NORMAN — University of Oklahoma head baseball coach Skip Johnson announced the Sooners’ 2020 schedule Thursday, a 56-game slate highlighted by premier midweek matchups against Arkansas at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on March 17 and Oklahoma State at ONEOK Field in Tulsa on March 31.
The Sooners will open the season with a series against Virginia in Pensacola, Fla., and compete in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic in Houston, Texas, against Arkansas, LSU and Missouri.
Oklahoma will play 29 home games at L. Dale Mitchell Park, including 12 against teams that reached the NCAA postseason last year, and OU will play a total of 25 games against nine opponents that reached the postseason in 2019. Included are College World Series participants Arkansas and Texas Tech as well as Super Regional participants LSU and Oklahoma State. The schedule also includes 26 games against nine opponents that ended the 2019 season ranked in the top 50 of the RPI.
“We have put together an exciting and challenging schedule for our club in 2020,” Johnson said. “Our team will have a tremendous opportunity early with non-conference games against some top national programs such as Virginia, Arkansas, LSU and Missouri. Home series against Illinois State, San Diego State and Sam Houston State, in addition to games against Oklahoma State, Dallas Baptist, Oral Roberts and Wichita State, should bring an exciting atmosphere to L. Dale Mitchell Park.”
The Big 12 Conference schedule runs 24 games over eight weekend series. The Sooners will play Texas, Baylor, Kansas State and West Virginia at home, and will face TCU, Texas Tech and Kansas on the road.
The Bedlam conference series will be played at campus sites this season. OU will host the first game of the Big 12 series on Friday, April 17 at L. Dale Mitchell Park while the final two contests will be played in Stillwater on Saturday, April 18 and Sunday, April 19. The final game of the 2019 series was the first Bedlam conference game played in Norman since 1992.
Oklahoma will host OSU at ONEOK Field in Tulsa on Tuesday, March 31. It will be the 30th consecutive year the Sooners and Cowboys will meet in Tulsa.
“The Big 12 was the second-ranked conference in the country last year, and it should be outstanding again this season,” Johnson said. “We see the high level of competition around the league week-in and week-out, and these programs provide no opportunities for an off day in conference play.”
Oklahoma opens the season with a three-game series against Virginia, Feb. 14-16, at the inaugural Wahoos Classic Tournament in Pensacola, Fla. The event will be hosted by the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.
The Sooners play their first home games Feb. 18-19 in a two-game midweek set against Texas Southern. OU then welcomes Illinois State for a four-game weekend series, Feb. 21-23 at L. Dale Mitchell Park. Illinois State reached the final round of the 2019 Louisville Regional, before falling one game shy of Super Regionals.
OU is set to compete in the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, Feb. 28-March 1. The Sooners will play Arkansas (Friday, Feb. 28), Missouri (Saturday, Feb. 29) and LSU (Sunday, March 1) in a field that also includes Baylor and Texas. It will be Oklahoma’s first appearance in the event since 2008.
San Diego State visits Norman March 6-8 and the Sooners travel to San Luis Obispo, Calif., to face Cal Poly in a four-game series prior to the start of conference play. OU is set to host Sam Houston State April 24-25 during the conference bye week.
OU will host Arkansas on March 17 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. The Sooners’ two contests against the Razorbacks will represent the first regular season meeting between the schools since 2012.
The Sooners open Big 12 Conference play March 20-22 at home against Texas. OU will then play a road series at TCU (March 27-29) and then host Baylor (April 3-5), before traveling to Lubbock to face Texas Tech (April 9-11) in a Thursday through Sunday set. The Bedlam series follows April 17-19.
Following the non-conference matchup against Sam Houston State, OU travels to Kansas (May 1-3) and closes regular season play at home against Kansas State (May 8-10) and West Virginia (May 14-16). The Mountaineers hosted an NCAA Regional last season, while TCU and Baylor also reached postseason play.
Midweek non-conference home-and-home contests include Dallas Baptist (Norman on March 3 and Dallas on March 24), Oral Roberts (Norman on April 7 and Tulsa on April 28) and Wichita State (Norman on April 14 and Wichita on April 28). OU will face Arkansas Pine Bluff at home on March 4 and will play at UT Arlington on March 10.
The Big 12 Baseball Championship will be held May 20-24 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
