MCWS Championship Series Begins Saturday

Saturday, June 25

Omaha, Neb.

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Ole Miss

Tickets

Photo by: Ty Russell

MCWS Championship Series Begins Saturday

June 24, 2022 | Baseball

MCWS Central Watch Listen Live Stats #LaunchPad

Oklahoma

Ole Miss

NCAA Men's College World Series / June 25-27 / Omaha, Neb. / Charles Schwab Field Omaha

ESPN | Radio | Live Stats | Game Notes | Twitter

Matchups
Game Time	OU Projected Starters	OM Projected Starters
Saturday, 6 p.m. CT	LHP Jake Bennett	RHP Jack Dougherty
Sunday, 2 p.m. CT	RHP Cade Horton	LHP Hunter Elliott
Monday, 6 p.m. CT (if necessary)	TBA	TBA

First Pitch

• Oklahoma (45-22, 15-9 Big 12) goes for the program's third national championship when it faces Ole Miss (40-23, 14-16 SEC) in the 2022 NCAA Men's College World Series Championship Series this weekend at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb. Game times are 6 p.m. CT Saturday, 2 p.m. CT Sunday and 6 p.m. CT Monday (if necessary).
• Oklahoma is playing in an MCWS Championship Series for the first time, but is playing in an MCWS final for the third time. The Sooners won winner-take-all finals in 1951 vs. Tennessee (won 3-2) and in 1994 vs. Georgia Tech (won 13-5).
• The Sooners are making their 11th Men's College World Series appearance, and first since 2010. The Sooners are 18-16 all-time in MCWS games. The Rebels are playing in their sixth Men's College World Series, and first since 2014. This is Ole Miss' first appearance in an MCWS final.
• This is Oklahoma's 39th NCAA postseason appearance, and second under head coach Skip Johnson. The Sooners, which reached the postseason in Johnson's first season at the helm in 2018, are 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament under the fifth-year skipper.

Watch/Listen/Follow

• The games will be televised on ESPN with Karl Ravech (play-by-play), Chris Burke and Kyle Peterson (analysts) and Kris Budden (reporter) calling the action.
• The games will be broadcast on the Sooner Radio Network (locally on Sportstalk 99.3 FM/1400 AM KREF, Sportstalk1400.com and the Varsity Network app anywhere), with Toby Rowland and Taylor Maples on the radio call.
• Live stats will be available at NCAA.com.

Leading Off

• Oklahoma is making its 39th appearance in an NCAA postseason, and first since 2018. The Sooners are 94-78 all-time in NCAA tournament games, have appeared in 11 College World Series and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
• Since the start of the Big 12 Championship on May 24, Oklahoma has four or fewer runs in 10 of its 13 games and compiled a 3.77 team ERA. The Sooners allowed four or fewer runs in six straight games from the start of the Big 12 Championship through the first two games of the Gainesville Regional. That was the longest streak of the season, and the next closest streak was five games, from Feb. 20-27. OU has now allowed four or fewer runs in six of its last seven contests.
• The Sooners have won 12 of their last 14 games and 18 of their last 23, and are 27-10 since April 12. OU concluded its Big 12 regular season slate by winning five straight series, won all four Big 12 Championship contests, and went 3-1 in the Gainesville Regional and 2-1 in the Blacksburg Super Regional. OU has won at least two games for 10 straight weekends.
• OU's last home game at L. Dale Mitchell Park was May 15. Since then, the Sooners have posted a 15-4 record while playing six straight weeks away from home (including the MCWS championship series).
• Oklahoma is hitting .297 as a team and averaging 7.7 runs, 10.0 hits and 3.3 extra base hits per game (135 doubles, 73 home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 5.33 ERA, 619 strikeouts to 234 walks and 637 hits in 597.1 innings and has allowed a .272 opponent batting average.
• Ole Miss is hitting .277 as a team. The Rebels average 7.4 runs, 9.3 hits and 3.7 extra base hits per game (118 doubles, 103 home runs). The pitching staff has compiled a 4.27 ERA, 656 strikeouts to 226 walks and 502 hits in 546.1 innings and has allowed a .239 opponent batting average.
• Oklahoma has drawn 170 more free passes this season than its opponents. OU batters have registered 370 walks and been hit by a pitch 95 times this season, totaling 465 free passes. The Sooners have allowed 234 walks and 61 hit batters (295 free passes). Ole Miss has drawn 72 more free bases than their opponents.
• The Sooners have registered at least 40 victories for the 24th time in program history, and first since 2013 (43-21 record). The most wins most prior to that season was in 2010 (50-18 record, College World Series appearance).
• The OU pitching staff has registered a school record 619 strikeouts this season. The previous record was 608 strikeouts in 2018.
• OU's 145 stolen bases are the most in a season since the 1989 team registered 168 stolen bases.
• Oklahoma's 73 home runs this season are the most since OU's 2010 College World Series team hit 105 homers.
• Tanner Tredaway and Peyton Graham each carry 17 game hitting streaks into the MCWS Championship Series.
• Tredaway ranks second in school history with his 105 hits this season (record is 118, set in 1986 by Kevin Burdick). Blake Robertson's 68 walks this season tie the school record set by Terry Bogener in 1976.
• Oklahoma is in its fifth season under the direction of head coach Skip Johnson (including the 2020 season that was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 157-102 record since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

