PREVIEW: Baseball Bedlam

UPDATE: Mother Nature decided Bedlam should wait another day. Thursday’s game was cancelled due to weather and we’ll play 3 in OKC:

The Cowboys look for a bit of redemption after being swept by Baylor. This weekend the Cowboys will play their in-state rivals in their last series of the regular season. Here are the quick hits for the series:

Oklahoma State Cowboys (24-25, 6-13 Big 12) .vs. OU Sooners (34-18, 12-9 Big 12)

Where: Thursday: ONEOK Field | Tulsa, Ok

Friday and Saturday: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Ok

When: 7:00 p.m. Thursday | 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Watch: Thursday: Fox College Sports/ Fox Sports Go

Friday and Saturday: Sooner Sports TV (I know I know, we all have to make sacrifices)

Listen: Cowboy Radio Network

THE OPPONENT:

The Sooners come into this series on a two game win streak where they clinched the series against TCU. The team currently has an okay .276 batting average with Steele Walker leading the team with an an average of .340. They look like they’re hitting the ball pretty well, but nothing the Cowboys can’t handle.

Pitching wise the gooners have a team ERA of 4.11 with Jake Irvin leading with a 2.67 ERA in 54 innings pitched. Irvin gets the start on the bump Thursday night with a 6-0 record in 10 starts. Friday Devon Perez takes the mound with a 3.69 ERA in 53.2 innings pitched and a 5-2 record in seven starts. Saturday it’s Kyle Tyler on the mound with a 4.5 ERA in 43 innings pitched and a 0-1 record in eight starts.

The Cowboys:
The Cowboys go into this series after being swept by Baylor at Allie P. this past weekend. The team currently has an less than great .263 batting average. However Garrett McCain holds Big 12 leading .393 batting average. I’m really hoping he stays hot and some others like Garrett Benge and Collin Simpson can hit some this weekend and we pull out the sweep. Looking at the stats, they’re almost the same team. OU has just won more games.

The pitching staff's 4.50 ERA is also not ideal. Trey Cobb leads with a 2.29 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched. Tyler Buffett takes the mound Thursday with a 4.72 (yikes) ERA in 80 innings pitched and a 5-5 record in 13 starts. On Friday Joe Lienhard takes the bump with 4.73 ERA in 51.1 innings pitched and a 2-2 record in seven starts. Blake Battenfield takes the mound on Saturday with a 5.11 (double yikes) ERA in 56.1 innings pitched and a 2-4 record in nine starts.

A series sweep this weekend would give some much needed momentum going into the Big 12 Tournament, which the Cowboys will likely need to win to avoid missing the postseason for the first time in Josh Holliday's tenure.

Go Pokes and #BeatOU