Sooners Take Regional Opener for Johnson’s 300th Career Win

Saturday, May 30

Atlanta, Ga.

9 a.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

33-21

The Citadel

35-25

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
The Citadel	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	9	0
Oklahoma	0	0	1	3	0	1	2	1	X	8	15	2

Sooners Take Regional Opener for Johnson’s 300th Career Win

May 30, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score Final Stats

ATLANTA — Oklahoma opened its weekend at the NCAA Atlanta Regional with an 8-3 win over The Citadel Saturday morning.

The win was the 300th of head coach Skip Johnson's career at the Division I level, all coming in his nine seasons at Oklahoma.

After the originally-scheduled Friday game time between the teams was delayed a day due to weather, the Sooner bats came out hot Saturday morning with eight runs on 15 hits including two home runs. The long balls came courtesy of Dayton Tockey and Trey Gambill.

On the mound, freshman starting left-handed pitcher Cord Rager had a career outing, hurling six innings of three-run ball on seven hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. His six innings pitched was a career-long outing and his eight strikeouts matched a career high.

Junior righty LJ Mercurius finished the job in relief, going three shutout innings with four strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one walk. Mercurius earned his first save of the season and second of his career.

After The Citadel (35-25) got on the board first via a sacrifice fly in the second inning, Oklahoma (33-21) responded in the bottom of the third off the bat of Dayton Tockey. The senior blasted his second home run in OU's last three games to tie the contest at one.

The Bulldogs retook the lead in the fourth on a solo home run and RBI double to push the lead to 3-1.

OU would go on to score the game's final seven runs. Gambill answered in the home half of the fourth, tying the game with his seventh home run of the season on a two-run shot to deep center.

To the sixth, an RBI single from Jason Walk plated Tockey before a pair of bases-loaded walks in the seventh from Dasan Harris and Tockey pushed the lead to four runs.

Oklahoma got one more insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Jaxon Willits to bring the final to 8-3.

The Sooners make a quick turnaround Saturday to meet host and No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech (49-9) in the winners bracket at 5 p.m. CT. The game can be seen via ESPN+ and heard on The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM or nationwide on The Varsity network app.

Pitchers of Record

Win: Cord Rager (4-3)
Loss: Andrew Buffkin (6-3)
Save: LJ Mercurius (1)

Statistical Snapshot

Dasan Harris | 3-for-3, 1 RBI
Dayton Tockey | 2-for-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Trey Gambill | 1-for-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI
Cord Rager | 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
LJ Mercurius | 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Notes

OU moved to 33-21 on the year. It marked the third straight season Oklahoma has won its NCAA regional opener and fourth in the last five tournament appearances.
Cord Rager went a career-long 6.0 innings and struck out eight to tie his career best. Rager allowed no walks for the fourth time in 13 starts this season.
LJ Mercurius made his fourth appearance in relief on the season and earned his first save as a Sooner and second of his career. The righty hurled three shutout innings with four strikeouts, the most strikeouts he's registered since April 17 vs. Missouri.
Dayton Tockey hit his fourth home run of the season and second in OU's last three games. The senior had a pair of RBIs, his fifth multi-RBI game of the season.
Trey Gambill hit his seventh home run of the year and first since April 17 vs. Missouri. Gambill recorded his ninth multi-RBI game of the year.
Deiten Lachance extended his team-best hit streak to 10 games. Dasan Harris extended his career-long hit streak to eight games.

Up Next

The Sooners meet host Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. CT Saturday evening in the winners bracket. With a win, Oklahoma would advance to the regional final on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. A loss would result in OU playing an elimination game Sunday at noon CT.

All games can be seen via ESPN+ and heard on The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM in Oklahoma or nationwide on The Varsity network app.

For updates and more information on Oklahoma baseball, follow the Sooners on X and Instagram (@OU_Baseball) and like Oklahoma Baseball on Facebook.