OU has strong showing to open season
Oklahoma's baseball team opened the season with a strong showing over the weekend, sweeping a three-game home series over Cal Poly, winning 4-1, 9-3 and 5-2.
The Sooners were one of just two Big 12 teams to make it through the opening weekend undefeated (Baylor was the other).
Here are three takeaways from the weekend as the Sooners prepare to host Dallas Baptist at 3 p.m. Wednesday in a game that was originally scheduled for Tuesday in Dallas:
Ruffcorn comes up big
After the disappointing news last week that Braidyn Fink would miss the season with a torn ulnar collateral ligament, the Sooners bullpen looked thin.
But the day of the opener, Oklahoma got some encouraging news when junior Jason Ruffcorn was ruled eligible after transferring from Texas A&M, where he had a 2.79 ERA in 19 innings over the past two seasons.
Ruffcorn made two appearances in the opening series, with a oneinning save in Friday's opener with a walk and no hits, and a four-out save in Sunday's finale where he struggled a bit but closed out the series.
Strong fielding
Oklahoma struggled with its gloves to start last season, with 15 errors in the opening four-game trip to South Carolina.
The Sooners were much more sure-handed in the opening series this time around, with just two errors, turning three double plays.
With both a pitching staff and a lineup in transition after losing several key pieces from last year's regional team, Oklahoma needs strong defense and they showed they're capable in the opening series.
Bats struggle
While Oklahoma's pitching was tops in the Big 12 on the opening weekend, with a 1.67 ERA, the Sooners' bats were near the bottom as OU hit just .250 in the series with a .768 OPS.
Oklahoma struck out just 19 times but didn't hit any home runs.
Two of the bright spots for the Sooners were Brady Lindsly, who hit .333 with two doubles and Brandon Zaragoza, who hit .286 while driving in two and drawing five walks.