  Otherwise, they are unranked, as are the Tigers.

♦ MU vs. OU Stats

	MU	OU
Batting Average	.278	.271
ERA	4.47	4.35
RPI	.528	.542
RPI rank	98th	54th
Strength of Schedule	120th	69th

Taylor Stadium Weather
Weather.com
FRI 78 / 30% Tstorms
SAT 79 / 20% Rain
SUN 74 / 40% T-storms

♦ Time for a big win (Norman Transcript)

Oklahoma is in an unfamiliar spot. The season has crossed its midway point and the Sooners’ RPI is in desperate need of a bump.

How bad is the situation? Well, OU (18-14) was swept by Texas A&M last week and actually rose around 10 spots to No. 88.

“We have a sense of urgency about us,” OU coach Sunny Golloway said on Monday.

The sense of urgency has to be there because the Sooners if the NCAA Baseball Tournament selection committee met this week, they would not be an at-large selection to the field of 64. It’s performance thus far just doesn’t stand out.

The other reality is OU’s already entered a six-week stretch where the opportunity to rise up in the RPI and solidify a spot is there.

♦ Sunny Golloway performs face-lift on Sooners' lineup, rotation (NewsOK.com, 3/29)

So with his Sooners scuffling, falling from the rankings and tumbling to the bottom of the Big 12 standings, Golloway wasn't about to sit back and wait and hope that they'd pull out of the free fall.

He pushed and prodded and pulled some strings, forcing a face-lift on his lineup and his rotation.

Suddenly, following a Big 12 series victory and a midweek win over Oral Roberts, maybe Oklahoma isn't so unattractive after all, warranting a second glance.

“We can't be afraid to make changes and try things,” Golloway said.
Oh, Golloway never shies from trying things.

Lineup changes. Role changes. Motivational ploys.

Golloway has tried them all. . .

♦ Lockwood Leads Baseball

Weekly Award Winners (Big12Sports.com)
Hunter Lockwood (Oklahoma) claimed a share of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week honor and earned the Newcomer of the Week award outright to highlight this week's edition of Big 12 baseball weekly awards.
. . .
Hunter Lockwood hit safely in all four games last week to continue his season high eight-game hitting streak. The freshman batted .429 (6-for-14) with two homers, eight RBI, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .500 on-base percentage as OU won three of its four games, including a series victory over Kansas State. Lockwood also posted a 1.000 fielding percentage with 34 putouts and four assists at first base. The Bedford, Texas, product had two multi-hit games and two multi-RBI games, including a career-high five runs driven in during Saturday's game against Kansas State. In addition to his two home runs, he also recorded two doubles, two walks and a stolen base in four starts last week. Lockwood leads the Big 12 with eight homers and a .632 slugging percentage, while ranking fourth in the league with 28 RBI and 59 total bases. The Sooner is hitting .301 in his 25 games.

♦ OU Sweeps Pitcher & Newcomer Honors (Big12Sports.com)

PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Dillon Overton, Oklahoma, So., LHP, 6-2, 160, Weatherford, Okla./Weatherford

Dillon Overton made two appearances last week (one start) and picked up two wins in 11 innings of work that featured eight strikeouts, zero walks, six hits and one earned run allowed (0.82 ERA). Overton tossed a complete game, the first of his career, on Saturday against West Virginia with six strikeouts and zero walks. Overton gave up one earned run off six hits against WVU and retired 18 straight batters that stretched from the third to the ninth inning. On Tuesday, Overton tossed two perfect innings of relief with two strikeouts for the win against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. In the two appearances, Overton limited the opposition to a .158 batting average. On Saturday, Overton tossed 98 pitches and did not exceed 10 pitches in each of the final seven frames.

Overton (3-0) ranks first in the Big 12 in innings pitched (30.2), second in wins (3), fifth in strikeouts with 28 and 15th in ERA (2.93). He is one of three hurlers in the Big 12 to throw a complete game.

NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK

Jonathan Gray, Oklahoma, So., RHP, Chandler, Okla./Eastern Oklahoma State

Jonathan Gray tossed the best game of his young Sooner career on Saturday with 10 strikeouts in seven innings pitched to defeat No. 9 Oregon in Eugene. Gray did not walk an Oregon batter and gave up two runs off eight hits in the first-ever meeting between the Sooners and Ducks. Gray had at least one strikeout in all but one of his seven innings pitched and recorded two punch outs in the first, second, fifth and seventh frames.

♦ Co-Pitcher of the Week (Big12Sports.com)

Jordan John, Oklahoma, So., LHP, Corpus Christi, Texas/Calallen

Jordan John made two appearances over the weekend and recorded a win and a save at New Mexico with 5.1 scoreless innings of relief. The sophomore allowed one hit in the two appearances, combined for a shutout and held opponents to a .059 batting average. On Friday, John pitched the final 1.1 innings (15 pitches) with no hits or walks and one strikeout to improve to 3-1 on the year. On Sunday, he tossed four scoreless innings with one hit, no walks and three strikeouts to earn his first career save. John has appeared in six of the Sooners' 10 games this year and ranks in the top five in that category in the Big 12 Conference along with wins (3), ERA (0.50) and opponent's batting average (.167). He has 15 strikeouts and two walks in 18 innings pitched.