“We’ve got to have him on the weekend,” OU coach Sunny Golloway said after plotting the pitching options for the week.

The Sooners open a three-game series at Kansas Friday and Big 12 Conference games carry more importance.

Too bad for Mottern.

He and senior infielder Jarod Freeman are the only players still on the roster who were around when Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson accepted the OU job, then resigned the same day in the summer of 2005.

“A lot of people weren’t here when that situation happened. I was,” Mottern said. “It was unfortunate and, in a way, made you really upset. It was a bad situation.”

So, when OU takes the field for its final mid-week game of the season tonight and the first-year players see the ballpark has a few more fans than usual, there’s a good chance they’ll ask Mottern what all the hubbub is about.

The elders always have the answers.

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com