KU Jayhawks to face a familiar foe with spot in College World Series at stake
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Oklahoma leads the all-time series versus Kansas 175-97 entering Saturday.
- The best-of-three Super Regional winner will advance to the College World Series in Omaha.
- Oklahoma enters the Super Regional 36-22 after winning the Atlanta regional.
A familiar former longtime conference opponent is the obstacle standing in the way of the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team and the second College World Series appearance in school history.
Oklahoma, a former partner of KU in the Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and Big 12 Conferences — and common opponent from 1906 through 2024, when the Sooners split for the SEC — will take a 175-97 record in head-to-head matchups versus the Jayhawks into Saturday’s NCAA Super Regional opener at Hoglund Ballpark.
Game time for the battle between the teams that last met in 2024 is 5 p.m. Saturday, with a live broadcast on ESPN2. The squads will also play at 5 p.m. Sunday and a yet-to-be-determined time Monday, if a third game is needed to crown a Super Regional champ.
The winner of the best-of-three series will advance to the CWS June 12-22 in Omaha, Nebraska. Bracket play is June 12-18 and the best-of-three championship series June 20-22.
KU’s only trip to the CWS was 1993, when the Jayhawks went 0-2 in Omaha, losing to Texas A&M and Long Beach State. The Sooners have made 11 College World Series appearances, winning the national title in 1951 and 1994.
The Sooners (36-22) hold a 71-44 advantage over KU (45-16) in games played in Lawrence and 91-39 edge in Norman, Oklahoma. KU trails OU 9-4 in games at neutral sites.
The Jayhawks are 1-4 versus OU in the four-year Dan Fitzgerald era.
The teams last met in the 2024 Big 12 tournament in Arlington, Texas. OU stopped KU on successive nights, 7-5 and 8-6.
Oklahoma has won four games in a row, eight of nine and 14 of 16 against the Jayhawks. The last regular-season series between the schools took place in 2023, when OU defeated KU in two of three games at Norman.
OU fell to KU 8-2 in the opener, then downed the Jayhawks 11-6 and 7-4. In OU’s last trip to Lawrence (2022), the Sooners swept KU 15-2, 7-6 in 14 innings and 24-4 in a seven-inning run-rule rout.
The Sooners defeated Georgia Tech 15-8 on Sunday and 8-7 in 10 innings Monday in Atlanta to shock the No. 2 overall-seeded Yellow Jackets and advance to the KU Super Regional.
OU, which fell to LSU 6-2 on May 19 in the Sooners’ only game in the 2026 SEC postseason tournament, had finished in a tie for 11th in the league during the regular season with a record of 14-16.
OU lost seven of its final 10 games of the SEC regular season. The Sooners lost their last four series in the SEC.
OU went 1-2 vs. Florida, winning 4-3 then losing 10-5 and 13-2 in a three-game series May 1-3 in Gainesville, Florida. After that series, OU went 1-2 versus Arkansas on May 8-10 in Fayetteville. The Sooners lost 12-2 and 12-8 before winning the finale versus the Razorbacks, 15-10.
The Jayhawks also played Arkansas recently, winning 13-10 on Sunday and 5-3 on Saturday to place first in the Lawrence regional. The Sooners had 10 days between their one game in the SEC Tournament and the start of NCAA action.
“I think going through the conference year and the grind of the conference year, I think it (the break) is a great thing,” OU head coach Skip Johnson told on3.com. “Gives them a mental break. Get finals done and get their finals grades. Relax a little bit and then get back into it.”
Oklahoma had no players make all-SEC after a 14-16 showing in league play. OU center fielder Jason Walk was selected to the SEC’s all-defense squad.
Pitcher Cameron Johnson enters the Lawrence Super Regional with a 6-1 record and 4.36 ERA. UNLV transfer LJ Mercurius is 6-7 with a 5.05 ERA and made the Atlanta regional’s all-tourney team.
Jason Bodin is 5-1 with a 5.50 ERA. Cord Rager is 4-3 with a 5.74 ERA. Jackson Cleveland stands 3-2 with a 5.84 ERA and Michael Catalano is 3-4 with a 7.02 ERA.
Freshman lefthanded pitcher Rager, who missed several late-season appearances because of a latissimus muscle injury, returned to throw a career-high six innings with eight strikeouts in a win over Citadel in the opening round of the NCAAs.
OU has just two batters with double-digit home runs. Catcher Delten Lachance is hitting .333 with 14 homers and 58 RBIs. He was named to the Atlanta all-region team. Left fielder Brendan Brock is hitting .283 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs.
First baseman Dayton Tockey blasted a walkoff home run in the 10th inning of an 8-7 win over Georgia Tech that propelled OU to the regional title The Sooners’ running attack is led by Brock and third baseman Camden Johnson. The two have swiped an identical 26 bases in an identical 29 attempts.
Right fielder Dasan Harris, leading hitter on the squad with a .367 batting average, is 18-of-19 in stolen bases; Designated hitter Trey Gambill is 16-of-19 and Walk is 14-of-19.
Shortstop Jaxon Willits (.296, six homers, 48 RBI) also earned all-tourney honors in Atlanta.
Ninth year coach Johnson has directed OU to six NCAA appearances. The Sooners are 101-86 all-time in NCAA tournament games, have appeared in 11 College World Series (most recently in 2022) and won national championships in 1951 and 1994.
“They are really athletic, can run. They’re great defensively. It’s a very solid lineup. They play really good baseball,” said KU coach Dan Fitzgerald. “They have a great pitching staff, probably similar comments as to everyone who is playing in the Super Regionals.
“Their coaching staff has been there and done that. Yes, they’re just good on both sides of the ball, very similar to some of the teams we played in the Big 12, in terms of they run but they also have power. Yes they’re really good, and it’ll be a great challenge for us.”
This story was originally published June 3, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "KU Jayhawks to face a familiar foe with spot in College World Series at stake."
