Well hello friends. Bedlam baseball from OneOK Field in Tulsa just about an hour from starting.
Jake Elliott (4-3 2.15 ERA 21 BB 65 SO) makes his 12th start of the year this evening for Oklahoma.
* I was able to get out to L. Dale Mitchell on Thursday to talk with players and coaches ... here are some thoughts going into the weekend.
Despite entering the weekend on a three-game losing streak Oklahoma enters the weekend in striking distance of a Big 12 regular season title. That's the focus as they enter the final stretch run here over the last three weeks of the season.
"I don't think we really have to remind ourselves. We know what's at stake. We know that its for a share of first place in the Big 12," said senior Anthony Hermelyn. "Ever since we came here that's what we've wanted to do is win the regular season title. We won the tournament our freshman year and we're ready for one in the regular season. We know what's at stake."
For that to happen it likely means Oklahoma starts this stretch run with a series win over Oklahoma State this weekend.
The same Oklahoma State team that handed the Sooners a 24-2 loss on April 7. A day that hasn't been lost on Pete Hughes club.
"The way we've showed up to the ballpark everyday since that game. It's been a completely different team," said sophomore Sheldon Neuse. "Nobody wants to lose like that. It ain't going to happen again this weekend. Not from our end. We're going to go out and give everything we have."
"If they beat us with us giving our best I'll be very surprised. That's the honest truth. They are going to go out and give their best and see if it can beat ours. That's what makes Bedlam so much fun."
* Thursday was our first opportunity to speak with Pete Hughes since his medical scare last weekend. First and foremost ... Coach Hughes is fine.
"You just got to listen to the signs. I presented the exact same symptoms I had when I had my heart attack. It was persistent and consistent. It was starting to preoccupy the way I was thinking out here and I knew once I said lets go up there and take my blood pressure I knew I was done," said Hughes. "Messing around especially with the my heart and my personal history and then bad genes to boot. I feel good now but that was definitely the right move."
After leaving the Sooners game in the fourth inning Hughes was taken to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital where he spent the next 48 hours before being released on Sunday. While it was a scary situation for everyone involved his club was happy to see him rejoin them in the dugout on Tuesday in Wichita.
"It wasn't the most comfortable feeling. We wished him nothing but the best and prayed that nothing would go wrong," Neuse said. "You can't really ask for a better outcome than that."
With their leader back in the third base coaching box the next best outcome would be going on a run to end the regular season.
* Jake Elliott will have atleast one player behind enemy lines pulling for him on Friday night. That being his younger brother Jensen who has already signed with Josh Holliday and Oklahoma State.
"He said on Friday he'll be rooting for me. He actually said 'Boomer Sooner' on Friday," Elliott said. "But for Saturday and Sunday he said 'Go Pokes' or whatever they say. . He didn't say he'll be rooting for us but he said he'll be rooting for me."
Jake Elliott (4-3 2.15 ERA 21 BB 65 SO) makes his 12th start of the year this evening for Oklahoma.
* I was able to get out to L. Dale Mitchell on Thursday to talk with players and coaches ... here are some thoughts going into the weekend.
Despite entering the weekend on a three-game losing streak Oklahoma enters the weekend in striking distance of a Big 12 regular season title. That's the focus as they enter the final stretch run here over the last three weeks of the season.
"I don't think we really have to remind ourselves. We know what's at stake. We know that its for a share of first place in the Big 12," said senior Anthony Hermelyn. "Ever since we came here that's what we've wanted to do is win the regular season title. We won the tournament our freshman year and we're ready for one in the regular season. We know what's at stake."
For that to happen it likely means Oklahoma starts this stretch run with a series win over Oklahoma State this weekend.
The same Oklahoma State team that handed the Sooners a 24-2 loss on April 7. A day that hasn't been lost on Pete Hughes club.
"The way we've showed up to the ballpark everyday since that game. It's been a completely different team," said sophomore Sheldon Neuse. "Nobody wants to lose like that. It ain't going to happen again this weekend. Not from our end. We're going to go out and give everything we have."
"If they beat us with us giving our best I'll be very surprised. That's the honest truth. They are going to go out and give their best and see if it can beat ours. That's what makes Bedlam so much fun."
* Thursday was our first opportunity to speak with Pete Hughes since his medical scare last weekend. First and foremost ... Coach Hughes is fine.
"You just got to listen to the signs. I presented the exact same symptoms I had when I had my heart attack. It was persistent and consistent. It was starting to preoccupy the way I was thinking out here and I knew once I said lets go up there and take my blood pressure I knew I was done," said Hughes. "Messing around especially with the my heart and my personal history and then bad genes to boot. I feel good now but that was definitely the right move."
After leaving the Sooners game in the fourth inning Hughes was taken to the Oklahoma Heart Hospital where he spent the next 48 hours before being released on Sunday. While it was a scary situation for everyone involved his club was happy to see him rejoin them in the dugout on Tuesday in Wichita.
"It wasn't the most comfortable feeling. We wished him nothing but the best and prayed that nothing would go wrong," Neuse said. "You can't really ask for a better outcome than that."
With their leader back in the third base coaching box the next best outcome would be going on a run to end the regular season.
* Jake Elliott will have atleast one player behind enemy lines pulling for him on Friday night. That being his younger brother Jensen who has already signed with Josh Holliday and Oklahoma State.
"He said on Friday he'll be rooting for me. He actually said 'Boomer Sooner' on Friday," Elliott said. "But for Saturday and Sunday he said 'Go Pokes' or whatever they say. . He didn't say he'll be rooting for us but he said he'll be rooting for me."
