OUInsider - Owen Field

(OU Sports Information)

NORMAN, Okla. -- No. 22 Oklahoma (18-11, 4-5 Big 12) travels to No. 4 Texas A&M (23-6, 4-2) for a three-game set over Easter weekend. The Sooners and Aggies will play the series on Thursday (6:35 p.m.), Friday (6:35 p.m.) and Saturday (3:30 p.m.) in College Station, Texas.

THE MATCHUP
• OU moved up to No. 22 in the NCBWA poll after going 3-1 last week. OU is not ranked by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball or the coaches’ poll. The Sooners have won seven of their last nine games since starting Big 12 play 0-3 at home against Texas.
• The Sooners return five position starters from the 2011 squad that finished 41-19 overall and third in the Big 12 (14-11).
• Texas A&M returns 19 letterwinners from the 2011 team that was 47-22 overall and first in the Big 12 at 19-8. The Aggies made their fifth College World Series Appearance in 2011. Last weekend, Texas A&M won two out of three at home against Missouri.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
• The OU radio broadcast with play-by-play announcer Toby Rowland and Craig Moran on color can be heard throughout the week on the Sooner Sports Network (KREF 1400 AM in Norman/OKC). Every game in 2012 is also online at SoonerSports.com.

• Saturday’s game will be televised nationally on ESPNU with Dari Nowkhah and Mike Rooney and on WatchESPN.com.

• Live stats are also available on SoonerSports.com for this weekend’s games. AggieAthletics.com will provide a webcast on Thursday and Friday.

PITCHING ROTATIONS
Game 1 - OU: LHP Jordan John (4-4, 2.72 ERA) vs. TAMU: RHP Michael Wacha (4-0, 2.72)
Game 2 - OU: LHP Dillon Overton (4-0, 3.54 ERA) vs. TAMU: RHP Ross Stripling (4-1, 2.87)
Game 3 - OU: RHP Jonathan Gray (2-3, 5.26 ERA vs. TAMU: RHP Rafael Pineda (4-0, 1.84)

PLAYER TO WATCH - BRIAN BRIGHTWELL
The freshman outfielder has taken advantage of his limited chances in 2012 with six hits in his four starts. Three of his four starts have come in Big 12 play, where he is hitting .444 with all three of his RBI on the season. Birghtwell made his first start on March 24 at Texas Tech and collected two hits with a run scored. He duplicated that same effort in his next two starts.
2012 Season Stats: . 429, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 7 games, 4 starts

OU vs. TEXAS A&M NOTES
- OU leads the overall 33-28 and 23-22 (Big 12).
- OU has won six out of the last eight series meetings, despite dropping last year’s series in Norman (1-0, 1-11, 2-5). Texas A&M has claimed eight of the 15 Big 12 series with OU.
- OU has won seven out of the last 11 games.
- Texas A&M has won the series opener in five of the last eight series meetings, but OU has come back to win the final two games in 2004, 05, 06, 07, 09 and 2010.
- The teams have entered the series finale after splitting the first two games in 10 of the 15 series meetings. In that scenario, the teams are split with OU taking five of the last six such meetings.
- In Big 12 play, 30 of the 45 games have been decided by three runs or less (OU is 18-12). Since 1997, 19 games in the series have been decided by one run and OU is 13-6 in those contests.

ON DECK
The Sooners play their second top 10 opponent in a row when No. 9 Arkansas travels to Norman for a 6:30 p.m. game on Tuesday, April 10. OU also hosts Missouri next week in a three-game Big 12 series.

LAST WEEK
The Sooners posted a 3-1 mark at home last week, including a 2-1 series win over Kansas State in Big 12 play … OU started the week with a 5-2 midweek win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday … On Friday, OU won its fourth straight game, 5-1, with a series-opening victory over KSU … On Saturday, the Wildcats rallied in the eighth inning for an 8-7 victory … Sunday’s rubber match also featured a late comeback as the Sooners rallied with two runs in the ninth inning during a 4-3 walk-off win.

DOUBLE DIGITS
The Sooners are 10-5 when collecting 10 or more hits in a game with wins over Pepperdine (game 1), Hartford (game 1-2), New Mexico (all 3 game), UAPB (game 1), Air Force (game 2) and at Texas Tech (game 2-3). OU is also 2-0 when scoring double-digit runs with victories over Hartford (2/25) and New Mexico (3/3). OU is 0-3 when allowing 10-plus runs against Pepperdine (2/18), UTA and Oregon State. The Sooners are 7-11 when giving up 10 or more hits.

ONE-RUN GAMES UNDER GOLLOWAY
The Sooners are 5-5 in one-run games in 2012 after going 4-9 a season ago. OU is 72-40-1 (.642) in one-run games under head coach Sunny Golloway. OU has won double-digit games in that situation in 2006 (15), 2007 (11), 2009 (10) and 2010 (14).