Postseason baseball returning to The Dale; OU named a regional host
Postseason baseball is returning to L. Dale Mitchell Ballpark for the first time since 2010.
Oklahoma (37-19 overall, 23-7 Big 12) was announced as one of the 16 regional hosts on Sunday evening with an expectation they will be a top-8 national seed in the NCAA Tournament. Skip Johnson’s crew will find out who the other three teams that will be headed to The Dale in Norman along with their seeding on Monday during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show (11 a.m.).
Oklahoma heads into the NCAA Tournament after winning three games last weekend at the Big 12 Tournament in Arlington, Texas. The Sooners lost to Oklahoma State in the championship game.
Sooners cap record-breaking season
It’s been a banner year for Oklahoma, who won the Big 12 regular season title for the first time in school history after posting a program-best 23 wins in Big 12 conference play.
“That’s a big deal for us. After the game Skip gave us a really good pep talk going into next weekend. He kind of raised our sprits pretty well, and we’ll just have to be sure to we take this and it’ll only make us stronger,” said Kendall Pettis, after going 8-for-12 in Arlington to earn All-Tournament honors. I just think if we can go off this whole weekend where we played really well over the weekend. If we can just take that into the regional where we’ll be at home, it’ll be a good thing for us. We’ll have our crowd.
“We just need to practice hard and get ready for the weekend.”
Oklahoma heads into the NCAA Tournament having won 11 of its last 13 games, including four of a school-record six sweeps during Big 12 play to end the season. The Sooners posted a 20-5 record in their final 25 regular season games this season.
Seven Sooners were named to the Big 12 All-Tournament Team. They are Jackson Nicklaus, Anthony Mackenzie, Jaxon Willits, Easton Carmichael, Kendall Pettis, Braden Davis and Grant Stevens.