Oklahoma jumped out to a 19-5 start to the 2026 college baseball season and a No. 8 ranking nationally. But it's been grind for the Sooners since that point, navigating through the extremely arduous SEC schedule.
The Sooners (32-21) went 13-16 over the second half of the season and just 3-7 in their final 10 games of the regular season, but managed to do enough to make it into the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive season and for the 43rd time overall.
Oklahoma will open up NCAA postseason play as the No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Regional, which is hosted by No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech.
Read more: Oklahoma baseball keeps NCAA Tournament streak alive with Atlanta trip
Oklahoma is 15-10 in NCAA postseason action over the last four seasons, and in 2022 advanced to the College World Series, where the Sooners lost to Ole Miss in the championship series. OU has won 13 regional titles in baseball, played in five Super Regionals and made 11 trips to the College World Series in program history.
The Sooners struggled over the second half of the 2026 season, but this is a new season and everybody starts out with a clean slate. Also, the fact that Oklahoma plays in the toughest conference in college baseball -- the SEC is sent 12 teams to the NCAA Tournament (25 in the past two seasons) -- should be of benefit to the Sooners going into postseason play.
Oklahoma and The Citadel (35-24) will play in the second game of the Atlanta Regional on Friday, following the matchup between Georgia Tech (48-9) and University of Illinois-Chicago (27-27-1). The Oklahoma game is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.
What to know about The Citadel
The Citadel is a member of the Southern Conference, finishing in fifth place this season with an 11-10 conference record and a No. 41 RPI ranking nationally. Oklahoma and The Citadel have met just once before in baseball, in 2014, with OU posting a 9-7 win in a game played in Orlando, Florida.
The Citadel has a team batting average of .275, seventh best in the Southern Conference, but leads the conference in pitching with a staff ERA of 4.70. Senior Michael Gibson leads The Citadel in hitting with a .394 average and 40 RBI. Sophomore outfielder Christian Stratis (.342 with 41 RBI) is the only other player in the Bulldog lineup hitting above .300. Zach Hunt is the home run leader with 10.
The Citadel's two best pitchers are Will Holmes, with a 7-4 record in 16 starts, a 4.38 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 88.1 innings, and right-hander Andrew Buffkin, who is 6-2 on the season with a 2.62 ERA in 21 appearances (seven starts) over 68.2 innings.
The Bulldogs faced two SEC teams during the season. They were swept in a three-game road series against Kentucky and defeated South Carolina twice, 8-3 and 4-0.
What to know about Georgia Tech
If the Sooners are able to get by The Citadel on Friday, they will likely go up against Georgia Tech, the regional host, on Saturday. Georgia Tech (48-9) is the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament champion this season and enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, the team's highest seed in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
Oklahoma owns a 6-1 record all-time in games against Georgia Tech, the most notable win coming in the 1994 College World Series championship game. The Sooners won that game 13-5 to capture the national championship, their second in program history.
Georgia Tech led the ACC this season with a team batting average of .359, 116 home runs and an average of 10.7 runs per game. Two Yellowjackets are hitting above .400: junior second baseman Jarren Advincula leads the team, hitting .431 with nine home runs and 63 runs batted in; junior catcher Vahn Lackey is hitting .410 with 18 home runs and 75 runs driven in. First baseman Ryan Zuckerman wields the big power bat for the Yellowjackets with 23 home runs and 76 RBI.
Georgia Tech outscored its ACC opponents this season 289-136, the largest run differential in ACC history (+153).
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma is ranked No. 24 in the final NCAA RPI with a strength of schedule ranked No. 6 nationally. The Sooners have six wins this season against top-25 RPI teams, along with 10 against teams in the top 50 of the RPI.
Junior outfielder Dasan Harris, junior catcher Deiten Lachance and junior third baseman Camden Johnson are three Sooner regulars hitting above .300 entering the postseason. Harris leads the group with a .356 overall average. Lachance is hitting .315 with 51 RBI. All 12 of his home runs have come in the last 21 games. Johnson has been the most consistent bat of the three in recent weeks. Over his last 17 games, he is hitting .403 with 15 RBI, 13 runs scored and 10 extra-base hits.
Starting pitching has been a real issue for Oklahoma over the last half of the season. The Sooners have deployed six starters on the weekend throughout the season. Left-hander Cameron Johnson has been the best of the group going 6-1 in 14 starts with a 4.02 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 53.2 innings. Left-hander LJ Mercurius, a transfer from UNLV, has been the other workhorse among the OU starters. He has a record of 6-7 in 12 starts with an ERA of 5.64 in 60.2 innings. He has also given up a staff-high 12 home runs, though, to the opposition.
This is the seventh time in Oklahoma's last nine NCAA postseason appearances that the Sooners will play a regional at an ACC school.
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