Texas Takes On Oklahoma (Sucks); Preview and Open Thread

Oklahoma sucks. You may question their suckitude on the football field, where as far as we know the two teams haven't played since 2009. It's generally true in basketball; in fact, our favorite Texas basketball memory is rushing the court in 2003 as Texas walloped an inferior and much uglier Oklahoma squad in Austin.

But on the baseball diamond? Let there be no question that OU sucks. Even last season, when the Horns missed the postseason and the Sooners made it to a super regional, they sucked. Despite suffering through the worst season since before Y2K, the Horns were able to sweep the sucky, sucky Oklahoma ballclub.

In Norman.

Texas has taken 14 straight series from the Sooners, and OU hasn't even won a game in 6 of those.

Put another way, CJ Hinojosa was 4 years old when Oklahoma last took a series from Texas. Put one more other way: OU sucks.

The Sooners are good this year, though. They're off to a very nice 25-5 record. Their schedule has to be considered respectable by Oklahoma baseball standards (ranked 157th nationwide), but is pretty weak by any real measure. Against their best competition so far, they split games with UCLA and Notre Dame and have a solid series win over Pepperdine.

Offensively, nobody really scares you on the Sooners, as they all pretty much suck. If we had to name one player whom we maybe, might say hasn't sucked this year...I guess we could go with Matt Oberste. The senior first baseman enters the weekend with a 30 game hitting streak.

Oberste would probably see a few at bats off the bench if he were on the Texas roster, though we aren't really that impressed with his .460 batting average, eight homers (two more than Texas as a team), 10 doubles, three triples, 38 RBI and 1.340 OPS. He could probably split time with Alex Silver if he were a Longhorn.

On the mound, Jonathan Gray has been okay as OU's Friday starter. Gray is thought of highly in spite of his Sooner pedigree, with a strong chance he'll be a top ten pick in June's MLB draft. Gray is 5-1 on the year with a pair of complete games, a 1.34 ERA and 63 strikeouts compared to just 9 walks. Meh.

Dillon Overton has been downright pedestrian by comparison. Overton could also be a first round pick in June, but his 6-1 record, 2.55 ERA, and 45 strikeouts compared to 10 walks suggest MLB teams should steer clear altogether in all 50 rounds.

The Horns will counter with their usual rotation of Parker French, Dillon Peters and Nathan Thornhill. The Horns haven't gotten good starts from all three starters in a few weekends; getting them back on track is key for Texas if they want to get their first Big 12 series win of the season.

Offensively, the Horns have hit the ball well over the last six games, pounding out 68 hits. Of course, the team's faltering execution at the plate, especially with runners in scoring position, has meant this offensive explosion has been met with Texas scoring just over five runs a game. Certainly an improvement, but you hope for more when you average over 10 hits per contest.

The Horns can win this series with better pitching, better execution at the plate and a good, old-fashioned visit to Sooner sucktown. First pitch tonight is at 6:30 PM on the Longhorn Network. Join us here for your open thread.