How They Got Here

• Oklahoma reached the 2022 MCWS by winning the Gainesville Regional and the Blacksburg Super Regional with a combined 5-2 record. The Sooners defeated both host schools (Florida and Virginia Tech) in two out of three meetings after winning their postseason opener against Liberty.
• The Sooners went 3-0 in MCWS bracket play, defeating Texas A&M on Friday (13-8), Notre Dame on Sunday (6-2) and Texas A&M on Wednesday (5-1).
• Ole Miss reached the MCWS by winning the Coral Gables Regional (over Miami and Arizona) and the Hattiesburg Super Regional over Southern Miss with a combined 5-0 record.
• The Rebels went 3-1 in MCWS bracket play, defeating Auburn on Saturday (5-1) and Arkansas on Monday (13-5), before splitting two more contests against the Razorbacks (a 3-2 loss on Wednesday and a 2-0 win on Thursday).

Series History

• Ole Miss leads the all-time series against Oklahoma 4-2. This will be the first netural-site meeting between the programs.
• The teams last met in the 2005 Oxford Regional. The Rebels won both meetings in that regional, and also won a single game in Oxford during the 1995 season.
• The Sooners and Rebels split a two-game set against Ole Miss in Norman during the 1994 season. OM won the first meeting in 1992, played in Norman.

Oklahoma NCAA Postseason History

• This is Oklahoma's 39th NCAA Tournament appearance and 13th since 2000. The Sooners are 94-78 all-time in the NCAA postseason, and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
• The Sooners are making their third appearance in a Men's College World Series final. Oklahoma won the previous two, which were winner-take-all finals, in 1951 (3-2 over Tennessee) and 1994 (13-5 over Georgia Tech). This is OU's first appearance in the best-of-three final series, which began in 2003.
• Oklahoma has won 14 regionals, appeared in five Super Regionals (including 2022) and has advanced to the College World Series 11 times (1951, '72, '73, '74, '75, '76, '92, '94, '95, 2010 and '22).
• The Sooners are making their 11th appearance in a Men's College World Series, and first since 2010. The Sooners reached the MCWS in 1992, '94 and '95, in five straight years from 1972 through '76 and in 1951.
• Prior to this season, the Sooners last won a regional in 2013 at Blacksburg, Va. OU won three regionals in four seasons (2010, '12 and '13), winning the 2010 Norman Regional and the 2012 and '13 regionals on the road.

