OU Heads to Austin for Top-10 Red River Series

NORMAN – No. 8 OU (19-5, 4-2 SEC) heads to Austin for a Red River SEC series at No. 2 Texas (20-4, 4-2). Thursday's opener is slated for a 7 p.m. CT start, as well as Friday's game two before a 4 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.

All three games can be seen on SEC Network with Lowell Galindo and Keith Moreland calling the action. All games can be heard on the radio via 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF with Toby Rowland on the call.

THE BASICS

• The Sooners are coming off a series win over LSU in Baton Rouge last weekend, their second SEC series victory in as many weekends. After dropping the opener on Thursday, OU responded with consecutive wins on Friday and Saturday to take the series.

• RHP LJ Mercurius powered the Sooners to the Friday win, collecting his fifth victory of the season on the mound. On Saturday, OU trailed 3-1 entering the eighth and rattled off three runs to take the lead before stellar defense and bullpen pitching put LSU down in order in the eighth and ninth for the series clincher.

• Oklahoma held steady at No. 8 in this week's D1Baseball Top 25 and rank as high as No. 7 (Baseball America) across the five major polls.

• On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 192-93 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.54 with 248 strikeouts to 96 walks.

• The Sooners started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in 10 of 24 games.

• OU ranks in the top 25 nationally in a number of categories including walks (14th, 154), stolen bases (9th, 70), strikeouts per nine innings (18th, 11.1), WHIP (22nd, 1.23) and ERA (22nd, 3.54).

OPPONENT OUTLOOK

• The Sooners meet No. 2 Texas for the first Red River series in Austin as members of the Southeastern Conference.

• OU hosted the Longhorns back-to-back seasons in the teams' final year as members of the Big 12 and for the inaugural OU-Texas SEC series in 2025.

• The Longhorns took the series two games to one last season and have won two of the last three series over the Sooners.

• In 2023, the last meeting in Austin, OU swept the Horns, marking the first time the Sooners had swept Texas in Austin in program history.

• The Longhorns are led at the plate by outfielder Aiden Robbins, hitting .375 with nine home runs and 29 RBIs on the season. On the bump, sophomore All-American lefty Dylan Volantis has a 1.35 ERA and 44 strikeouts to 12 walks to go with a 3-0 record.

RECAPPING LSU SERIES WIN

• OU took its second SEC series in as many weekends last week in Baton Rouge, beating LSU in Baton Rouge for the first time since 1972 and winning a series at LSU for the first time in program history.

• OU dropped the opener 7-1 on Thursday behind a career night from LSU starter Casan Evans. The righty struck out 15 Sooners, the most for an opposing pitcher vs. OU since 2009. The Sooners failed to record an extra-base hit in the contest.

• The bright spot of the opener was OU freshman Xander Mercurius had a season-long outing of 5.0 IP after entering the contest with a high of 1.2 IP. His four strikeouts tied for a career best.

• The Sooners responded on Friday with a 4-2 win behind a seven-strikeout, four-hit performance from starting RHP LJ Mercurius to force Saturday's rubber match. The OU bullpen of Jason Bodin (1.1 IP), Kadyn Leon (1.1) and Jackson Cleveland (1.0) did not allow a run and combined for just three hits to go with six strikeouts.

• Saturday, down 3-1 entering the eighth, the Sooners rattled off three runs to take the lead and senior closer Jackson Cleveland put the Tigers down in order in the eighth and ninth to secure the win and series.

ON THE BUMP

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A season after losing his weekend rotation to the draft, including Friday night starter and first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon, OU head coach and pitching guru Skip Johnson's retooled staff is off to an exceptional start on the bump.

• OU's weekend rotation of RHP junior LJ Mercurius, LHP junior Cameron Johnson and LHP freshman Cord Rager have combined for 116 strikeouts to 39 walks and 31 ER on the year.

• UNLV transfer LJ Mercurius who was a part of the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team this past summer, has transitioned smoothly to Oklahoma in his starter role. Mercurius has been one of the best pitchers in the country to start 2026, holding a 1.87 ERA with 48 strikeouts that ranks in the top 20 in the country.

• In Mercurius' OU debut on opening weekend vs. Oklahoma State, the righty fanned a career-high tying 12 batters while allowing just one run on three hits.

• Mercurius' 5-1 record in six starts ranks fifth in the nation for victories and the righty has one complete game, a seven-inning one-hitter vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 28.

• Johnson, is 3-1 and has registered at least seven strikeouts in five of his six starts on the year and has two appearances with zero walks allowed.

• Sunday starter and freshman Cord Rager out of Maypearl, Texas, has 32 K's to 11 walks on the season with a 2-1 record.

• Along with the starting pitching, OU's bullpen has been stellar. Senior transfer Jackson Cleveland has taken on a closer role with four saves on the year to rank third in the SEC and top 25 in the country. The Miami transfer has 10 appearances and has struck out 14 in his 14.2 innings. Sophomore transfer Kadyn Leon has made 10 appearances and allowed two runs in 13.1 IP to go with 12 strikeouts.

• Junior Jason Bodin, who made 31 relief appearances in 2025 to rank second in the SEC, has made eight appearances in 2026 and ranks tied for second on the team with three victories (3-0). He has 20 strikeouts in 14.2 innings. He earned both wins in OU's series vs. Texas A&M.

• Seventeen arms have seen the mound for Coach Skip Johnson, with four pitchers outside the weekend rotation making at least one start.

• The staff's 3.54 team ERA ranks 22nd in the country. The group's 1.23 WHIP ranks 22nd in the nation.

• The OU arms have already registered four shutouts in 2026, eclipsing the three total the team had in 2025.

AT THE PLATE

• Through 24 games OU is outscoring the opposition 192-93 (8.0 runs/game). The offense is batting .292 with 80 extra-base hits to opponents' 48.

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

• Senior Trey Gambill paces OU with a .361 batting average. Four Sooners that have started at least 10 games are batting over .300 (Gambill, Camden Johnson, Jaxon Willits, Deiten Lachance). Junior Brendan Brock leads OU with six home runs while Gambill has four long balls. Ten Sooners have combined for 24 blasts.

• The Sooners have homered in 14 of 24 games.

• OU ranks third in the SEC with eight triples so far on the season, good for 24th in the country.

• The team started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in 10 of 24 games.

• Plate discipline has been key to the OU offense as the Sooners rank 14th in the country and fifth in the SEC in walks drawn with 154. Six Sooners have recorded 10-plus walks, led by Gambill's 21.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• After another SEC series win last weekend, the Sooners remained at No. 8 in this week's D1Baseball top 25 and are as high as No. 7 in the Baseball America poll. Perfect Game, NCBWA and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll all rank the team in the top 11 in the country.

• OU is 3-1 in ranked matchups following its two wins over top-25 Texas A&M and takedown of then-No. 10 TCU on Opening Weekend. A season ago, OU went 11-15 in ranked matchups.

UP NEXT

• After this weekend's series in Austin, OU heads to Tulsa for a midweek matchup at Oral Roberts on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.

• OU's next SEC opponent will be Alabama at Kimrey Family Stadium in Norman, April 2-4. It will be just the second trip the Crimson Tide has made to Norman in program history.

• 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.

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