Oklahoma and Tennessee enter the final weekend of the regular season tied for 10th place in the SEC standings. That tie will be broken this weekend as the Sooners and Volunteers meet for three games at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma ranks third from the bottom in the SEC this season in run production, averaging 6.6 per game overall but just 5.4 against SEC teams. The problem is, the Sooners are also among the worst teams in the conference -- only one other team, Vanderbilt, is worse than Oklahoma -- in runs allowed with 7.2 per game.
The importance of the Oklahoma-Tennessee Bricktown Showdown is reflected in the potential movement in the standings -- which of course determines the seedings for next week's SEC Baseball Tournament -- that could be affected by the outcome of this series. Depending on how this series evolves, both teams have the opportunity to move up as high as No. 6 or drop down as low as 13.
The Sooners (31-18, 13-14) and Volunteers (35-18, 13-14) head into the final weekend of the regular season heading in slightly different directions. Oklahoma is 3-6 in its last three SEC series against then-No. 11 Auburn, No. 25 Florida and No. 17 Arkansas. Tennessee, on the other hand, has won five of its last four conference games, but that includes series wins over both Alabama and Texas, two of the top four teams in the SEC this season.
This weekend will mark the first three-game series between Oklahoma and Tennessee in baseball. The Sooners and Volunteers have met just four times previously, and all four games have been in conjunction with early season tournaments and at neutral sites. OU has won three of the four games. The last meeting between the two teams was on the opening weekend of the 2024 season in the Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, Texas, with Oklahoma prevailing 5-1 in 10 innings.
All three games in the Oklahoma-Tennessee series can be streamed on SEC Network+. First pitch on both Thursday and Friday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT and at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
What to know about Tennessee
Tennessee ranks 9th in the SEC, hitting .267 as a team in SEC games. Three Volunteer starters are hitting above .300, led by freshman Trent Grindinger at .384. Junior lead-off hitter Garrett Wright is hitting .346 and senior outfielder Reese Chapman is batting .306 with 10 home runs and 40 runs batted in. Junior Henry Ford leads the team in both home runs (16) and RBI (50), and is one of five Volunteers with double-digit home runs this season.
Sophomore right-hander Tegan Kuhns is the ace of the Tennessee pitching staff and the scheduled starter to face the Sooners in the series opener on Thursday night. Kuhns has an overall record of 4-4 and a 3.12 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 72.0 innings. Since the start of April, however, he has been one of the best pitchers in the SEC. He is 3-1 in April and May with a 2.21 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 36.2 innings pitched. In addition, Kuhns was named SEC Pitcher of the Week this week for a 15-strikeout performance last weekend against Texas.
Tennessee has committed the fewest errors (25) of any team in the country and leads all of NCAA Division I baseball with a program-best .986 fielding percentage.
The Volunteers are ranked 24th this week in the Baseball America Top 25 and are 24-2 when they lead after six innings this season.
What to know about Oklahoma
Oklahoma dropped out of the D1 Baseball Top 25 this week after losing two of three to Arkansas last weekend. The Sooners have been ranked in the top 25 for most of this season but had dropped to No. 24 a week ago. OU is No. 16 this week in the Baseball America Top 25 and that same publication has projected the Sooners as one of 10 SEC teams that are locks to make this year's NCAA Tournament.
Oklahoma has lived this season playing small ball. The Sooners have the third-fewest home runs through all games (57), 48 fewer than this week's opponent, Tennessee. Only one OU player (junior Brendan Bock) has hit as many as 10 home runs.
Sooner pitching this season, particularly among the starting rotation, has been a troublesome hit-and-miss proposition. OU has a staff ERA of 5.23 overall, but that number has ballooned to 6.88 in conference games and second-worst in the SEC. Head coach Skip Johnson has announced a change in the starting rotation for this weekend, going with left-hander Cameron Johnson (6-1, 3.53 ERA), followed by Xander Mercurius (0-0, 5.65), who will make his first start of the season on Saturday, and left-hander Cord Rager (3-3, 5.32) in Sunday's series finale.
While Tennessee won its series this season against both Alabama and Texas, taking two of three games in both series, Oklahoma was 1-2 against Alabama and was swept in three games at Texas.
Prediction
Sooner pitching holds the key to Oklahoma's series against Tennessee. OU has won four of its five SEC series this season, but has not won a series since sweeping Missouri a month ago. Tennessee is playing better baseball right now and the Sooners are giving up too many runs. The Sooners get one win to avoid a season-first series sweep, but the Volunteers win the series two games to one and jump over OU in the final conference standings.
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