Oklahoma cracks top 25 after undefeated weekend at Shriners
College baseball’s opening weekend has come and gone and has given fans a lot to chew on after an exciting weekend of baseball. Among a number of fun matchups, the Shriners Showdown at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, featured the highest level of competition as #7 Arkansas, #10 TCU, #23 Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech all faced off throughout the weekend.
With Arkansas coming off of a College World Series appearance, an SEC championship for Vanderbilt a year ago, and TCU with super high expectations, it was those three ranked teams expected to run the showcase. However, it was the unranked Oklahoma Sooners that left Arlington as the lone undefeated team. And not only did they win all three of their games, but they did it in rather convincing fashion as they outscored their opponents by a score of 32-6. They took down Texas Tech by a score of 10-3 in the series opener on Friday, followed that up with a 10-1 win over their in-state rival Oklahoma State, and then capped off the weekend by beating TCU 12-2 in the battle of undefeateds in the final game of the series on Sunday night.
The Sooners did not come into 2026 with high expectations as they lost a lot of talent to the draft in 2025. Seven of the eight players they lost to the draft were experienced pitchers which included their entire weekend rotation - Kyson and Malachi Witherspoon, and Cade Crossland. They also lost their starting catcher, Easton Carmichael who was one of the best backstops in the nation. They were able to replace some of the production they lost in the transfer portal, but they still came into the season with a noticeably weaker roster than their 2025 squad. Projected to finish towards the bottom of the SEC this year, Oklahoma showed up to Arlington ready to prove those projections wrong and establish themselves as a team that will be in the mix in 2026.
The success for the Sooners over the weekend started with the offense as they managed to put up a 10 spot in each game. Senior outfielder Trey Gambill led the way as he homered in each of the first two games and finished the series 4-7 with six walks to zero strikeouts. He was one of five hitters to finish the series with a 1.000+ OPS, the other four being juniors Brendan Brock (1.455), Deiten Lachance (1.045), Jaxon Willits (1.007), and Camden Johnson (1.192).
On the other side of the ball, the pitching was just as productive as the offense as opposing teams were limited to just six total runs. Junior left-hander Cam Johnson took the ball on Friday against Texas Tech, delivering six innings while allowing just one unearned run, three hits, and three walks to 11 strikeouts. Johnson is a big up arrow prospect ahead of the 2026 MLB Draft and should continue to get the ball on Fridays for the Sooners. Junior right-hander and UNLV transfer LJ Mercurius was just as dominant in Saturday’s game. He threw 5.1 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits and two walks while striking out 12. Freshman left-hander Cord Rager was given quite the challenge on Sunday as he had to face TCU, the best lineup in the showcase. He answered by throwing five innings while allowing just one earned run on two hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts.
Following the strong weekend, Oklahoma is the only team that came into the weekend unranked to now be ranked on the Baseball Focus college baseball top 25 following the weekly update. There wasn’t going to be much movement on the top 25 as most teams were playing lower level mid-major opponents, and are nowhere near in mid-season form. It will take a few weeks before significant movement on the top 25 is warranted. However, Oklahoma’s dominant performance at the highest level showcase this weekend was worth a nod on the top 25 as they jumped Vanderbilt, Southern Miss, Miami, Kentucky, and Wake Forest who fell out of the top 25 after coming into the weekend ranked at #24 but dropping two of three. You can find the full top 25 here.
