OU Opens CWS Saturday vs. Alabama

OMAHA, Neb. – Oklahoma makes its twelfth CWS appearance in program history and second in the last five years this weekend in Omaha, Neb., at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

OU (38-22) opens play Saturday against fellow SEC foe and No. 7 national seed Alabama (42-19). The game is set for a 2 p.m. CT first pitch and will be broadcast on ESPN. Mike Monaco, Eduardo Perez, Ben McDonald and Taylor McGregor will be on the call.

All games can be heard on the radio via The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM and 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and on The Varsity Network app with Toby Rowland and Carly Murray on the call.

THE BASICS

• Oklahoma heads to Omaha at 38-22 after winning the Lawrence Super Regional and Atlanta Regional, defeating the No. 15 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed Georgia Tech on their home fields.

• OU's postseason run has been propelled by an offensive explosion—a team batting average of .350, 18 home runs, 27 extra-base hits and 70 runs scored across seven games. Pitching has been equally impressive with a team ERA of 3.86 and 62 strikeouts and has not allowed an opponent to score double-digit runs throughout the postseason.

• OU cruised through the Lawrence Super Regional, outscoring the Jayhawks 21-3. OU's power surge continued, hitting seven home runs led by a pair from Dayton Tockey and Trey Gambill. The Sooner pitching staff was exceptional, allowing the Jayhawks just three runs on eight hits to go with 17 strikeouts and five walks.

• The Sooners powered themselves to the Atlanta Regional victory with 11 home runs, 17 extra-base hits and 49 runs. The 15-man pitching staff racked up 45 strikeouts across the five games.

• On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 421-331 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 5.15 with 596 strikeouts to 264 walks.

• The Sooners started the season with a program-record seven straight games scoring double digits and have scored 10+ runs in 15 games, including two of the last three and four of the last 10 games.

OU IN THE NCAA TOURNEY

• OU has advanced to the College World Series 12 times including this season (1951, '72, '73, '74, '75, '76, '92, '94, '95, 2010, '22, '26).

• This is Oklahoma's 43rd NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth straight. The Sooners are 107-87 all-time in the NCAA postseason, and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.

• En route to its 12th appearance in Omaha, Oklahoma won its 15th regional in program history and third super regional.

• OU is 18-18 all-time at the College World Series, most recently going 3-2 en route to the champ series in 2022 and a national runner-up finish.

RECAPPING THE LAWRENCE SUPER REGIONAL

• Oklahoma clinched its 12th College World Series berth in dominant fashion, sweeping the Lawrence Super Regional at Kansas by outscoring the Jayhawks 21-3 in two games.

• OU won Game 1 by a final of 8-1, powered by another exceptional outing from starting LHP Cord Rager. The frosh went 6.0 innings for the second straight postseason start, striking out six Jayhawks. At the plate, OU hit three home runs, courtesy of Dayton Tockey, Camden Johnson and Trey Gambill.

• In Game 2, after building an 8-1 lead on Sunday evening, the game was suspended due to weather and finished Monday afternoon, culminating in a 13-2 Sooner victory.

• Xander Mercurius started the game on Sunday night and returned to the mound for the resumption on Monday and completed 4.0 innings, striking out six batters and allowing one run on three hits and two walks.

• At the plate, Oklahoma hit four home runs in the second game of the Super Regional, increasing its total to seven in the Super Regional and 18 in seven NCAA Tournament games.

• Tockey, Gambill, Deiten Lachance and Dasan Harris all went yard.

• Nate Smithburg, Jason Bodin and Jackson Cleveland finished the job on the mound, with Smithburg going a career-long 3.2 innings to earn his second win of the season.

UP NEXT

• With a Saturday win over No. 7 national seed Alabama in OU's opener at the CWS, the Sooners would meet the winner of No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Texas at 6 p.m. CT Monday.

• With a loss Saturday, OU would meet the loser of the Georgia-Texas matchup in an elminiation game Monday at 1 p.m. CT.

• Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.

• The Sooners were swept at the hands of the Longhorns in Austin, March 26-28, with a pair of extra-inning walk-off wins going in favor of the Horns.

• A meeting with Georgia would be the first of the season as the Sooners and Bulldogs did not meet throughout the SEC regular season or SEC tournament.

TOCKEY TIME

• Senior Dayton Tockey etched his name in Sooner lore with his 10th-inning walkoff home run vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech to clinch OU's Super Regional berth.

• It was OU's first walkoff win in the NCAA Tournament since 2008 and sent the Sooners to Super Regionals for the first time since 2022.

• Tockey was a major factor in OU's regional victory, hitting .438 (7-16) with three home runs and five RBIs in five games. The first baseman also drew a team-high five walks and scored six runs.

• The hot streak at the plate continued in Lawrence at Super Regionals as Tockey hit .375 (3-8) with two home runs and four RBIs.

• Throughout OU's postseason run (7 games), Tockey is hitting .417 with a team-leading five home runs to go with nine RBIs. His 1.042 slugging clip paces the team. He's homered in five of OU's seven games, including three consecutive.

