Sooners Meet Cowboys in Tulsa for Bedlam Tuesday

Tuesday, April 14

Tulsa, OK

7 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

Oklahoma State

Sooners Meet Cowboys in Tulsa for Bedlam Tuesday

April 14, 2026 | Baseball

Watch Listen Game Notes

NORMAN – No. 14 OU (24-11) meets Oklahoma State (22-14) in Tulsa Tuesday night for the second and final installment of Bedlam in 2026.

The game is slated for a 7 p.m. CT start at ONEOK Field and can be seen via SECN+ with Toby Rowland on the call. The game can be heard on 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF. Tickets are available via MiLB.com/tickets.

THE BASICS

• The Sooners enter the contest at 24-11 following a series win at Vanderbilt last weekend. OU's offense surged for 24 runs on 31 hits, including 15 extra-base knocks and five home runs.

• In the first Bedlam meeting this season at Globe Life Field on opening weekend, the Sooners beat the Pokes 10-1 at the Shriners College Showdown. OU starting pitcher LJ Mercurius had 12 strikeouts and the Sooner bats put up 10 runs on 12 hits, highlighted by a three-run blast from Trey Gambill.

• Oklahoma is ranked at No. 14 in this week's D1Baseball Top 25 and rank in the top 25 in four of five major polls, holding their highest ranking (No. 11) in the Baseball America poll.

• On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 249-160 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 4.36 with 365 strikeouts to 150 walks.

• The Sooners started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in 11 games.

• OU ranks in the top 30 nationally in a number of categories including hits allowed per nine innings (6th, 7.15), strikeouts per nine innings (14th, 11.1), WHIP (27th, 1.30), stolen bases (23rd, 86) and fielding percentage (30th, .978).

• Probable Pitching Matchups: OU RHP Michael Catalano (3-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. OSU LHP TP Wentworth (1-0, 5.19 ERA)

OPPONENT OUTLOOK

• The Sooners and Cowboys have met nearly 400 times on the diamond dating back to the early 1900s. OSU holds the all-time record 204-183.

• OU has won three of the last five meetings vs. the Pokes, including each of the last two games. On opening weekend this year, the Sooners raced past OSU by a final of 10-1 in Arlington.

• In the opening weekend matchup, the OU debut of RHP LJ Mercurius stole the show as the transfer went 5.1 innings and struck out a then-career high 12 batters, allowing just one run on three hits and two walks.

• In the teams' lone meeting in 2025, OU run-ruled OSU in Stillwater, 11-1 in eight innings. The game was highlighted by a Jason Walk grand slam.

• Tuesday's game will be the first meeting in Tulsa since a 7-6 OU win in 2022. It will be the 35th meeting between the schools in Tulsa dating back to 1991 with OSU holding a 20-14 advantage.

ON THE BUMP

• OU's weekend rotation of RHP junior LJ Mercurius, LHP junior Cameron Johnson and LHP freshman Cord Rager have combined for 150 strikeouts to 56 walks and 56 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, holding a 4.98 ERA with a team-high 62 strikeouts.

• 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 is 5-4 on the year and the righty has one complete game, a seven-inning one-hitter vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 28.

• Johnson is 4-1 and has registered at least seven strikeouts in six of his nine starts on the year and has two appearances with zero walks allowed. The lefty has 53 strikeouts.

• Sunday starter and freshman Cord Rager out of Maypearl, Texas, has 35 K's to 13 walks on the season with a 2-1 record.

• Along with the starting pitching, OU's bullpen has been impactful. Senior transfer Jackson Cleveland has taken on a closer role with six saves on the year to tie for the most in the SEC. The Miami transfer has 14 appearances and has struck out 19 in his 21.2 innings. Sophomore transfer Kadyn Leon has made 15 appearances and one start and allowed eight runs in 21.0 IP to go with 23 strikeouts.

• Junior Jason Bodin, who made 31 relief appearances in 2025 to rank second in the SEC, has made 13 appearances in 2026 and ranks tied for third on the team with three victories (3-1). He has 27 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.

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

• The staff's 4.36 team ERA ranks 41st in the country. The group's 1.30 WHIP ranks 27th in the nation.

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

AT THE PLATE

• Through 35 games OU is outscoring the opposition 249-160 (7.1 runs/game). The offense is batting .282 with 116 extra-base hits to opponents' 77.

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

• Senior Trey Gambill paces the starters with a .337 batting average, while two other Sooners, Jaxon Willits and Brendan Brock, are batting over .300. Brock leads OU with eight home runs while Gambill and Camden Johnson each have five long balls. Twelve Sooners have combined for 35 blasts.

• The Sooners have homered in 20 of 35 games.

• OU ranks third in the SEC with nine triples on the season.

• The team started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in 11 games.

• Plate discipline has been key to the OU offense as the Sooners rank 41st in the country and eighth in the SEC in walks drawn with 194. Five Sooners have recorded 20-plus walks, led by Gambill's 29.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners come in at No. 14 in this week's D1Baseball top 25 and rank in the top 25 in four of five major polls (D1, Baseball America, NCBWA and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll). OU holds its highest ranking (No. 11) in the Baseball America poll.

• OU is 4-6 in ranked matchups in 2026 with two wins over top-25 Texas A&M, one over No. 16 Alabama and takedown of then-No. 10 TCU on Opening Weekend. A season ago, OU went 11-15 in ranked matchups.

LAST TIME OUT IN SEC PLAY

• OU took the series at Vanderbilt last weekend in Nashville, winning two of three over the Commodores. It was OU's first wins over Vandy in Nashville in program history.

• After dropping the series opener 10-5 despite a career-high 13 strikeouts from starter LJ Mercurius, the Sooners turned around to take two straight and win the series. OU won a wild 13-11 game two highlighted by a pair of home runs from Camden Johnson and two grand slams in the game. In Saturday's rubber match, OU's bullpen held down the Vanderbilt offense and the Sooner bats came up clutch in a 6-5 win. Jason Walk hit his first home run of the season to give OU an early lead.

• The Sooners moved to 3-2 in SEC series on the year with two of the three wins coming on the road.

• OU moved to 6-3 in one-run games this season with the 6-5 Saturday victory.

• Camden Johnson had a career game on Friday, hitting two home runs to go with seven RBIs. It was the junior's first career multi-home run game and first career grand slam. His career-best seven RBIs were the most by a Sooner since 2024.

• OU's two grand slams in game two (Camden Johnson, Deiten Lachance) marked the first time OU has accomplished the feat since 2022.

• Deiten Lachance hit his first home run of the season on Thursday and followed it up with his second blast in Friday's game two.

UP NEXT

• The Sooners meet Missouri in Norman this weekend, April 17-19, for the second meeting vs. the Tigers since OU joined the league a season ago. Last year in Columbia, OU swept Mizzou.

• The series can be seen via SECN+ and heard on the radio via The REF 99.3/1400 AM.

• Season and single game tickets for the 2026 season at Kimrey Family Stadium 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.

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