NORMAN – The University of Oklahoma baseball team will open the 2019 season at home and face 12 opponents that reached the NCAA postseason in 2018 as part of a 56-game schedule announced Thursday by second-year head coach Skip Johnson.
The Sooners face a challenging slate as they aim for their third straight NCAA postseason appearance, facing 31 games against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year, including two College World Series participants. The schedule also includes 22 games against eight opponents that ended the 2018 season ranked in the top 50 of the RPI. OU will play 27 home games at L. Dale Mitchell Park, 15 of which will be against 2018 postseason teams.
The Big 12 Conference schedule runs 24 games over eight weekend series. The Sooners will play Kansas, TCU and Texas Tech at home, West Virginia, Baylor, Kansas State and Texas on the road, and will be the home team for the series against Oklahoma State.
“We have once again put together a challenging and exciting schedule for this season,” Johnson said. “The strength of our opponents will provide our young team opportunities to grow and be competitive throughout the season. Our fans will enjoy watching our team play against this quality competition in our ballpark.”
Oklahoma opens the 2019 season at home against Cal Poly Feb. 15-17, before going to San Diego, Calif., for the Tony Gwynn Classic, Feb. 22-24, where it will face San Diego, San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton. A four-game home series against Columbia (March 1-3) and a three-game set against Missouri State (March 15-17) sandwich a trip to Rice (March 8-10). The Sooners play a road series at Minnesota April 19-21 during the conference bye week.
Columbia, Missouri State, San Diego State, Cal State Fullerton and Minnesota all played in the NCAA Tournament last year, and Rice and TCU are usual participants. Cal State Fullerton and Minnesota reached the Super Regionals.
The Sooners open Big 12 Conference play March 22-24 at home against Kansas. OU will then play a road series at West Virginia (March 29-31) and a home set against TCU (April 5-7), before traveling to Waco to face Baylor (April 12-14). After the mid-conference series at Minnesota, Oklahoma plays three games at Kansas State (April 26-28).
The regular season reaches a crescendo in the final three weekends with series against Texas Tech (home, May 3-5), Oklahoma State (May 10-12) and at Texas (May 16-18). Oklahoma will be the home team for the Bedlam series against the Cowboys, which will be played at ONEOK Field in Tulsa on Friday, Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on Saturday and in Norman on Sunday.
Texas and Texas Tech both played in the College World Series while Baylor and Oklahoma State reached the postseason. Midweek non-conference foes Dallas Baptist, Oral Roberts and Texas Southern all reached the postseason last year.
Midweek non-conference home-and-home contests include Dallas Baptist (Dallas on Feb. 19 and Norman on March 5) and Oral Roberts (Norman on April 2 and Tulsa on April 16). OU will face Arkansas Pine Bluff at home Feb. 26-27 and Texas Southern April 9-10, and play two at New Mexico in a midweek trip to Albuquerque on March 19-20. The Sooners will host UT Arlington on March 12 and visit Wichita State on April 23.
“The Big 12 Conference is always one of the top leagues in the country and will be again,” Johnson said. “Our schedule will prepare us for the competitiveness of Big 12 weekend series while building our resume for postseason play.”
The Big 12 Baseball Championship will be held May 22-26 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