Recapping OU's MCWS Bracket Play

• Oklahoma defeated Texas A&M 13-8 in the MCWS opener on Friday. Jimmy Crooks hit a three-run home run to cap a seven-run second inning and Jackson Nicklaus hit a grand slam. The Sooners tied a program record for runs in a College World Series game, matching the 13 scored in the 1994 national championship game. The 21 combined runs were the most in an MCWS contest at Charles Schwab Field.
• Nicklaus' grand slam was his 11th home run of the season and OU's first-ever grand slam in a CWS game. He became the first Sooner to notch four RBIs in an MCWS contest. Tanner Tredaway went 3 for 6 with an RBI and two runs and John Spikerman went 2 for 4 with two walks, an RBI and two runs scored.
• Jake Bennett went 6.0 innings and earned his sixth straight victory in a start.
• The Sooners defeated Notre Dame 6-2 in a winner's bracket game on Sunday. Cade Horton registered a career-high 11 strikeouts and Peyton Graham and Tredaway combined for seven of Oklahoma's 12 hits.Graham went 4 for 4 with a walk and scored a run and Tredaway was 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs. Wallace Clark drove in two runs, including one on a squeeze bunt that brought home another run on an error in the fifth inning.
• In the bracket final on Wednesday, Oklahoma topped Texas A&M 5-1 behind an excellent start from David Sandlin and a first-inning three-run home run by Jimmy Crooks.
• Sandlin notched a career-high 12 strikeouts and allowed just one run on five hits and a walk in 7.0 innings. He struck out the side in the first inning, punched out three straight batters to strand two runners in the fourth inning, and followed A&M's solo home run by retiring the next three batters.
• Graham and Tredaway each extended their hitting streaks to 17 games. Graham doubled in the third inning and scored on an RBI groundout by Blake Robertson. Tredaway hit a two-out single in the fifth inning that brought home Spikerman to give OU a 5-0 lead.
• Trevin Michael pitched 2.2 innings in the opener vs. the Aggies, then closed out the following two games with 2.0-inning stints. He has struck out five and allowed four hits over 6.2 scoreless MCWS innings.

Season Turning Second Half

• Oklahoma is 27-10 since April 12, when it carried an 18-12 record into a non-conference midweek game against Texas Tech in Amarillo, Texas. Beginning with that Tuesday night, the offense has blossomed. OU is batting .309 and averaging 9.0 runs and 10.8 hits per game. The Sooners have also registered 54 home runs, 80 doubles and 221 walks over their last 37 contests.
• The Sooners enter the 2022 NCAA Men's College World Series Championship Series with a 13-2 record since the end of the regular season.
• Oklahoma has won at least two games in each of its last 10 weekends of play, dating to the April 14-16 non-conference set against Pacific and Lamar (including the MCWS). OU's last series loss was April 8-10 at Oklahoma State. Included are a road series sweep at Kansas, road series victories at TCU and Texas Tech, as well as the Regional and Super Regional wins at Florida and Virginia Tech.
• The Sooners scored at least 40 runs in three of their final five Big 12 series (46 vs. Kansas, 43 vs. Kansas State and 40 vs. West Virginia) and in the other two, scored 23 runs (at TCU) and 24 runs (at Texas Tech). OU scored 28 runs during its non-conference weekend against Pacific and Lamar, winning six straight weekends to end the regular season, and put up 32 runs in four games during the Gainesville Regional.
• Oklahoma, which tied for second place in the Big 12 conference standings, posted an aggregate 21-9 record against Big 12 opponents this season. OU is ranked 19th in the RPI and went 18-12 against the top 50 teams in the RPI rankings, which was the third-most top-50 wins nationally, behind only Tennessee and North Carolina (20 wins each).
• Oklahoma's overall strength of schedule was ranked 14th in the country when the NCAA Baseball Championship bracket was announced on May 30. That was the highest strength of schedule ranking among Big 12 schools, and three spots higher than next highest program (Oklahoma State, 17th).

#LaunchPad

• The #LaunchPad is back for 2022. For the second straight year, pledged donations to a customized dollar amount for every homer that OU baseball hits in 2022 will go towards the the stadium renovation project. For more information, visit TheSoonerClub.com/LaunchPad.
• All donations from the Pledge Per Home Run Campaign will be treated as charitable donations supporting either the OU Softball Stadium Project or the OU Baseball Stadium Renovation Project and are tax-deductible.

