When the Oklahoma Sooners and Kansas Jayhawks meet this weekend at Hoglund Park in Lawrence, Kansas, in an NCAA Super Regional pairing, it will feature two teams with diametrically different postseason baseball histories.
While Oklahoma is traditionally recognized as a college football national power and Kansas similarly so in basketball, it is a bit unusual in itself that these two longtime conference rivals are going head to head to determine which team will advance to the College World Series, college baseball's version of the College Football Playoff and the Elite Eight in basketball.
The Sooners (36-22) are playing in their sixth Super Regional since the NCAA Tournament format was changed after the 2006 season. Two times since then they advanced to the College World Series (2010 and 2022), and in 2022 they finished as runner-up, losing to Ole Miss in the championship series.
Oklahoma has made 11 appearances in the College World Series, capturing two national championships in 1951 and 1994.
Kansas, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer to postseason action in the sport. The Jayhawks have made the NCAA Tournament a total of seven times, compared to 42 appearances by Oklahoma, and last weekend hosted their first regional. Kansas defeated Arkansas for its second regional championship and first since 1993, the only time the Jayhawks have been to the CWS.
The Super Regional with Oklahoma will be the first one hosted by Kansas. No one outside of the OU players and fans was happier with the Sooners' regional conquest of No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech than Jayhawk head coach Dan Fitzgerald and his players. Oklahoma's championship in the Atlanta Regional sent Oklahoma to Kansas for the Super Regional round. Had Georgia Tech prevailed, though, the 15th-seeded Jayhawks would have had to go to Atlanta to go up against the best offense in college baseball this season.
Of the eight Super Regional pairings this weekend, no two teams have a longer series history than Oklahoma and Kansas. The Sooners and Jayhawks have faced each other on the baseball diamond a total of 228 times, with Oklahoma holding a hefty 149-79 advantage. The two teams have not played each other in a couple of seasons with the Sooners now members of the SEC, but OU has won eight of the last 10 meetings.
The game time for both Saturday's and Sunday's Super Regional games between Oklahoma and Kansas is 5 p.m. CT. A time has not been set yet for an "if necessary" deciding game on Monday. The game on Saturday night will be televised on ESPN2.
Read more: Oklahoma is clearly must-see TV with Super Regional times announced
What to know about Kansas
Kansas ranks No. 19 this season in NCAA Division I RPI and is both the Big 12 regular-season and conference tournament champion. It was the Jayhawks' first Big 12 championship in baseball and first regular-season championship since 1949.
Junior Tyson Leblanc leads off and leads the Jayhawks in multiple offensive categories, including average (.344), home runs (24), runs scored (63) and RBI (68). He also is the team leader in on-base percentage (430) and slugging percentage (.709).
Four other Kansas regulars are hitting .287 or better and four Jayhawks have hit 14 or more home runs this season. Home run power is the one statistical area in which Kansas holds a clear advantage over the Sooners. The Jayhawks have pounded out 110 home runs this season, third most in the Big 12 and a new Kansas single-season record.
Kansas will go with Dominic Voegele and Mason Cook, the starters who worked the first two games in last weekend's home regional. Voegele is a junior right-hander with a 6-3 record in 17 starts, a 5.85 ERA and 117 strikeouts in 92.1 innings. Cook is a sophomore who throws from the right side with a 5-1 record in 12 starts and a 4.23 ERA, second best on the staff. If a third game is necessary, the likely starter will be lefty Mathis Nayral with a 4-3 record and a 4.92 ERA.
Kansas' win over Arkansas in last weekend's regional championship was the Jayhawks' 45th win of the season, tying a program record. More than half (29) of the Kansas wins this season have been of the comeback variety.
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma actually matches up better against Kansas than it did a week ago in the Atlanta Regional vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech. The Sooners and Jayhawks are fairly comparable in team batting average (.287 for OU, .289 for Kansas), pitching staff ERA (5.28 for OU, 5.31 for Kansas) and fielding percentage (both with a .973 percentage; OU with 54 errors, Kansas 57).
While Kansas owns a sizeable advantage in home runs over the Sooners (110 to 76), Oklahoma creates many of its scoring opportunities by moving runners on the base paths. The Sooners have 117 stolen bases in 138 attempts this season, second in the SEC and No. 34 nationally.
The Sooners' huge upset of Georgia Tech last weekend was largely the result of timely and productive hitting. Oklahoma hit nearly 80 points above its .287 season average in the Atlanta Regional, along with 11 home runs. Oklahoma is probably going to need another strong hitting series if it's going to steal another postseason road series and punch its way into the College World Series.
Deiten Lachance hit two home runs for the Sooners last weekend. The junior catcher out of the junior-college ranks has 14 home runs for the season and eight have come in the last 11 games. First baseman Dayton Tockey has three home runs in the last five game. Twenty-eight, or 36%, of OU's 76 home runs this season have come in the last 11 games. It appears that the OU hitters are heating up at the right time.
Read more: Latest College World Series odds set Sooners up to stun even more
Lawrence Super Regional prediction
On paper, it looks like this should be an evenly matched series. Kansas has the home-field advantage, but this is also the first time the Jayhawks have hosted a postseason game this late in the season. This is also a Kansas team that is heavily made up of junior-college transfers who have found their groove this season and will be playing in the biggest series of their college lives.
Can the Jayhawks handle the pressure and, conversely, can the Sooners create some of that pressure by getting out in front early and holding on to the lead? Pitching will be the difference maker in this best-of-three showdown. Neither pitching staff has been overpowering this season. The team with the best pitching performance in this series will be playing next week in Omaha, Nebraska.
Bummer Sooner! Kansas wins in three games and makes just its second College World Series appearance and first in 33 years.
Add us as a preferred source on Google