Thursday at 6pm CT on SEC Network, Friday at 6pm CT on SECN+, and Saturday at 1pm CT on SECN+.
It’s back to back SEC-Big XII Challenges for The Diamond Dores, but at least they’ll be at The Hawk this time. Speaking of the new-ish Big XII teams in the SEC, absolutely no one is shocked that Tejas is a beast, or that aTm alternates between ass and mouth, or that Missourah (spits) has turned completely unrecognizable from a program that used to get pitchers like Max Sherzer and Tanner Houck into a team where
if they win a conference series, it’s a Scarlet Letter-esque mark of shame on the other team… but did anyone expect freaking Oklahoma to be consistently good???
I sure as hell didn’t. This is not the first time we’ve faced them when they’ve been ranked higher than us, and I sure as hell didn’t expect that, either.
That said, we are currently beating them in the conference standings…
The OK Boomers (#16)
‘26 Record: 22-10 (5-7 SEC). In OOC play, The OK Boomers swept through some of their former conference foes in that Shriner’s College Showdown we didn’t do so well in—beating Tejas Tech, Pistol Pete, and The Tejas Christian Horny Toads. That’s… very good. The won four more (a midweek over Diego Pavia’s former employer and a series sweep over Coppin State) before dropping their first to academic powerhouse Arizona State. They would split that mini-series and then take 2 of 3 from Gonzaga. They’d take the next five over Dallas Baptist, Santa Clara, and UT-Arlington to close out the OOC schedule at 15-2.
In conference play, they took 2 of 3 against aTm, despite losing the run differential, and did the same damn thing at LSU. Then run differential lady luck turned on them and they got swept by Tejas, losing the final two games walk-off style in the 10th. They then returned home and dropped 2 of 3 to The Gumps.
In short, they’re under .500 in conference, but many teams are likely to be swept by Tejas this year. I’d put them in about the same category as the team we just played—aTm.
Player to Watch: #7 Jr. SS Jaxon “Jax-On/Jax-Off” Willits (.320/.427/.505 with 8 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, and 25 RBI) has been The OK Boomer’s best player for some time now, though his power stroke is not there this year thus far. He’s not a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, but he did tank 9 of them last year. He’s on track to do less than half that.
Anchor of Gold Tiger Beat Hottest Pitcher: #31 Jr. LHP Cameron “The Upper Marlboro Southpaw” Johnson (4-1; 2.97 ERA; 12.88 K/9). Though he’s had some rough outings against aTm and LSU, the lefty LSU transfer reasserted himself against Tejas, and then got the only OK Boomer pitching win of the past 2 SEC series against Ramajama. He was their Ace at the beginning of the year, but has been their day two guy recently. I’m going to put the other guy—#22 Jr. RHP UNLV Transfer LJ “Mercurial” Mercurius (5-3; 5.11 ERA; 11.92 K/9)—in today’s likely starters, but it wouldn’t shock me if they swap Johnson back into the #1 spot. Yeah, they bought this year’s pitching staff, as they lost those pitching twins they had last year to the draft.
Andrew VU ‘04 2026 All-Name Team Nominee: Oh that’s got to go to the younger brother of the pitcher we’ll likely see tonight: #23 Fr. RHP Xander “Mercurial X” Mercurius, who is one of the better OK Boomer relievers. How is that a real human’s name and not a billionaire Marvel villain?
On the Mound
Thursday @ 6:00pm on SEC Network
Vanderbilt #39 Jr. RHP Connor “The Spice” Fennell (2-1; 4.40 ERA; 11.84 K/9)
vs. OK Boomer #22 Jr. RHP UNLV Transfer LJ “Mercurial” Mercurius (5-3; 5.11 ERA; 11.92 K/9)
We Need To Talk Briefly About Our Rotation Decision
OU bought two starting pitchers in the open market, and their usual Day 3 starter—#99 Fr. RHP Cord “The Angry Connection” Rager—didn’t pitch last weekend due to a “tender lat.” Looks like Corbs is betting Cord will have an extensionsive absence, and is going for wins on Games One and Three. I do not hate this strategy, provided whomever he starts on Friday can give good innings. Nadeau and a completely depleted pen would not exactly be an advantage. Of course, Aiden Stillman and The Miller Green Preservation Society are back from injury, so we’re better stocked in the pen than we have been all season.
The Lineup
See you in the comments.
