Gametime: 1 pm CT.
Game preview: Augie Garrido and Skip Johnson made the decision before the series to move Brandon Workman's start to Sunday, instead of his normal Saturday slot after lasting only 3.2 innings last week against Nebraska in the second game of a doubleheader. To make up for his lost work, he started the Wednesday game against the Beach Aggies and worked an efficient three innings during which he gave up nothing other than a solo home run, striking out three in the process.The switch worked well enough for Cole Green to gut his way through the second game Saturday, leaving it up to the flame-throwing Workman to complete the sweep and start consolidating the league lead after taking over first place with the second Saturday win.
Austin Wood won't be available after pitching brilliantly in both Saturday games, but since the Longhorns were not forced to use Taylor Jungmann, the stud freshman could pitch three of four innings, possibly even to close the game. No doubt that Skip Johnson would probably be happy getting three or four innings from Workman before handing the ball to Jungmann and asking him to close the door on the series.
The big OU bats may well break out of their general silence, as the Sooners have an extremely dangerous lineup full of players hitting .300 or over and heavy on left-handed hitters -- there's no rest for opponents at the bottom of the Sooners' lineup and big first baseman Aaron Baker is positively scary to me after taking two consecutive Chance Ruffin offerings well out of the ballpark in the first game Saturday -- he just managed to wait on the second pitch a little longer. And hit it a little farther. It may only be a matter of time on Sunday before balls starting finding the gaps, as many hard-hit balls in the first game on Saturday were hit right at Longhorn defenders.
The Sooners haven't announced their Sunday starter,but Antwonie Hubbard is the only OU starter besides Doyle and Porlier with an ERA under 8.78. Ultimately, that will matter less for the Longhorns than their approach at the plate, which continued to be much improved from the early part of the season.
No time to relax on Sunday. This is the time to show the killer instinct that makes trips to Omaha possible.
Remember when that seemed like a rite of summer for the Longhorns?