May 17, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. -- The No. 13 OU baseball team will open the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday, May 20 against the No. 7 seed, Texas Tech. The Sooners, seeded second, will battle the Red Raiders at 7:30 p.m. at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
The Sooners recently swept No. 16 Texas A&M to finish second in the Big 12 standings (half game behind Texas) with a 17-10 conference record and 40-16 overall mark. OU is the only team in the Big 12 to win 40 games this season and is tied with Texas with seven conference series victories (also ties program best set in 2006).
Oklahoma will continue pool play on Friday at 7:30 p.m. against the tournament's No. 6 seed, Texas A&M. On Saturday, OU will play the third and final opponent in its pool, No. 3 seeded Missouri, at 4 p.m.
The Big 12 introduced a two-division, pool play format for the championship in 2006. Each of the eight teams competing is guaranteed a minimum of three games.
The two teams with the best record within their pool will advance to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m., with the winner earning the Big 12's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship. Head-to-head competition will break ties within each bracket. In the event that more than two teams are tied for the top spot within a bracket, the highest seeded team will advance to Sunday's winner-take-all Championship game.
The Sooners are 5-4 in the format and 21-20 all-time in the Big 12 Tournament after claiming the conference’s initial crown in 1997. In each of the past two tournaments, OU has lost one-run contests (7-6 to Baylor in 2007 and 11-10 to Texas in 2008) and finished one win away from playing in the title game.
The Brick, which was opened on April 2, 1998 and seats 13,066 fans, serves as the home facility for the Class AAA Oklahoma Redhawks. The facility is hosting the 10th baseball championship in the league's 13-year tenure.
Oklahoma City and AT&T Bricktown Ballpark will host the Phillips 66 Baseball Championship through the 2011 season. The event has been contested in Oklahoma City 11 of the last 12 years (All Sports Stadium - 1997; Bricktown Ballpark - 1998-01, `03, `05-07).
Live game action and postgame press conferences from the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will be video streamed for free on the Big 12 Conference's official web site, www.big12sports.com, for the third year in a row. Audio from the web cast will also be broadcast on XM Radio (Channel 214), a Big 12 corporate partner.
Past postseason championship winners include Kansas (2006), Nebraska (1999-2001, `05), Oklahoma (1997), Oklahoma State (2004), Texas (2002-03, 2008), Texas A&M (2007) and Texas Tech (1998).
TICKETS ON SALE
Single-session tickets go on sale Monday, May 18 at 9:00 a.m. and range from: $44- club-level, $27 - field box, $20 - terrace reserved, $16 - field bleacher, and $13 - general admission.
All-session tickets are still available from: $232 - club-level, $127 - field box, and $92 - terrace reserved.
Tickets for the Big 12 Baseball Championship can be purchased by calling the Oklahoma City RedHawks Box Office at (405) 218-1000 or online at www.ticketreturn.com.