• A two-year Sooner and JUCO product from Fort Worth, Texas, Tockey has played in over 70 games for OU and made 64 starts.

• The senior has eight home runs on the season with six of the eight coming in his last nine games played dating back to May 16.

• Since the final week of the regular season (9 GS), Tockey is batting .407 (11-27) with six home runs and 11 RBIs.

BIG MAPLE

• From Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, OU junior Deiten Lachance has come on strong the latter half of the season for the Sooners, contributing to OU's offensive surge.

• The 6-5, 230-pound Sooner catcher had zero home runs entering OU's weekend at Vanderbilt (April 9) and has hit 15 in the 28 games since to lead all Sooners.

• Lachance has homered in three of OU's last four games, five of OU's last nine and 11 of the last 16.

• His fourth-inning go-ahead grand slam on Sunday vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech helped OU erase a six-run deficit to force the winner-take-all matchup on Monday. Lachance put OU up early with his second home run in as many games vs. the Yellow Jackets in Monday's regional championship, a two-run shot in the first.

• In game three vs. Tennessee (5/16), Lachance hit three home runs, becoming the first Sooner since 2000 to accomplish the feat.

BRINGING THE GOOD BATS

• OU has 35 home runs in its last 13 games (since May 9), accounting for over 40% of its season total (83).

• In that 13-game span, OU has six games with three-plus home runs.

• The Sooner bats explosion started in Atlanta, hitting .359 with 49 runs on 66 hits, 11 home runs, 17 extra-base hits and a .571 team slugging percentage. Five starters batted over .400 in the regional, led by shortstop Jaxon Willits' .500 (9-18) average.

• The output continued in Supers with a team batting average of .329 over the two-game sweep, including seven home runs and 21 runs scored.

• The Sooner scoring has come in bunches as OU has seven innings of four-plus runs scored in seven postseason games, averaging 10.0 runs/game.

• Tockey's tear has paced OU as the senior leads the team with five home runs across OU's Omaha run, while Trey Gambill has four and Deiten Lachance has launched a trio.

• Lachance leads OU with 11 RBIs in the postseason, followed closely by Dasan Harris' 10.

• Like Lachance, Harris' bat has come on strong the latter of the season. Since April 9 (28 GP), Harris is hitting .389 (37-of-95) with 20 RBIs, 19 runs scored and 14 extra-base hits.

POSTSEASON PITCHING

• OU utilized 15 arms to win the Atlanta Regional, using every available arm that made the trip. The staff was two-game sweep in Lawrence needed just the starters, Cord Rager and Xander Mercurius, along with four relievers to get the job done.

• The staff has struck out 62 batters to 29 walks and allowed a .225 opponent batting average with just 27 earned runs (3.86 ERA) across OU's seven games.

• Rager and X. Mercurius have taken the starting roles, each with consecutive outings of four-plus innings.

• Rager has gone 6.0 IP in both of his postseason starts and surrendered three runs on eight hits with 14 strikeouts and one walk. The frosh lefty tied his career best with eight strikeouts in OU's regional win over The Citadel.

• X. Mercurius has also struck out 14 over two starts, giving up six runs on 10 hits with five walks.

• RHP LJ Mercurius has been nails out of the bullpen after starting 12 games throughout the regular season. In three postseason relief appearances, the former weekend starter has hurled 10.0 innings of one-run ball, surrendering just six hits to go with 10 K's and three walks and a .167 opponent batting average.

• After entering the postseason with one career save, the junior has earned three saves in his three appearances.

• In Atlanta, Skip Johnson started true freshmen three games in a row to make it to the regional final: LHP Cord Rager, RHP Xander Mercurius and RHP Nick Wesloski.

• Wesloski made his first career start in the rematch vs. The Citadel on Regional Sunday, going a career-high 7.0 innings and striking out four while surrendering three earned runs and walking two.

• Sooner closer Jackson Cleveland has continued to be exceptional in the late innings for OU, striking out seven in 7.2 innings across three appearances.

• In Monday's regional final win over Georgia Tech, Cleveland earned his third win of the season in relief. The senior went a season-long 3.2 innings of scoreless, hitless ball with four strikeouts, tying a season high.

THE SKIPPER SURPASSES 300 WINS

• OU head coach Skip Johnson earned career win No. 300 at the Division I level with OU's regional-opening win over The Citadel on May 30.

• Oklahoma is in its ninth season under the direction Johnson. Johnson, who spent the 2017 season on staff as an assistant coach, has led the Sooners to a 305-197 record, five NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2024 Big 12 regular season title, 2022 Big 12 tournament championship and a pair of College World Series appearances (2022, '26) since taking over as head coach prior to the 2018 season.

• Johnson holds over 700 career wins as a head coach, earning 450 at Navarro (TX) College before making the jump to Division I baseball where he's won 305 at OU. Johnson was on staff at the University of Texas under head coach Augie Garrido for 10 seasons before coming to Oklahoma.

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