Baseball Welcomes Santa Clara for Four-Game Set

Thursday, March 5

6:30 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Santa Clara

Tickets From $10 - $15

Baseball Welcomes Santa Clara for Four-Game Set

March 04, 2026 | Baseball

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NORMAN – No. 12 OU (11-2) hosts Santa Clara (5-6) for a four-game series starting Thursday in Norman. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT Thursday and Friday before a 2 o'clock start on Saturday and 1 p.m. finale Sunday.

The series can be seen on SECN+ and heard on 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF with Chad McKee, Josh Helmer and Rich Hills calling the action.

The Sooners are coming off a midweek win over Dallas Baptist and series win vs. Gonzaga at Kimrey Family Stadium last weekend. OU's win over DBU Tuesday was the first over the Patriots since 2023 and the 2-0 shutout was OU's first vs. DBU since 2010

Oklahoma made a one-spot jump in the ranks this week, moving to No. 12 in the D1Baseball Top 25 and ranking as high as No. 10 (Baseball America) across the five major polls. OU's national attention comes after a dominant start to the season, including an opening weekend that saw the team take the crown at the Shriners Children's College Baseball Showdown, beating Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and No. 10 TCU to win the tournament, outscoring the opposition 32-6.

On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 134-43 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.38 with 132 strikeouts to 48 walks. The Sooners started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in nine of 13 games.

FOR THE FANS

• Promotions at Kimrey Family Stadium this weekend include: Youth Weekend, Happy Hour on Friday with $4 16oz. beer from gates opening until first pitch, and Sunday four-pack where families can get four tickets, four hot dogs, four sodas and a popcorn starting at $50.

• 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 DBU MIDWEEK WIN

• The Sooners shut out frequent midweek foe Dallas Baptist, 2-0, Tuesday night at Kimrey Family Stadium.

• OU used eight pitchers on the night and held the DBU offense scoreless for the first time this season. Junior Deiten Lachance provided the two RBIs for the Sooners via single and sacrifice fly.

• OU pulled ahead in the bottom of the third on the Lachance RBI single after a walk to Kyle Branch and Camden Johnson single put runners on. To the eighth inning, Lachance provided an insurance run for the Sooners, lifting a sacrifice fly to center allowing Dasan Harris to race home after his leadoff single.

• The eight OU pitchers, Jaden Barfield (1.0 IP), Isaac Williams (1.0), Xander Mercurius (1.0), Reid Hensley (1.0), Michael Catalano (2.0), Gavyn Jones (1.0), Jason Bodin (1.0) and Jackson Cleveland (1.0), combined for 11 strikeouts and allowed DBU just three hits.

• It was a season low in hits (3) and tied for DBU's most K's (11) in a game this year for the Patriots, who had no extra-base hits on the night.

• It was OU's first win over the Patriots since 2023 and the shutout was OU's first vs. DBU since 2010.

• The shutout was OU's third of the season.

• It was the seventh time the OU pitching staff has fanned 10-plus on the season.

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 last week, avenging its first loss of the season and in turn handing the Sun Devils their first loss of the year on Wednesday. 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 last weekend, 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 13 games OU is outscoring the opposition 134-43 (10.3 runs/game). The offense is batting .313 with 47 extra-base hits to opponents' 23.

• The OU pitching staff has 132 strikeouts to 48 walks in the early season.

• OU's weekend rotation of Cameron Johnson, LJ Mercurius and Cord Rager have combined for 72 strikeouts to 13 walks and 9 ER on the year.

• Sixteen Sooners have registered a hit in the early season of 17 that has had a plate appearance.

• Juniors Camden Johnson and Deiten Lachance pace the team with identical .359 batting averages. Six Sooner starters (Trey Gambill, Brendan Brock, Lachance, Johnson, Nolan Stevens, Jaxon Willits) are batting over .300. 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 13 games.

• Camden Johnson paces the team and ranks third in the country with 12 stolen bags on 13 attempts. OU ranks fifth in the country with 40 on 45 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 another impressive weekend, the Sooners moved up in the polls as high as No. 10 in the Baseball America Top 25. D1Baseball put the Sooners at No. 12 Monday, while Perfect Game ranks the team 13th, NCBWA 14th and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll 14th.

• 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 meets UT Arlington next Tuesday in Norman with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. CT before welcoming Texas A&M next weekend, March 13-15, for SEC Opening 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.