Sooners Head to Nashville for Vanderbilt Series

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 16 OU (22-10, 5-7 SEC) plays its third series on the road in the past four weeks at Vanderbilt (20-14, 6-6 SEC). Thursday and Friday are set for 6 p.m. CT starts before a 1 p.m. finale on Saturday.

Thursday's game will be shown to a national audience on SEC Network prior to Friday and Saturday's matchups available via SECN+. All games can heard on the radio via The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM with Toby Rowland on the call.

THE BASICS

• The Sooners enter the contest at 22-10 following a 9-3 midweek win at Dallas Baptist. It was OU's first win over DBU in Dallas since 2023 and with the win, OU swept the season series over the Patriots for the first time since 2010.

• This weekend's series will be just the second time the Sooners have met Vandy in Nashville, with the first meeting happening nearly 50 years ago in 1978.

• Oklahoma is ranked at No. 16 in this week's D1Baseball Top 25 and rank in the top 25 in four of five major polls.

• On the season, OU is outscoring opponents 225-134 and the pitching staff has a team ERA of 3.92 with 327 strikeouts to 133 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 (23rd, 3.92) double plays (30th, 27), stolen bases (24th, 77), strikeouts per nine innings (2170th, 10.9) and hits allowed per nine innings (11th, 7.2).

• Probable Pitching Matchups: TH: OU RHP LJ Mercurius (5-3, 5.11 ERA) vs. VU RHP Connor Fennell (2-1, 5.40 ERA); FRI: OU LHP Cameron Johnson (4-1, 2.97 ERA) vs. VU TBA; SAT: OU TBA vs. VU RHP Wyatt Nadeau (1-2, 4.68 ERA)

OPPONENT OUTLOOK

• The Sooners are 5-4 all-time vs. Vanderbilt with four of the nine matchups coming a season ago as conference foes.

• OU won the series in Norman two games to one in 2025, while the Commodores took the postseason matchup in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Hoover, 6-1.

• This weekend's series will be OU's first games in Nashville since 1978 and the first time OU has played at Hawkins Field which opened in 2002. OU met Vanderbilt at the '78 Worth Music City Invitational, one of six games the Sooners played on the weekend. OU went 3-3 in the tournament with wins over Belmont, Lipscomb and Trevecca. OU fell to Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Miami of Ohio.

• Vanderbilt is 20-14 on the season, 6-6 in SEC play and 2-2 in SEC series on the year. The Commodores swept Tennessee and won two of three over LSU, while being swept by Mississippi State and losing two at Texas A&M last weekend.

• The Commodores are led at the plate by sophomore infielder Brodie Johnston, batting .353 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs. On the bump, Friday night starter Connor Fennell leads the team with 57 strikeouts to 12 walks and a 5.40 ERA.

ON THE BUMP

• OU's weekend rotation of RHP junior LJ Mercurius, LHP junior Cameron Johnson and LHP freshman Cord Rager have combined for 136 strikeouts to 51 walks and 49 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 5.11 ERA with 49 strikeouts.

• 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 is 5-3 on the year and the righty has one complete game, a seven-inning one-hitter vs. Gonzaga on Feb. 28.

• Johnson is 4-1 and has registered at least seven strikeouts in six of his eight starts on the year and has two appearances with zero walks allowed. The lefty leads OU with 52 strikeouts.

• 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 12 appearances and has struck out 17 in his 18.2 innings. Sophomore transfer Kadyn Leon has made 13 appearances and allowed four runs in 18.0 IP to go with 19 strikeouts.

• Junior Jason Bodin, who made 31 relief appearances in 2025 to rank second in the SEC, has made 11 appearances in 2026 and ranks third on the team with three victories (3-0). He has 24 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.

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

• The staff's 3.92 team ERA ranks 23rd in the country. The group's 1.29 WHIP ranks 32nd 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 32 games OU is outscoring the opposition 225-134 (7.0 runs/game). The offense is batting .281 with 101 extra-base hits to opponents' 67.

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

• Junior Jaxon Willits paces the starters with a .320 batting average, while Trey Gambill is close behind batting .311. Junior Brendan Brock leads OU with eight home runs while Gambill has five long balls. Ten Sooners have combined for 30 blasts.

• The Sooners have homered in 17 of 32 games.

• OU ranks third in the SEC with nine triples on the season, good for 42nd 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 41st in the country and ninth in the SEC in walks drawn with 176. Seven Sooners have recorded 10-plus walks, led by Gambill's 26. Three Sooners have 20-plus walks drawn.

RANKINGS CHATTER

• The Sooners come in at No. 16 in this week's D1Baseball top 25 and rank in the top 25 in four of five major polls (D1, Baseball America, NCBWA and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll).

• OU is 4-6 in ranked matchups in 2026 with two wins over top-25 Texas A&M, one over No. 16 Alabama and takedown of then-No. 10 TCU on Opening Weekend. A season ago, OU went 11-15 in ranked matchups.

RECAPPING MIDWEEK WIN AT DBU

• OU moved to 22-10 on the year and 6-2 in midweek matchups with a 9-3 win at Dallas Baptist Monday night.

• It was OU's first win over DBU in Dallas since 2023 and the two-game season series sweep was the first since 2010.

• OU registered season highs of eight extra-base hits and six doubles.

• A week after going a then-career-high 5.0 IP at Oral Roberts, RHP Michael Catalano bested the outing with 6.0 IP Monday night.

• Brendan Brock hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season while Nolan Stevens launched his fourth. It was the first time OU has hit consecutive home runs since Brock and Jaxon Willits accomplished the feat vs. Texas A&M on March 13.

• Brock had his team-high third three-hit game of the season.

• Drew Dickerson had his third straight multi-hit game and fifth of the season.

• Trey Gambill set a season high and tied a career best with two doubles.

UP NEXT

• The Sooners meet in-state foe Oklahoma State Tuesday night at ONEOK Field in Tulsa at 7 p.m. CT.

• It will be the second and final installment of Bedlam this season as the Sooners took the first matchup 10-1 in the second game of the season at the Shriners College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

• The game can be seen via SECN+ and heard on the radio via The REF 99.3/1400 AM with Toby Rowland on the call. Tickets are available via MILBTickets.com.

• Season and single game tickets for the 2026 season at Kimrey Family Stadium 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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