OU Enters Big 12 Tournament With High Hopes

Originally Published: May 25, 2010 11:36 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

OKLAHOMA CITY – The OU baseball will enter this year’s Big 12 Tournament ranked in the nation’s top 15 and with a strong chance of hosting its third regional in five years.

The Sooners will play their first game of the conference tournament Wednesday at the Bricktown Ballpark against Kansas, the same team they swept in a three-game series to finish the regular season.

“If we’re playing good baseball here at the Brick, I think we’re going to host,” head coach Sunny Golloway said. “And if we’re not playing good baseball, we need to go be road warriors and have the ‘It’s us against the world’ mentality. Maybe our road to Omaha is going to be on the road.”

While one of OU’s primary goals this season was to host a regional, that is not the only thing the players have in mind. They want to finally slip conference championship rings on their finger, something the Sooners have not been able to do since 1997.

“We want to win [the conference championship], and that’s what we’re here to do,” junior Zach Neal said. “We’re not here to just play a couple games and then try to host a regional; we want to win the thing. That’s why we come, and that’s why all the teams come.”

While being able to play at home during regionals could be a big boost for OU, the players are coaches are more focused on keeping their current winning streak going. They ended the regular season on a seven-game tear.

“A lot of it is luck of the draw on who is hot at the time,” Golloway said. “Let’s control being hot and not worry so much about what ballpark we’re playing in.”

OU and Kansas will face off at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and the Sooners will move on to play Baylor at the same time Friday.