IRVING, Texas – University of Oklahoma baseball senior first baseman Austin O'Brien (Owasso, Okla.) was voted the Big 12 Player of the Week as announced by the league on Monday. It is the first weekly award of his career and comes after delivering the game-winning hit to beat No. 5 TCU on Sunday.
O'Brien drove in a team-high six runs in the series win at L. Dale Mitchell Park. He hit .357 (5-for-14) with a .714 slugging percentage and provided the Sooners with a walk-off hit in Sunday's finale to clinch the series.
In Friday's opener, O'Brien drove in his first run of the weekend with a RBI-double. He followed with a second double on Saturday. Sunday was a career day as O'Brien posted the first five-RBI game of his career in a 3-for-5 effort. In a game that saw 19 runners cross home plate, he got the scoring started with a three-run home run in the first inning. O'Brien later added a RBI-single in the third. He came to the plate with runners on the corners and one down in a tie game in the ninth; delivering the game-winning run with a line drive single into left-center.
For the season, O'Brien is hitting .305 and slugging .556 with 35 RBI and is tied for the team lead in home runs at eight. He now has 18 career home runs and 94 career RBI.
O'Brien is the Sooners' fourth weekly award winner this season and the first since Renae Martinez was named Player of the Week on April 3.
Oklahoma is the host of the Bedlam Series this week beginning Thursday, May 18 at 7:05 p.m. at Tulsa's ONEOK Field. Games two and three follow on Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma City at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.