Bradford's"proposed" Heisman statue. (Courtesy of nowpublic.net)

Tomorrow night, the Ft. Myers Miracle, a Class A-Advanced minor league affiliate of the Twins in Ft. Myers, Fla., will be hosting a very special evening filled with gimmicks.

In honor of the Saint Down South and the approaching college football season, Wednesday night will be WWTTD, or “What Would Tim Tebow Do?” night.

I would like to shake the hand of the mastermind behind all the different promotions filling the evening.

The highlights:

- A local resident also named Tim Tebow will attempt to walk on some water. (No word on whether he’s filed paperwork for a name change in the past three years.)

- A Southwest Florida faith healer will be on hand to cure all illness or batting slumps.

- Promise rings will be handed out to all fans in attendance.

- The Miracle manager will make most of his in-game decisions with the thought process of, “What Would Tim Tebow Do?”

- The first pitch will be a jump pass.

- Tebow’s now-engraved speech titled “The Promise” will be played over the PA system numerous times throughout the night.

- Miracle gameday staff will resolve any problems by simply asking “What Would Tim Tebow Do?”

- Since Tim Tebow is perfect, (their words, not mine) the Miracle will be, too. If the Miracle commit an error on Wednesday, every fan in attendance receives a free ticket to the game on Sunday.

Gatorade will also be discounted (of course) and anyone wearing college gear can register for a chance to win tickets to the Florida-Arkansas game in Gainesville.

So again, I say…”Your move, RedHawks.”

Of course, Sam Bradford doesn’t have anywhere near the pop culture canon Tebow does, but I’m sure they could come up with plenty of good stuff.

What promotions would you like to see for “Sam Bradford Night” at Bricktown Ballpark?

OSU’s Andrew Oliver (5-2, 214 ERA) vs. OU’s C.J. Blue (6-2, 4.50 ERA).

The Sooners are saving Ryan Duke (6-4, 3.28 ERA), who has been their best pitcher of late, for Sunday. That’s probably the smart move.

OSU’s pitching on the first two days with Oliver and Saturday starter Tyler Lyons (9-2, 3.39 ERA) has been tough. But on Sundays, the Cowboys have struggled some on the mound, bouncing back between starters Matt Gardner and Tyler Blandford.

Oklahoma has had at least two honorees on the academic all-conference team since 1993.

Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the baseball academic all-league team consisted of 46 first team members combined with 16 on the second team. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters. All players nominated must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contests, while pitchers are required to have at least one inning pitched per game played by the team or have appeared in 20 percent of their team’s total games. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

Both teams traded off 2 RBI singles in the first inning, leaving the score 2-2 heading into the second. Sooner starter Antwonie Hubbard, who shut down TCU last week, showed some control issues in the first inning, walking two batters, who both scored.

The Sooners (28-17-1 overall, 6-11-1 Big 12) will host No. 8 Wichita State (33-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The game will be televised live by Metro Sports Communications and can be seen on Cox Ch. 7.

If OU wants to retain any outside shot of making an NCAA regional, this game is a must-win.

One day after smoking TCU 11-6, the Sooner baseball team had their most embarrasing loss of the season at the hands of Southern Nazarene on Wed. at home, striking down any momentum OU had built up after beating TCU and Mizzou 22-4 on Sunday.

OU was down 8-1 late in the game before making a mild rally.

Where do the Sooners go from here?

Well, they should set their sights on making the Big 12 Tournament, which will be no easy feat.

OU has to win 2 of the 3 series, at Texas Tech and at home against Kansas and Kansas State. Those series are winnable — Tech, KU and KSU are 10th, 8th and 7th in the league — but with as erratic as OU’s pitching has been, who knows what will happen?

If the Sooners continue to stumble, they are currently ninth in the Big 12 standings, they will risk missing the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since the league began in 1997.

 Taking 2 of 3 on the road at Tech this weekend would put the Sooners back on track.

I saw Michael Rocha pitch a couple of times in high school.  He seemed like a good kid when I spoke with him and he has a lot of ability, too. If he can pitch half as well as he did against Tennessee, OU could do some damage in the Big 12 with its rotation of Stephen Porlier as the ace and Rocha as the No. 2 or 3 starter.

Here’s the release from the Big 12…

IRVING, Texas—Rebel Ridling (Oklahoma State) has been named
Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Player of the Week while Michael Rocha (Oklahoma) has earned the Pitcher of the Week accolade for games of Feb. 25 – March 2 in voting by a panel of media covering the conference. It is the second career weekly award for Ridling and the first for Rocha.   

PLAYER OF THE WEEK Rebel Ridling,Oklahoma State, 1B, Sr., 6-3, 230, Sentinel, Okla./Midland JC Ridling led the Cowboys to a 3-1 record against
South Florida and Northwestern last week.  He posted a .500 batting average (10-for-20) in
Tampa while pacing OSU with three home runs and 11 RBI.  The senior first baseman also scored six runs and had a pair of doubles with a 1.050 slugging percentage.   On Saturday, Ridling hit two home runs and tallied five RBI against Northwestern.  His two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning sent the game into extra innings.  In the game one victory over the Wildcats on Friday, Ridling went 3-for-4 with two RBI.   

In Sunday’s win at USF, Ridling posted a 4-for-6 outing with two doubles and three RBI.  His four-hit performance tied a career high.   On the weekend, Ridling had at least one hit and one RBI in each of the four games to help OSU improve to 7-1 on the season.  PITCHER OF THE WEEK Michael Rocha, Oklahoma, RHP, Fr., 5-11, 190, Buda, Texas/Hays

Rocha recorded a 1-0 mark in two appearances last week, without allowing any runs.  He also struck out nine batters in nine innings pitched.  Against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Rocha posted two strikeouts and a hit in one inning pitched.  The freshman then made his second start of the year against
Tennessee on Sunday, and tossed eight scoreless innings of two-hit ball.  The Buda,
Texas native retired the first 12 batters he faced and only three batters over the minimum in the victory (2-0).  He struck out seven Volunteers and did not walk a batter.    Rocha leads the Sooners with 14 strikeouts and 14 innings pitched in three appearances, including two starts, with a 1.29 ERA.

The Sooners will host 29 games at L. Dale Mitchell Park this season with the home opener slated for Tuesday, Feb. 26 against Arkansas Pine Bluff at 3 p.m.

In addition to the Golden Lions, OU will also host North Dakota State, Western Illinois, Washington State, UT-Arlington, Dallas Baptist, TCU and Wichita State.

In Big 12 action, the Sooners will entertain Baylor (March 28-30), Texas (April 4-6), Missouri (April 18-20) and Kansas State (May 9-11). The Tigers (No. 6), Bears (No. 15) and Longhorns (No. 16) were all recently ranked in the top 20 by Baseball America.

Reserved season tickets are available for $130 and general admission season tickets are available for $90. Discounted general admission season tickets are available to OU faculty/staff and senior citizens for $80. Single game ticket prices are $10 for reserved seats and $7 for general admission. Youth and senior citizens single game general admission tickets are $5.00.

Single game tickets will go on sale in mid-February.