Noting the Sooners

• Redshirt sophomore first baseman Blake Robertson is tied for the national lead in walks (68) and is third nationally in walks per game (1.02). His 24 doubles rank 12th nationally and second in the Big 12. Peyton Graham leads the Big 12 and ranks 47th nationally by averaging 1.14 runs scored per game, and his 73 total runs scored rank second in the Big 12 and 14th in the nation. Graham's 20 home runs rank 32nd nationally and second in the Big 12.
• Since May 13 (20 games), Kendall Pettis has batted .355 (22 for 62) with two doubles, three home runs, 16 RBIs and 21 runs scored. He hit his third and fourth home runs of the season (has six career) in the Gainesville Regional before hitting his fifth of the year in Blacksburg. He has drawn 11 walks, been hit by a pitch six times, stolen six bases and registered a .488 on-base percentage. Pettis was named Most Valuable Player of the NCAA Gainesville Regional.
• Jimmy Crooks has thrown out 19 of 63 potential base stealers this season, and threw out 11 of 34 runners in Big 12 conference play. Since April 23, Crooks has thrown out 12 of 21 runners stealing. He threw out three runners stealing in four attempts in the regular season series vs. West Virginia, which ranks second nationally in stolen bases. Crooks has reached base in 21 consecutive games.
• Robertson has reached base in 63 of his 66 games played this season. He did not reach base during the second game of a March 13 doubleheader vs. UTSA (which preceded his 35-game reached base streak), but drove in two runs. He did not reach base vs. Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament, but was credited with a sacrifice bunt. In other words, Robertson has had at least one productive plate appearance in all but one game this season (each of the first 49 contests and the 16 since May 16). He reached base in 35 consecutive games from March 15 through May 15.
• Jake Bennett has lasted at least 6.0 innings in 12 of his 18 starts and in five of his last six starts, and has allowed three or fewer runs in 12 of 18 starts this season.
• Wallace Clark has reached base in 30 of his last 34 games, and in 36 of the 46 games in which he has appeared this season. The true freshman third baseman from Tulsa, Okla., led the Sooners in batting in Big 12 conference play with a .377 average and is hitting .267 for the season.
• OU is 30-8 this season when scoring at least seven runs. Over the first 10 games of the season, Oklahoma scored a total of 35 runs (average of 3.5 per game) and did not score more than six runs in any game. Since then, the Sooners have scored 480 runs over 57 games (8.4 per game). OU has scored at least seven runs in 38 of those 57 games, and has posted a 40-17 record in that span.

Base Snatchers

• The Sooners have registered 145 stolen bases in 188 attempts during the 2022 season. OU surpassed its total from all of last year (46 steals) in the 18th game of this season.
• This is the first time an Oklahoma team has collected at least 100 stolen bases since 1996 (104) and the current total of 145 steals is the most since the 1989 season (168). This is the 13th time since 1962 that an OU team has totaled at least 100 stolen bases in a single season. The school record for steals is 192, set in 1975.
• Oklahoma ranks fourth nationally in stolen bases (145) and 12th steals per game (2.20). Both figures rank second among Big 12 schools, only to West Virginia's 156 steals and average of 2.84 steals per game.
• Peyton Graham leads OU with 34 stolen bases, while Tanner Tredaway has 24 steals, Kendall Pettis has 22, Blake Robertson has 12 steals, John Spikerman has 12 steals (in 32 games) and catcher Jimmy Crooks has 10 steals. A total of 14 players have recorded at least one stolen base this season.
• Graham's 34 steals are the most by a single player since current OU volunteer assistant coach Reggie Willits had 37 steals in 2003.
• This is the first time six Sooners have recorded double digit steals in the same season since 1989. The last time three players notched at least 20 stolen bases was 1994. The 1989 group with double-digit steals included: Kevin Castleberry (43 steals), Paul Oster (25 steals), John Douglas (22 steals), Mark Colc (19 steals), Darron Cox (19 steals) and Chris Ebright (14 steals).
• Oklahoma has registered at least 10 steals in a game twice this season. OU collected 11 steals against Wichita State on Feb. 22 (one shy of the school record set against East Central [Okla.] University in 1937), and stole 10 bases on April 16 against Pacific.
• On six occasions this season, a player has stolen three bases in a game. Three players — Graham, Pettis and Tredaway — each stole three bases in the Feb. 22 game vs. Wichita State. Tredaway has three games this season with three stolen bases (also May 6 at TCU and May 20 at Texas Tech). Graham notched three steals vs. Texas on April 2. Prior to Feb. 22, no single Sooner had stolen three bases in a game since Erik Ross against Hartford in 2012.

2023 OU Baseball Tickets

• The OU Athletics Ticket Office is accepting deposits on 2023 Oklahoma baseball season tickets now. Click here to get in on the excitement now and place a deposit on 2023 season tickets.