Oklahoma teams kick off baseball season with weekend games
BY ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Friday, February 15, 2013
2/15/13 at 6:02 AM
College baseball season opens on Friday with new looks at two state universities.
Josh Holliday (Oklahoma State) and Ryan Folmar (Oral Roberts) will make their head coaching debuts this weekend.
Meanwhile, nationally ranked Oklahoma - the Big 12 Conference's preseason favorite - opens under veteran coach Sunny Golloway.
The Cowboys will open with a three-game set at No. 21 New Mexico before returning for a 26-game homestand. In the final two months, OSU will only have seven regular-season home games.
Oklahoma State revamped its 34-man roster with 15 newcomers. Included are eight junior-college transfers that will try to improve on last season's 32-25 record and fifth-place finish in the Big 12.
The Golden Eagles begin with a three-game set against Saint Louis, the defending Atlantic 10 regular-season champion. The season's first pitch is 3 p.m. Friday at Johnson Stadium.
ORU has won 15 consecutive league championships and is selected to finish third in its debut campaign in the Southland Conference.
The Golden Eagles have won 24 of 25 games all-time against the Billikens.
OU has high expectations in 2013. The Sooners enter with a No. 16 ranking in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 19 by Baseball America.
The Sooners will start the season with four games against visiting Hofstra, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday.
"There's a lot of youth in our lineup," Golloway said during media day. "There's a lot of learning and growing that'll take place along the way, but then a tremendous amount of experience on the mound."
Lefty Dillon Overton and right-hander Jonathan Gray will anchor the rotation.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
This weekend's schedule
Friday: Hofstra at Oklahoma, 3 p.m.; Saint Louis at Oral Roberts, 3 p.m.; Oklahoma State at New Mexico, 6 p.m.
Saturday: Hofstra at Oklahoma (DH), 1 p.m.; Saint Louis at Oral Roberts, 2 p.m.; Oklahoma State at New Mexico, 3 p.m.
Sunday: Hofstra at Oklahoma, 1 p.m.; Saint Louis at Oral Roberts, 1 p.m.; Oklahoma State at New Mexico, 2 p.m.
Original Print Headline: Area teams kick off baseball
Eric Bailey 918-581-8391
eric.bailey@tulsaworld.com
