Whatever train the Oklahoma baseball team is riding these past two weeks -- or since the calendar flipped from May to June -- they need to continue to stay on it.
Aside from perhaps Troy, one of only two teams with 30 or more losses to ever make it to the Men's College World Series, the Sooners are the most unlikely of the eight teams that are in Omaha competing for a national championship based on their regular-season resume.
Sure, there may still have been quite a bit of doubt about the Sooners' postseason legitimacy, even after Oklahoma surprised, even stunned, many in the college baseball world by surviving elimination twice against No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech in winning the Atlanta Regional. But then the Sooners rolled into Lawrence, Kansas, and blew the No. 15 Kansas Jayhawks off their home field, outscoring the hosts 21-3 in a two-game Super Regional sweep.
No. 7 Alabama latest top-seeded team Oklahoma mowed down in MCWS run
Now you can add No. 7 Alabama to the list of top-seeded teams Oklahoma has wreaked destruction over on its improbable 2026 postseason run. The Sooners attacked the Crimson Tide early and often, coming through with timely, productive hitting up and down the lineup, and combined that with an outstanding pitching performance by freshman Cord Rager on the way to a 9-0 whitewash of the Tide in the opening round of the MCWS.
"I thought they were relentless offensively," said Alabama head coach Rob Vaughn in his postgame comments. "They got us on the mat and didn't let up."
And that's been the winning formula throughout this postseason for this transformed and highly motivated OU team. For whatever reason, the Sooners have come together in the postseason and are playing as a complete team -- in the batter's box, on the pitching mound and in the field defensively. And its has paid off in six consecutive Oklahoma postseason wins and a matchup with No. 3 Georgia (52-12), the class of the SEC this season, in the winner's bracket of the MCWS on Monday night.
While Oklahoma's postseason performance has pleasantly surprised many fans, it's easy to forget
that this Oklahoma team was ranked as high as No. 8 in the country earlier this season. Now they're playing like it.
Oklahoma continued its torrid hitting in the MCWS win over Alabama on Saturday. The Sooners collected 11 hits off of four Alabama pitchers with eight of the nine hitters in the lineup reaching base at least once with a hit. OU hit .556 in the game with runners in scoring position.
As good as the Oklahoma offense was on Saturday, however, the pitching performance by Sooner starter Cord Rager was even better.
The freshman left-hander worked seven strong innings, allowing no runs on three hits, all singles, striking out a season-tying eight hitters and walking no one. It was Rager's third consecutive start of six or more innings, all of which have come in the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the postseason, he had not gone longer than five innings in an outing.
The shutout performance, the third by an Oklahoma team in the Men's College World Series and the first since 1975, was the largest shutout victory in the opening game of the MCWS since 2002.
Another new-found dimension of Oklahoma's game in the postseason is the team's sudden power surge, a prime reason the Sooners have increased their run production to 10 runs per game, compared to 6.7 during the regular season.
The Sooners hit 66 home runs in 53 regular-season games, 12th out of 16 SEC teams. They've hit 19 in the postseason, including one by Lachance in the win over Alabama, and have left the yard a total of 36 times in the last 14 games. Lachance's home run blast on Saturday was his fourth of the postseason, his 16th of the season and his 12th since May 2. He had hit just four home runs in his first 43 games.
Senior first baseman Dayton Tockey has also been red hot on the long ball front. Five of his eight home runs for the season have been in the postseason, including the walk-off home run that eliminated Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional.
When Oklahoma and Georgia meet in the MCWS winner's bracket at 6 p.m. CT Monday, it will be the first time the two teams have faced each other this season. The Sooners and Bulldogs split four games a year ago with Georgia taking two of three in the regular season and OU defeating the Dawgs in the SEC Tournament.
What to know about Georgia
- SEC regular-season and tournament champion Georgia (52-12) is making its first MCWS appearance since 2008 and its seventh in program history. The Bulldogs have one national title to their credit, in 1990. They were runner-up in 2008. They are a perfect 6-0 in the NCAA Tournament after defeating Texas 7-1 in the Dawg's opening MCWS game on Saturday. Georgia has won 20 of its last 22 games.
- Georgia's .324 team batting average leads the SEC and ranks fourth-best in Division I baseball this season. Three Bulldog regulars are hitting .364 or better, led by junior catcher/outfielder Daniel Jackson with a .388 average and a team-high 31 home runs. Jackson is the winner of the 2026 Dick Howser Trophy as the nation's best college baseball player, as well as SEC Player of the Year. Georgia leads the nation with 175 home runs. In addition to Jackson, four other Bulldogs have 19 or more fence-clearing blasts this season.
- In addition to leading the nation in home runs, Georgia ranks second in slugging percentage (624) and fourth in runs scored per game (9.4).
- Georgia has held teams to three runs or less 31 times this season.
Prediction and what's to follow
The loser of Monday's game between Oklahoma and Georgia will be faced with a quick turnaround, having to play the winner of the Monday elimination game between Texas and Alabama. Otherwise, the winner of OU vs. Georgia will receive a day off and not have to play again until Wednesday. Either way, the Sooners are guaranteed of either an MCWS rematch with Alabama or Red River Rivalry against archrival Texas after Monday.
OU's pitching choice(s) and the ability to hold down the high-octane Georgia offense will be a prime factor in the outcome and which team advances to the quarterfinal round. Georgia 9, Oklahoma 5
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