Feb. 2, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. -- The 2009 University of Oklahoma Baseball team held its first day of team practices on Sunday, Feb. 1. The Sooners, recently ranked No. 16 in Baseball America's preseason poll, will begin the season at home on Friday, Feb. 20 against Western Illinois.
The season opener is the first of four games set to be played at L. Dale Mitchell Park that weekend against the Leathernecks. The last time OU opened the season at home was during the 2003 season.
The Sooners began the day by hitting in the new indoor practice facility and then moved to the main field.
The facility, which was completed shortly after the new year, includes a regulation-size infield with natural grass and a 5,160 square-foot indoor hitting facility. The building contains three full-size pitching and hitting lanes and is heated and air conditioned. The $1 million project covers 22,500 square feet of existing ground at L. Dale Mitchell Park and is located down the left-field line adjacent to the Sooners' bullpen.
The 2008 Sooners finished with a 36-26-1 overall mark and lost to then-No. 4 Arizona State in the NCAA Tempe Regional final. OU returns 18 letterwinners from that squad, including seven position starters and six hurlers with at least five starts.
"We are excited to finally get started," said OU Head Coach Sunny Golloway. "Even though the weather has improved from earlier this week, we got full use out of our new practice facility before heading outdoors for the day. The impact of this addition to our program is going to be evident over the course of time, but we already feel it has helped us immensely in helping develop our current players."
Golloway is entering his fifth year at OU's helm since taking over at the end of the 2005 season. The Sooners are 127-78-1 under Golloway and have appeared in three NCAA Regional finals in the last four years, including the program's lone super regional appearance in 2006.
The players and coaches celebrated the start of the season on Friday night with the Sixth Annual Diamond Dinner. OU honored former Sooner and 1989 Big Eight Player of the Year, Darron Cox, and signed autographs after the banquet.
The Sooners will also sign autographs prior to the men's basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in the southwest upper concourse of the Lloyd Noble Center.
