OU's Irvin Named Big 12 Pitcher Of The Week

University of Oklahoma baseball sophomore Jake Irvin has been named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week as announced by the conference office on Tuesday morning. The award marks the first of Irvin’s career and the first of the season for a Sooner.

Irvin was dominant in the Sooners’ opening day victory over No. 17 Long Beach State on Friday. He pitched seven shutout innings of one-hit ball. Irvin surrendered a leadoff single in the second before retiring each of the next 18 batters in a row to finish his night as Oklahoma was victorious, 6-2. For the game, he matched his career-high in strikeouts with 10, the most by a Big 12 pitcher on the weekend and included striking out the side in the first, and did not allow a walk, while needing just 95 pitches.

This marks the second time in the last three seasons that the Sooners’ opening day starter claimed the league’s first weekly award for pitchers. In 2015, right-hander Jake Elliott picked up the honor after defeating Notre Dame. Irvin is the first OU pitcher to earn the award since Alec Hansen did so in on May 9, 2016, when he was the Co-Pitcher of the Week.

The Sooners are in action Tuesday and Wednesday at 3 p.m. against Grambling State at L. Dale Mitchell Park as part of a 19-game homestand to start the season.