OU baseball has made history.
The Sooners are advancing to their first College World Series since 2022, the year they finished No. 2 in the championship. OU dominated No. 15 overall seed Kansas (45-18) at the Jayhawks’ home, winning 13-2 in game two of the Lawrence Super Regional to complete a series sweep at Hoglund Ballpark. OU also overcame a rain delay that forced game two to span two days.
“It’s a collective group, … and it takes everyone,” senior infielder Dayton Tockey said on the ESPN broadcast after the super regional series final. “And the past two weeks have just showed that nobody is going to give up on each other on this team, and we’re doing it all for each other. … The resilience of this team is unbelievable.”
The last time the Sooners made the College World Series they were led by current Chicago Cubs pitcher Cade Horton, who was a freshman All-American in 2022. In five postseason starts that year, Horton threw 49 strikeouts against six walks in 31 innings, never allowing more than two runs in an outing. His best performance of the season was in the College World Series finals, recording career highs of 13 strikeouts and 7.1 innings.
The 2026 Sooners have been led by freshman pitchers en route to making the College World Series. The freshmen turned around a team that was poor on the mound to close the regular season, losing four straight series before the postseason and giving up at least nine runs in nine of 12 games in that stretch.
Freshman pitcher Xander Mercurius recorded six strikeouts and allowed one run and three hits in four innings of work in game two of the super regionals. His four innings of work in super regionals spanned across two days due to the weather delay. In game two of regionals, he recorded a career-high eight strikeouts and threw 100 pitches against No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech (50-11).
Freshman pitcher Cord Rager started game one of super regionals, finishing with six strikeouts and allowing only one hit and zero runs in six innings of work. The left-hander recorded eight strikeouts and allowed seven hits against The Citadel (36-26) in the Sooners’ first game of regionals. Freshman pitcher Nick Wesloski finished with four strikeouts and allowed six hits in seven innings of work against The Citadel in game three of regionals.
Tockey and junior catcher Deiten Lachance have been among the leading hitters for the Sooners’ run to the 2026 College World Series. They continued their form in the super regional series final, with each recording a home run against the Jayhawks.
Tockey, who now has six home runs in his last nine games, has excelled in the NCAA Tournament despite being in and out of the lineup for most of the season, only starting 28 of the Sooners’ 60 games. Lachance has also had a stronger finish to the year. The junior college transfer had zero home runs in the first 31 games of 2026 but has blasted 15 in the Sooners’ last 29.
The Sooners had to fight all tournament despite the dominance in Lawrence. Tockey hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning of game two of the regional final to cap off a comeback from down 7-3 earlier in the game. They also fought from down 8-2 to win 15-8 in game one of the regional final.
Prior to the super regional, junior infielder Jaxon Willits described a comparison head coach Skip Johnson has for gaining control in games.
“Skip talks about it a lot; momentum is like a drug,” Willits said Thursday. “You can keep it on your side; it's going to do a lot of good things.”
OU faces an all-SEC group in the College World Series, including No. 7 overall seed Alabama (42-19), No. 3 overall seed Georgia (51-12) and No. 6 overall seed Texas (45-13). OU is 1-2 against Alabama in previous matchups this season and 0-3 against Texas, and they have not faced Georgia before in 2026.
The Sooners will look to stay hot as they begin the College World Series at 2 p.m. Saturday against Alabama.
Here are live updates:
Trey Gambill home run
Highlight: Senior outfielder Trey Gambill hits a solo homer.
Score: OU 13-2 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of eighth
Kansas hits homer in 8th
Highlight: Junior infielder Tyson LeBlanc hits a solo home run.
Score: OU 12-2 Kansas
Inning: Top of eighth
Dasan Harris hits two-run homer in 6th
Highlight: Junior outfielder Dasan blasts a two-run homer.
Score: OU 12-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of sixth
Deiten Lachance blasts home run
Highlight: Junior catcher Deiten Lachance hits a two-run homer.
Score: OU 10-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of sixth
OU pitching change after 4th
The Sooners switched to redshirt junior Nate Smithburg on the mound in the fifth inning.
Game suspended
The game has been suspended until 12:02 p.m. Monday on ESPN2. Play will resume with the Sooners leading 8-1 in the bottom of the third inning.
If Kansas manages to mount a comeback, the third game of the series would start at 4:06 p.m. Monday.
Lightning delay in 3rd inning
The game is under another lightning delay in the bottom of the third inning.
Dayton Tockey with the homer
Highlight: Senior outfielder Dayton Tockey hits a solo home run.
Score: OU 8-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of third
OU scores off hit by pitch in 2nd
Highlight: Junior catcher Brendan Brock gets hit by a pitch, scoring junior infielder Camden Johnson.
Score: OU 7-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of second
Deiten Lachance extends OU lead
Highlight: Lachance hits a two-run single, scoring sophomore infielder Kyle Branch and junior outfielder Jason Walk.
Score: OU 6-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of second
OU adds another run in 2nd
Highlight: Johnson draws a bases loaded walk, bringing home Harris.
Score: OU 4-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of second
OU tacks on more in 2nd
Highlight: Brock scores a run after a bunt by Branch.
Score: OU 3-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of second
OU regains lead
Highlight: Junior outfielder Dasan Harris' run batted in single scores senior outfielder Trey Gambill.
Score: OU 2-1 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of second
Kansas ties game
Highlight: Senior outfielder Jordan Bach with the run batted in, bringing home senior pitcher Josh Dykhoff.
Score: OU 1-1 Kansas
Inning: Top of second
OU takes early lead
Highlight: Lachance grounded out into a double play, bringing home Walk.
Score: OU 1-0 Kansas
Inning: Bottom of first
Starting Sooner pitcher
The Sooners have announced their starting lineup for game two with freshman Xander Mercurius pitching to begin the game. They started a freshman on the mound in game one as well, with Cord Rager pitching the first six innings.
Updated game time
The game is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark reopens
Hoglund Ballpark has reopened, but no updated start time has ben communicated yet.
Pregame weather delay
The game is currently in a weather delay due to "lightning within eight miles of Hoglund Ballpark," causing players and fans to leave ballpark.
This story was edited by Josh Franklin.
