The college baseball season hasn't even started yet, but experts are already liking how the Oklahoma Sooners could finish the year.
Baseball America's Peter Flaherty on Tuesday named OU as one of eight teams he believes could be a sleeper to make the College World Series in 2025. The other seven teams included Connecticut, Northeastern, Stanford, TCU, Troy, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.
What teams do you think we are sleeping on?😴https://t.co/hTS5UUyPZ8 pic.twitter.com/A2HNCtCRXc
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) January 30, 2025
Flaherty specifically mentioned the Sooners' starting rotation as a reason they could make a run in the postseason. OU returns MLB Draft prospect Kyson Witherspoon, who posted an 8-3 record and 3.71 ERA last season. Kyson's brother, Malachi Witherspoon, could also be in the starting lineup after serving as OU's primary closer last season.
The Sooners will also be better prepared than ever this postseason after their first run through the SEC, which is probably the best conference in college baseball. That SEC slate could make OU even more of a dark horse come May if the Sooners take some licks or struggle at any point during their conference schedule.
OU was bounced by UConn in regionals last season after winning the Big 12 regular season championship in the Sooners' final season in the conference. If the Sooners make it back to the NCAA tournament this upcoming season, it would be the fourth-straight year under coach Skip Johnson.
In 2022, the Sooners made an unprecedented run to the College World Series final with Johnson at the reigns, so the program has proven it can get hot late under Johnson.
The Sooners' will start their 2025 season with a series against Lehigh on Feb. 14 at the freshly updated L. Dale Mitchell Park.