OU defeated No. 3 Georgia 4-3 in its second game of the College World Series in Omaha on Monday.
OU (40-22) now needs just a single win to move on to the championship series, while Georgia (52-13) must face No. 6 Texas (46-14) in a win-or-go home game to keep its hopes alive. The winner of the Bulldogs-Longhorns matchup would then need two wins over OU, as the Sooners are yet to lose a game in the double-elimination College World Series bracket.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Freshman pitchers on fire in postseason
Freshman right-handed pitcher Xander Mercurius had a career night against the Bulldogs, posting a career-high nine strikeouts. Mercurius followed up freshman left-handed pitcher Cord Rager's impressive eight strikeout performance in the Sooners’ shutout against No. 7 Alabama (42-21) on Saturday.
"I mean it's tough as a freshman. You come in and it's a big jump, one of the biggest jumps in sports from high school baseball to college baseball. ... But especially for them to do it in the SEC this year, it's really tough." Junior infielder Jaxon Willits said of Mercurius and Rager's grit this season, according to ASAP Sports Transcriptions. "So to be able to just kind of take it one day at a time, one pitch at a time and to be able to slow everything down and realize that all that matters is the task at hand. I feel like they've done a really good job at that. And because of that they've had a lot of success."
Both Mercurius and Rager have now thrown eight or more strikeouts in their Omaha debuts as well as posting eight-strikeout outings on the same day in the Atlanta Regional. Rager took care of business in game one of the Sooners’ double-header on May 30 against Citadel (36-26), with Mercurius cleaning up against No. 2 Georgia Tech (50-11) later in the day.
Even more impressive, Mercurius’s top postseason performances have come against the top-two scoring offenses in the nation in No. 1 Georgia Tech, 662 total runs scored, and No. 2 Georgia, 605 runs scored.
"The guy sitting right next to me, Skip Johnson. He's been great. He's been helping me every single day just becoming better," Mercurius noted about where he got his confidence and poise from. "My teammates putting up runs in the first inning, helping me out. And just can't do it without my teammates."
Mercurius finished Monday allowing six hits and three runs in 7.1 innings of work and earned his first career win.
Red-hot batting cools off
OU’s scoring rout finally came to an end against Georgia, as the Sooners scored less than eight runs in a game for the first time since May 30, marking just their second low-scoring affair of the NCAA Tournament.
The Sooners averaged 9.9 runs per game through their first eight games of the tournament, outscoring opponents 79-35 over that span, which led to six wins and a single loss. However, they ran into a stout pitching and defensive team in Georgia, which sits at No. 10 nationally in both strikeouts per nine innings, with 11 strikeouts per game, and fielding percentage at .982 heading into the game.
OU was still able to best Bulldogs’ graduate student right-handed pitcher Caden Aoki early in the game, building a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but once Aoki settled in, runs were hard to come by. The Sooners’ final run scored came from a solo home run by junior catcher Brendan Brock in the fourth and had to fight tooth and nail defensively to hold onto the lead and outlast the Bulldogs.
"That was huge. We talk about winning innings and we tied that inning. They hit a home run, we came in and it hit a home run to take it up another run. But we talk about just trying to win innings," Johnson said. "Aoki, he made some big pitches in that game. I'm telling you, big pitches. It could have went either way."
Championship series in sight
The Sooners are now just a single win away from making their fourth College World Series championship appearance in program history and second appearance under head coach Skip Johnson.
Johnson's championship appearance came back in 2022, the last time the Sooners made the trip up to Omaha, and OU fell to Mississippi by a two-game sweep. Notably, Johnson is the only Sooner coach to lose the championship series, as both former head coaches, Jack Bear (1951) and Larry Cochell (1994), claimed OU’s two national championships in their lone appearances.
If OU can clinch a championship berth in the next game, they’ll continue the trend of OU championship-bound teams that carried a perfect College World Series record into the series, as the three previous teams to make the series did so without a blemish.
"I'm just thankful. I'm thankful for our coaches, what they've done." Johnson said about the team's run and potentially playing in the championship again. "I'm thankful for all those coaches being there. ... When I was hired from Greg Tipton and Joe C., when I got the job, I felt, after a year or two years I was here, I felt it was a family-owned business. That's what being an Oklahoma Sooner is. And you can see it and you can feel it. You can feel those kids, when they decided to do it and be selfless in a world that's really selfish in this world we're living in now, it's pretty amazing."
The Sooners will once again await the winner between Georgia and Texas with their next game coming at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Omaha on ESPN.
Here are live updates:
George blasts homer to make 1-run game
Highlight: Junior outfielder Daniel Jackson hits a solo home run.
Score: OU 4-3 Georgia
Inning: Top of eighth
Georgia cuts lead
Highlight: Senior infielder Brennan Hudson blasts a solo home run.
Score: OU 4-2 Georgia
Inning: Top of fifth
OU extends lead
Highlight: Junior catcher Brendan Brock blasts a solo home run.
Score: OU 4-1 Georgia
Inning: Bottom of fifth
Georgia with solo home run
Highlight: Sophomore outfielder Kenny Ishikawa blasts a solo home run.
Score: OU 3-1 Georgia
Inning: Top of fourth
Sooners take lead in 1st inning
Highlight: Junior outfielder Jason Walk doubles and later crosses home plate on junior catcher Deiten Lachance's run batted in groundout. Junior infielder Jaxon Willits follows with hitting a two-run homer, scoring junior infielder Camden Johnson as well.
Score: OU 3-0 Georgia
Inning: Bottom of first
