Sooners stay perfect in CWS with win over Georgia

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By: John Rohde for SoonerSports.com

OMAHA, Neb. — A pair of flourishing freshman pitchers have helped push Oklahoma (40-22) to a 2-0 start at the College World Series.

Freshman righthander Xander Murcurius handcuffed one of the nation’s premier offenses for 7.1 innings in a pulsating 4-3 victory over No. 3 Georgia (52-13) on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 24,455 at Charles Schwab Field.

Senior righthander Jackson Cleveland meandered his way through the final five outs to seal the win for the Sooners.

Two days earlier, OU freshman lefthander Cord Rager shut down Alabama in a 9-0 opening-round shutout.

It marks the fourth time in history the Sooners have gone 2-0 at the MCWS. The previous three times, they advanced to the national championship game.

Teams that start 2-0 have gone on to win 29 of the last 35 national titles.

OU will now face the winner of Tuesday night’s elimination game between Texas and Georgia.

The Sooners’ next game will start at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. OU would have to lose twice to not advance to the best-of-3 national championship series.

The Bulldogs entered the game as the national leader with 175 home runs compared to 84 for the Sooners (tied for 43^rd nationally). Georgia had three home runs Monday, each of them solo. The difference-maker was a two-run, first-inning homer from OU junior shortstop Jaxon Willits, who finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs.

In the longest outing of his career, Mercurius (1-2) threw 104 total pitches, 72 for strikes. He scattered six hits, had a career-high nine strikeouts, two walks and allowed three runs (all coming on solo homers) before leaving with one out in the top of the eighth inning.

Senior righthander Jackson Cleveland came on in relief of Mercurius and escaped the inning on a deep fly ball to right after surrendering a single and walk.

With OU clinging to a 4-3 lead, Cleveland remained in the game for the ninth and delivered several pitches in the mid-75 mph range while mixing in an occasional fastball that reached 94 mph.

Mercurius’ first 15 appearances this season all came in relief. Monday was just his fourth start and he wound up posting his first victory at OU.

“I didn’t do it by myself. I know that,” Mercurius said in an ESPN postgame interview on the field. “(Catcher) Deiten Lachance back there called a great game. (Sooners head coach) Skip Johnson called a great game. Everybody called a great game. I’m just glad I got the opportunity to go out there and do my stuff.”

The tenacious, 5-foot-10, 186-pound Mercurius boldly relied on his fastball against the powerful Bulldogs.

“Honestly, I just knew I had to lock in and do it for me team,” Mercurius said. “I’m just glad they gave me the run support to go out there and pitch freely … I just kept pitching with conviction and just trusted all my stuff.”

Mercurius’ last pitch came against unanimous All-American catcher Daniel Jackson, soon expected to be named the Golden Spikes Award winner as national player of the year.

Jackson launched Mercurius’ final fastball 447 feet deep into the bleachers in left-center for his 32^nd home run of the season. Until that swing, Jackson had been 0-for-3 with two strikeouts against Mercurius.

n the most dramatic ending imaginable, Jackson came to the plate with two on and two out in the ninth against Cleveland. On a 2-1 count, Jackson popped out to center field on a hanging curveball.

The Bulldogs entered with 10 comeback wins when trailing by 3+ runs.

Cleveland earned his ninth save this season, allowing two hits, with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit-by-pitch in 1.2 innings of relief.

“All I have to do is take it all in, man,” Mercurius said. “It’s honestly surreal. I got to do it in front of all these people. I’m just so happy that my team was able to do it, to pull it off. For Cleveland to come out of the pen and finish it off for us is great.”

Jason Walk led off the contest with double off the wall in right-center, reaching base for the 19 straight game and later scored on a Lachance groundout to short.

Willits promptly followed with his two-run blast off the top of the wall in right-center to give OU a 3-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Sooners leftfielder Brendan Brock hit his 13th homer of the season with a 393-foot blast to right-center to give the Sooners a 4-1 advantage.

“I’m really proud of our team for getting some big hits at some times at the right time, and Xander really throwing, and Cleveland coming in and just trusting the process and taking it one pitch at a time,” Johnson said. “Really proud of these guys.”

Georgia righthander Caden Aoki (9-2) went the distance and suffered just his second loss, allowing eight hits and striking out six with no walks in 115 pitches.. Pitchers of Record
Win: Xander Mercurius (1-2)
Loss: Caden Aoki (9-2)
Save: Jackson Cleveland (9)

Statistical Snapshot
Xander Mercurius | W, 7.1 IP, 6H, 3ER, 2BB, 9Ks, 104 pitches
Jackson Cleveland | SV, 1.2 IP, 2H, BB, 2K
Jaxon Willits | 3-for-4, 2RBIs, HR
Jason Walk | 2-for-4, R, 2B

Notes

The last time both starters went seven or more innings in a College World Series game was in 2023 when Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder met LSU’s Paul Skenes in the championship series.
Brothers Kyle Branch (OU) and Kolby Branch (UGA) squared off in the first instance of brothers playing against one another in a College World Series game
It was only Aoki’s second loss all season in games in which he’s started against an SEC opponent
Oklahoma snapped Georgia’s winning streak at nine games
Mercurius’ longest outing of the season prior to Monday was his 5.2 innings against Georgia Tech in the regional. He broke 100 pitches for just the second time on the year as well.
Walk extended his reached base streak to 19 games, a team best. He also tallied his 15th multi-hit game
Cord Rager and Xander Mercurius have combined for 14.1 innings of the 18 played at the College World Series, going 2-0 with 17 strikeouts and only three earned runs in that stretch.
OU held UGA to 0-12 with runners on and 0-3 with runners in scoring position, with those three instances coming in the final two innings
OU is 11-3 in one-run games
Oklahoma is outscoring opponents, 76-43, in the first inning this season