Sooners Host Mavericks in Midweek Matchup

NORMAN – No. 9 OU (14-2) hosts UT Arlington (5-10) for a midweek matchup Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on SECN+ and heard on 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF with Chad McKee, Blake Brewster and Josh Helmer on the call.

The Sooners are coming off a three-game series sweep of Santa Clara in Norman last weekend. OU outscored the Broncos 18-7 over three games, including an 8-0 shutout win on Saturday.

Oklahoma made a three-spot jump in the ranks this week, moving into the top 10 at No. 9 in the D1Baseball Top 25 and ranking as high as No. 7 (Baseball America) across the five major polls.

On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 152-50 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.09 with 168 strikeouts to 53 walks. The Sooners started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in nine of 16 games.

FOR THE FANS

• Promotions at Kimrey Family Stadium Wednesday include $2 takeover where fans can purchase beer, soda and popcorn for $2 while supplies last.

• Season and single game tickets for the 2026 season are available now on SoonerSports.com/tickets. For more information about Oklahoma baseball tickets, contact the OU Athletics Ticket Office at 405-325-2424, by email at outickets@ou.edu or by visiting SoonerSports.com/tickets.

• Oklahoma Baseball officially opens the newly-named Kimrey Family Stadium this season after a Board of Regents resolution in the fall of 2025 approved the renaming of L. Dale Mitchell Park in honor of the Kimrey family and their transformational gift to the program. Also approved were numerous renovation projects, including updates to the outfield wall, batter's eye, bullpens, exterior fence and spectator areas beyond the outfield wall.

• Project 2 of the Kimrey Family Stadium Project has officially moved forward, featuring significant expansion and improvements to team facilities, seating bowl upgrades and fan enhancements, including new concessions, restrooms and a dedicated fan plaza.

RECAPPING SANTA CLARA SWEEP

• OU improved to 14-2 on the season and 10-2 at Kimrey Family Stadium with its three-game sweep of Santa Clara (5-9) last weekend in Norman.

• OU continued its streak of an extra-base hit in every game of the season with five in Sunday's win.

• On Sunday, the Sooners knocked multiple triples in a game for the first time since May 4, 2025, vs. Ole Miss. OU accomplished the feat three times last season.

• Jason Bodin struck out a career-best six and earned the win in relief on Sunday.

• Jackson Cleveland registered a pair of saves on Thursday and Sunday in the series, he has three saves on the season, all coming in each of his last three appearances.

• Saturday was highlighted by another impressive outing from OU starting RHP LJ Mercurius who struck out six on the day to run his season total up to 34 with just six walks. He had zero walks on Saturday.

• Saturday's shutout was OU's fourth of the season, eclipsing the three total the Sooners had a season ago.

• The OU pitching staff retired the final 10 Bronco batters of the day in order on saturday from the sixth through ninth innings.

• In a pitcher's duel in Thursday's game one, OU claimed its second win by one run on the season (2/25 vs. ASU)

• The two runs tied for the lowest scoring output in a game this season (3/3 vs. DBU)

• OU starting LHP Cameron Johnson struck out seven in his fourth start of the season. The lefty has struck out at least seven in every start.

• OU batters struck out a season-high 15 times Thursday night. SCU starter Max Bayles registered the most strikeouts for an opposing pitcher vs. the OU offense on the season with 10 K's.

HOT START

• Oklahoma made a loud statement on opening weekend with its Shriners Showdown sweep, highlighted by dominant pitching and a revamped lineup that put up 32 runs across the three Showdown games.

• The pitching staff had a combined 40 strikeouts through the first three games on Opening Weekend.

• The Sooners continued their stellar start in Norman at the newly-named Kimrey Family Stadium, sweeping a series over Coppin State by a combined score of 57-1 in 21 innings. OU won the opener 22-1 (7) before a 24-0 (7) victory Saturday and 11-0 (7) finale victory.

• OU split a midweek set with Big 12 foe Arizona State, Feb. 24-25, avenging its first loss of the season and in turn handing the Sun Devils their first loss of the year in the second game. Jaxon Willits was the hero with a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to give the Sooners a 4-3 win.

• The Sooners took a series over Gonzaga, Feb. 27-March 1, run-ruling the Zags in the first two contests before dropping the finale. LJ Mercurius was electric in Saturday's 11-1 (7 inn.) victory, throwing a complete-game one-hitter with nine strikeouts.

• Through 16 games OU is outscoring the opposition 152-50 (9.5 runs/game). The offense is batting .308 with 57 extra-base hits to opponents' 27.

• The OU pitching staff has 168 strikeouts to 53 walks in the early season.

• OU's weekend rotation of Cameron Johnson, LJ Mercurius and Cord Rager have combined for 88 strikeouts to 17 walks and 13 ER on the year.

• All seventeen Sooners that have made a plate appearance this season has registered a hit.

• Junior transfer Deiten Lachance paces the team with a .417 batting average, registering a hit in 14 of 15 games played. Eight Sooners that have started at least 10 games are batting over .300 (Lachance, Trey Gambill, Jaxon Willits, Brendan Brock, Camden Johnson, Alec Blair, Dasan Harris, Drew Dickerson). Brock leads OU with four home runs while Gambill has a trio of long balls. Nine Sooners have combined for 18 blasts.

• The Sooners have homered in 10 of 16 games.

• Camden Johnson paces the team and ranks ninth in the country with 14 stolen bags on 15 attempts. OU ranks fifth in the country with 49 on 54 attempts.

• Trey Gambill and Camden Johnson's four stolen bases each 2/22 vs. Coppin State were the most since a program-record five by Derek Wathan vs. Kansas State in 1996.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• After a clean sweep of Santa Clara last weekend, the Sooners vaulted into the top 10 as high as No. 7 in the Baseball America Top 25. D1Baseball put the Sooners at No. 9 Monday, while Perfect Game ranks the team ninth, NCBWA 11th and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll 11th.

• OU is 1-0 in ranked matchups following its takedown of then-No. 10 TCU on Opening Weekend. A season ago, OU went 11-15 in ranked matchups.

UP NEXT

• OU welcomes No. 22 Texas A&M this weekend, March 13-15, for SEC Opening Weekend and Military Appreciation Weekend at Kimrey Family Stadium.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma baseball, follow the Sooners on X and Instagram (@OU_Baseball) and like Oklahoma Baseball on Facebook.