Just as Oklahoma softball closed out the regular-season home schedule hosting archrival Texas in a Red River showdown, the Sooner baseball team gets the same opportunity this weekend.
OU baseball (32-17, 13-14) is also hoping for a similar result, as its softball counterpart completed a series sweep of the then top-ranked Longhorns in the next-to-last series of the regular season.
Texas (40-10, 20-7) won't come to Norman as the No. 1 team in baseball, but it was sitting atop rankings this time just a week ago before losing two of three at home to Florida last weekend.
Both teams come into the final weekend of the 2025 regular season a bit shaky. After outscoring Missouri in a road series sweep a month ago, the Sooners have gone 3-6 in their last three series, including losing three straight at Kentucky last weekend.
For most of April and early May, Texas held the top spot in national rankings, but the Longhorns, now ranked No. 3, have hit a wall the last couple of weeks. They dropped two of three at home to Florida last weekend and were swept at Arkansas the week before that. Texas began the season ranked 19th in the country and moved up steadily from there, at one stage winning 17 consecutive games.
Oklahoma was ranked 17th in the country before losing three consecutive games to unranked Kentucky. The Sooners fell just outside the D1Baseball Top 25. This is the first time since Feb. 16, the second week of the season, that Oklahoma has not been ranked in the top 25 nationally.
This will be the 200th game in the Red River Rivalry baseball series between these two bitter rivals. Texas leads the all-time series 138-61. The Longhorns are 4-2 against the Sooners in their last two visits to Norman.
This is a Thursday-Saturday series. Game time for Thursday's series opener at L. Dale Mitchell Park, and again on Friday, is 6:30 p.m. CT. The start time on Saturday is 2 p.m. All three games will be on SEC Network+.
What fans need to know about OU-Texas baseball series
Oklahoma
- OU junior right-handed starter Kyson Witherspoon, the ace of the Sooner staff, ranks second in the SEC with a 2.45 ERA and is tied for the lead in wins with nine. He had won four straight starts before suffering his third loss of the season last weekend at Kentucky. He is listed as the probable starter in Game 1 of the Texas series on Thursday.
- Three Oklahoma players in the starting lineup are hitting above .300, led by junior catcher Easton Carmichael with a .318 batting average and a team-best 13 home runs and 52 runs batted in. Second baseman Kyle Branch is hitting .315, outfielder trey Gambill .303 and shortstop Jaxon Willits .301.
- The Sooners have won five of their nine SEC series. They have recorded one series sweep (Missouri) and been swept twice (at home to LSU and at Kentucky).
- Oklahoma is 8-10 in top-25 matchups this season. The Sooners were 4-1 in such situations a year ago, their final season in the Big 12.
Texas
- The Longhorns' success this season is largely attributable to outstanding pitching. As a staff, Texas leads the SEC with an ERA of 3.53, opponents' batting average of .217 and hits allowed at 347. Junior left-hander Luke Harrison leads the Texas starters with a 4-1 record in 13 starts and a 3.13 ERA. Senior Jared Spencer is the second-best starter with a 4-1 season mark and a 3.27 ERA. The Sooners will likely also see junior right-hander Ruger Riojas over the weekend. Riojas is 8-3 in eight starts with a 5.09 ERA.
- Like the Sooners, Texas also has four starters with batting averages above .300. Sophomore infielder and leadoff hitter Ethan Mendoza leads the team with a .332 average. Three Longhorns have double-digit home runs with catcher Ryan Galvin leading the team with 14. Galvan is one of three Longhorns with at least 13 home runs and 42 or more runs batted in.
- Both Texas and OU average nearly seven runs a game (6.4 for OU and Texas 6.9). Texas leads the SEC in runs allowed (4.1). By comparison, OU is giving up nearly five per game, which ranks eighth in the conference.
- Texas needs to win at least one game in the Oklahoma series and have Arkansas lose a game against Tennessee to clinch at least a share of the SEC regular-season championship. Any combination of two Longhorn wins vs. OU and two Arkansas losses over the weekend would give Texas the outright SEC championship.
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