Ace pitching from the Longhorns awaits Sooner baseball team
Reina Lyons, The Oklahoma Daily
Senior outfielder Rick Eisenberg hits during OU’s 5-2 win over Bacone College on April 20. The Sooners will play a three-game series against Texas this weekend in Austin. (Reina Lyons/The Daily)
The No. 10 OU baseball team is back on track and riding a four-game winning streak as they cross the Red River to take on No. 4 Texas this weekend.
The Sooners look to steal ground from the Longhorns in the Big 12 standings as they near the end of conference play.
With a three-game sweep, Oklahoma would be only one game behind Texas for second place in the Big 12. OU is third behind Texas and Texas A&M, which has a one-game lead on the Longhorns.
With only three conference series remaining before the Big 12 tournament, OU coach Sunny Golloway is confident his team will close out strong.
“We really like our chances going in there,” Golloway said. “You have No. 2 in the Big 12 versus No. 3 with three weeks to go, and it’s going to be a big series.”
OU will have senior righty Michael Rocha on the hill to open the series Friday night. The Sooner ace has posted an 8-1 record and a 1.19 ERA in 10 starts this year.
Rocha said he thinks the series will be a good indicator of the Sooners’ abilities and chances for the rest of the season.
“It’ll show how mentally tough we are, how prepared we are for everything and how good of a team we are,” Rocha said.
Rocha’s wins and ERA are second in the conference only to Texas junior starter Taylor Jungmann. The Longhorn righty tops the conference in wins, ERA, innings pitched and opponent batting average.
Jungmann will pitch against an OU team that leads the Big 12 in batting average with a .334, 35 points higher than second-ranked Oklahoma State.
Texas has struggled to hit this season with a .264 average, eighth in the conference.
“[Texas] has done it with pitching and defense,” Golloway said. “They’ve kept the game pretty simple.”
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