An Oklahoma team that was basically an afterthought as the 12th and final team out of the SEC to make this year's NCAA Tournament has exploded out of nowhere to become the biggest storyline in college baseball this postseason.
On a perfect night for baseball at Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska, on Monday night, the surging Sooners took down another top national title contender, defeating No. 3 Georgia 4-3 to advance to the bracket final of the Men's College World Series.
Oklahoma finds itself one of just two teams -- North Carolina is the other -- that stands a perfect 2-0 at the critical halfway point of the MCWS and just one win away from advancing to the championship series. No one in their right mind saw this coming.
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After finishing 14-16 in the SEC and losing four consecutive conference series and seven of their last 10 regular-season games, Oklahoma has reeled off seven consecutive wins and an 8-1 postseason record, which includes a pair of victories each over No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech and No. 15 Kansas, both achieved on those team's home fields, along with wins over No. 7 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia in two MCWS outings.
Sooners becoming the main storyline in CWS
Oklahoma is the hottest thing going in the world of college baseball and is playing like it may not lose again this season. What has happened to flip the switch for the Sooners and turn them into the world-beaters they've become this postseason?
If it was a fine-tuned automobile, you'd say Oklahoma is humming on all cylinders. This is as close to a complete team as the Sooners have been all season. The offense has been contributing at a very high level ever since OU suffered its lone loss of the postseason -- 8-3 to host Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional. And the production has come from everyone in the starting lineup.
The Sooners have outscored their opponents 72-26 in their seven straight postseason wins, striking early for an 18-3 advantage in the first two innings. The average winning score during that run is 10.3 to 3.7. Oklahoma is batting a collective .339 in the postseason. That represents nearly a 60-point improvement over what the Sooners averaged in the regular season.
In nine postseason games, Oklahoma has failed to reach double digits in the hit column just twice, and almost 20% of those hits have left the yard. The Sooners entered the NCAA Tournament with 65 total home runs for the season. Their 21 postseason home runs represents 24.4% of the season's total, which is now at 86.
You don't win games on this big stage, however, and against quality teams that make it this far at this time of year on offense alone. The best teams complement their offense and run-scoring capability with a two or three strong starters and deep pitching staff.
Oklahoma struggled all season finding the right rotation, as well as reliability and consistency among its starting pitchers. It wasn't until the postseason that head coach Skip Johnson was able to lock in on a starting rotation that could deliver strong outings with higher consistency and winning results.
After the Sooners' regional championship in Atlanta, their two primary starters have been left-hander Cord Rager and right-hander Xander Mercurius, both freshmen. In OU's last four wins -- twice over Kansas and against Alabama and Georgia in the MCWS -- that duo on the mound has combined for 24.1 lockdown innings, allowing just four earned runs on 13 hits while striking out 29 hitters and issuing five walks. That figures out to a combined ERA of 1.49 in the two starts by the two young freshmen, who have not been the least bit intimidated by the big stage.
Not to be overlooked in the praise for the Oklahoma pitching staff this postseason are equally strong relief outings by former OU starter LJ Mercurius, brother of Xander, as well as closer Jackson Cleveland.
The confidence in the Oklahoma dugout is sky high and growing stronger by the day. This is definitely a different team than the one that ended the regular season, and they're on a mission with serious designs on not leaving Omaha without a national championship trophy.
The Sooners (40-22) earned another day off at the MCWS before facing Georgia again on Wednesday. The Bulldogs will have to beat Oklahoma twice in two days to stay in the national championship hunt. And that's proving hard to do. Right now, teams are having great difficulty beating the Sooners even once.
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