Sooners Welcome Crimson Tide for Top-20 Series

NORMAN – No. 11 OU (20-8, 4-5 SEC) returns home after an eight-game road trip to host No. 16 (23-7, 6-3) Alabama at Kimrey Family Stadium. Thursday's series opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT before a 1 p.m. start on Friday and 2 p.m. finale on Saturday.

The series can be seen via SEC Network+ with Chad McKee, Blake Brewster and Rich Hills on the call. The game can be heard on the radio via 99.3 FM/1400 AM The REF with Toby Rowland on the call.

THE BASICS

• The Sooners enter the contest at 20-8 following a 4-0 midweek win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday. It was OU's fifth shutout of the season.

• OU is 4-5 in SEC play, winning series over No. 22 Texas A&M and at LSU before dropping the series at No. 2 Texas last weekend.

• Oklahoma is ranked at No. 11 in this week's D1Baseball Top 25 and rank in the top 25 in all five major polls.

• On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 203-116 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.91 with 282 strikeouts to 122 walks.

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

• OU ranks in the top 30 nationally in a number of categories including ERA (26th, 3.91) double plays (26th, 24), stolen bases (18th, 73), strikeouts per nine innings (20th, 10.8) and hits allowed per nine innings (14th, 7.2).

FOR THE FANS

• Promotions abound for this weekend's series at Kimrey Family Stadium.

• Thursday's series opener will feature a T-shirt giveaway for OU's theme of 'Grateful Sooners'. Happy Hour will also apply for Thursday's game featuring $4 16 oz. Beer from gates open up until first pitch.

• Friday will be Happy Hour all day with $4 16 oz. beer and free hot dogs for the first 100 fans. Additionally, a $1,000 giveaway sponsored by Oklahoma Lottery will take place on Friday.

• Saturday's game will have a pregame Easter egg hunt with prizes starting at 12:30 p.m. CT.

• Limited tickets 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.

• Students and fans unable to get a ticket inside the ballpark are allowed to sit on the outfield berms. Students are encouraged to gather on the berm beyond left field.

OPPONENT OUTLOOK

• The Sooners meet the Crimson Tide for the second consecutive year, one of five repeat opponents in conference play from OU's inaugural season in the league in 2025.

• In last year's series in Tuscaloosa, the series went to a rubber game with Alabama edging the Sooners, 8-6, to take the series.

• The teams have met 10 times in program history with Alabama leading the all-time series, 7-3.

• The only meetings in Norman came in 2018 where OU took a three-game set over the Crimson Tide, winning two of three.

• The Crimson Tide are led at the plate by senior Brady Neal, hitting .357 with six home runs and 33 RBIs. On the mound, lefty starter Zane Adams paces the group with a 3.65 ERA while righty Tyler Fay has 52 strikeouts to lead the team.

ON THE BUMP

• A season after losing his weekend rotation to the draft, including Friday night starter and first-round pick Kyson Witherspoon, OU head coach and pitching guru Skip Johnson's retooled staff is off to an exceptional start on the bump.

• OU's weekend rotation of RHP junior LJ Mercurius, LHP junior Cameron Johnson and LHP freshman Cord Rager have combined for 128 strikeouts to 48 walks and 40 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 3.53 ERA with 49 strikeouts that ranks in the top 50 in the country.

• 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' 5-2 record in seven starts ranks 13th in the nation for victories and the righty has one complete game, a seven-inning one-hitter vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 28.

• Johnson, is 3-1 and has registered at least seven strikeouts in five of his seven starts on the year and has two appearances with zero walks allowed.

• 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 four saves on the year to rank third in the SEC. The Miami transfer has 11 appearances and has struck out 15 in his 17.2 innings. Sophomore transfer Kadyn Leon has made 12 appearances and allowed four runs in 15.1 IP to go with 14 strikeouts.

• Junior Jason Bodin, who made 31 relief appearances in 2025 to rank second in the SEC, has made 10 appearances in 2026 and ranks tied for second on the team with three victories (3-0). He has 21 strikeouts in 16.1 innings.

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

• The staff's 3.91 team ERA ranks 26th in the country. The group's 1.32 WHIP ranks 38th 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 28 games OU is outscoring the opposition 203-116 (7.3 runs/game). The offense is batting .281 with 86 extra-base hits to opponents' 58.

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

• Junior Jaxon Willits paces the starters with a .313 batting average. Two other Sooners that have started at least 20 games are batting over .300 in Trey Gambill (.307) and Camden Johnson (.302). Junior Brendan Brock leads OU with seven home runs while Gambill has four long balls. Ten Sooners have combined for 25 blasts.

• The Sooners have homered in 15 of 28 games.

• OU ranks third in the SEC with eight triples so far on the season, good for 41st in the country.

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

• Plate discipline has been key to the OU offense as the Sooners rank 37th in the country and eighth in the SEC in walks drawn with 162. Six Sooners have recorded 10-plus walks, led by Gambill's 24.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners come in at No. 11 in this week's D1Baseball top 25 and rank in the top 25 in all five major polls (D1, Baseball America, Perfect Game, NCBWA and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll).

• OU is 3-4 in ranked matchups in 2026 with two wins over top-25 Texas A&M and takedown of then-No. 10 TCU on Opening Weekend. A season ago, OU went 11-15 in ranked matchups.

RECAPPING MIDWEEK WIN AT ORU

• OU won its 20th game of the season Tuesday night in a 4-0 win at Oral Roberts, moving to 20-8 on the year. The Sooners went to 5-2 in midweek matchups.

• It was OU's fifth shutout of the season and first since Santa Clara on March 7. OU had three shutouts all of last season.

• It was just the third time Oral Roberts has been shut out this season.

• Michael Catalano's 5.0 IP and 7 K's were both career bests.

• Nick Wesloski's 3.0 IP and 5 K's were both career bests for the freshman.

• Brendan Brock hit his team-leading seventh home run of the season. His three runs batted in made it nine multi-RBI games on the year, also a team best.

UP NEXT

• OU plays a rare Monday game at Dallas Baptist at 6:30 Monday evening in Dallas. The game can be seen via ESPN+ and heard on the radio via The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM.

• The Sooners next SEC opponent is Vanderbilt in Nashville, just the second time OU has made the trip to Nashville.

• Season and single game tickets for the 2026 season 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.

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