OU Meets Georgia in Winners' Bracket Monday

OMAHA, Neb. – Oklahoma (39-22) continues its stay in Omaha on Monday in the winners' bracket vs. No. 3 seed Georgia (52-12) at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN with Karl Ravech, Kyle Peterson, Chris Burke and Kris Budden 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. Tickets for the Men's College World Series are available via NCAAtickets.com.

THE BASICS

• The Sooners advanced to the winners' bracket with a dominant 9-0 win Saturday in the opener vs. No. 7 seed Alabama. Freshman starting left-handed pitcher Cord Rager was exceptional, going seven innings of three-hit ball while striking out eight on just 88 pitches.

• OU is making its 12th CWS appearance in program history and second in the last five years this week in Omaha, Neb., at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

• Oklahoma advanced to the CWS 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 .346, 19 home runs, 31 extra-base hits and 79 runs scored across eight games. Pitching has been equally impressive with a team ERA of 3.38 and 72 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 430-331 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 5.06 with 606 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 four and four of the last 11 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 108-87 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 19-18 all-time at the College World Series and 4-2 under head coach Skip Johnson.

RECAPPING THE WIN OVER ALABAMA

• Freshman lefty Cord Rager continued his prolific postseason performance with seven innings of shutout ball, and the Sooner bats came up with timely hits as Oklahoma shut out Alabama, 9-0, in OU's opening game at the 2026 College World Series.

• It was OU's seventh shutout of the season, third in program history at the CWS and first since 1975.

• It was the largest shutout victory for a team in the opening game of the CWS since 2002

• The Sooners put up their sixth-consecutive double-digit hit performance, and Rager notched a season-best 7.0 scoreless innings and tied a career high with eight strikeouts.

• Oklahoma punched early, scoring two in the first inning on Trey Gambill's two-out two-RBI double to right center, scoring Deiten Lachance and Jaxon Willits.

• Rager worked one-two-three innings in the first, third and fourth inning, settling in as the Sooners continued to apply pressure at the plate.

• Jason Walk came around after a leadoff walk and stolen base in the third, giving the Sooners a 3-0 advantage.

• Deiten Lachance made it easy on himself after a rolled ankle by hitting a 409-foot home run to left to score Camden Johnson and extend OU's lead to 5-0 in the sixth.

• Rager didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning as he continued to cruise, capping his seven-inning outing by fanning the side in his final frame of work.

• OU widened its lead with a big eighth inning, plating four runs on five hits and a walk. Willits plated one on a single to left to start the flurry. With two away, Brendan Brock doubled to left, scoring Lachance. Dasan Harris made it 9-0 with a two-RBI knock to right center one batter later.

• LJ Mercurius took the ball in the eighth, scattering two singles while fanning two in a pair of scoreless innings to complete OU's seventh shutout of the season.

UP NEXT

• With a Monday win over No. 3 national seed Georgia in a winners' bracket matchup, the Sooners would advance to the CWS semifinals for the second time in five years and meet one of Alabama, Georgia or Texas on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT.

• With a loss Monday, OU would meet the winner of the Alabama-Texas matchup in an elminiation game Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT.

• Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.

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 (8 games), Tockey is hitting .393 with a team-leading five home runs to go with nine RBIs. His .964 slugging clip paces the team. He's homered in five of OU's eight games, including three of the last four.

• A two-year Sooner and JUCO product from Fort Worth, Texas, Tockey has played in over 70 games for OU and made 65 starts.

• The senior has eight home runs on the season with six of the eight coming in his last 10 games played dating back to May 16.

• Since the final week of the regular season (10 GS), Tockey is batting .387 (12-31) 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.

• Lachance hit his 12th home run since May 2 in OU's CWS opener vs. Alabama, the most in NCAA Division I during that time span. It was Lachance's fourth homer in NCAA Tournament play.

• The 6-5, 230-pound Sooner catcher had zero home runs entering OU's weekend at Vanderbilt (April 9) and has hit 16 in the 29 games since to lead all Sooners.

• Lachance has homered in four of OU's last five games, six of OU's last 10 and 12 of the last 17.

• His fourth-inning go-ahead grand slam on May 31 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 36 home runs in its last 14 games (since May 9), accounting for over 40% of its season total (84).

• In that 14-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 eight innings of four-plus runs scored in eight postseason games, averaging 9.9 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 and Deiten Lachance each have four.

• Lachance leads OU with 13 RBIs in the postseason, followed closely by Dasan Harris' 12.

• Like Lachance, Harris' bat has come on strong the latter of the season. Since April 9 (29 GP), Harris is hitting .394 (39-of-99) with 22 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 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 72 batters to 29 walks and allowed a .218 opponent batting average with just 27 earned runs (3.38 ERA) across OU's eight games.

• Rager has gone at least 6.0 IP in all three of his postseason starts and surrendered just three runs on 11 hits with 22 strikeouts and one walk. The frosh lefty has fanned a career-best eight in two of his three postseason starts.

• X. Mercurius has 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 four postseason relief appearances, the former weekend starter has hurled 12.0 innings of one-run ball, surrendering just eight hits to go with 12 K's, three walks and a .186 opponent batting average.

• After entering the postseason with one career save, the junior has earned three saves in his four 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 306-197 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 306 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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