O.U. baseball game today starts with Oklahoma against North Carolina in the CWS Championship Series at 2 p.m. CT on. The Sooners are one win away from moving within striking distance of a third national title, and Game 2 is already set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on ABC.
Oklahoma reached this point with a 3-0 run in Omaha. It beat Alabama 9-0 last Saturday, then took both games from Georgia, 4-3 and 11-4, to lock in the finals berth.
Cord Rager’s seven innings
Cord Rager gave Oklahoma the kind of start that steadied the bracket run. The freshman threw seven innings of three-hit ball and struck out eight against Alabama, setting the tone for the Sooners’ first win in Omaha.
That outing fit a rotation that kept narrowing the margin for error on opponents. Xander Mercurius followed with 7.1 innings of three-run ball and a career-high nine strikeouts against Georgia, while Nick Wesloski worked 5.2 innings and allowed one earned run on four hits with four strikeouts against Georgia.
Skip Johnson’s fourth finals showing
Skip Johnson has guided Oklahoma to its sixth CWS championship showing under his watch and is 6-2 at the College World Series. This trip is the program’s 12th College World Series appearance and its second finals appearance in the last five years.
The Sooners are 41-22 and have won eight games in a row. They are chasing their third national title after championships in 1951 and 1994, while North Carolina arrives at 53-12-1 and brings the record that makes this series the type of matchup Oklahoma has to handle cleanly from the first pitch.
ABC and The REF
Game 2 is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sunday on ABC. The games can also be heard on The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM and 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and on The Varsity Network app with Toby Rowland and Carly Murray on the call.
Jackson Cleveland’s 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for his ninth save against Georgia and the two-homer game by Dasan Harris and Jason Walk show how many parts have already carried Oklahoma to Omaha. If the freshman pitching holds against North Carolina, the Sooners can turn Saturday into the opening step of a title run rather than just another finals appearance.
