How We've Changed: Alabama, Oklahoma Both Different Teams Ahead of CWS Rematch

OMAHA, Neb. — Alabama and Oklahoma are set to kick off the action on Saturday at the College World Series as each program looks to avoid falling into the loser's bracket on the first day. The Crimson Tide and Sooners meet for the fourth time this season, after Alabama traveled to Norman and took two of three in an April series.

"I think both teams are incredibly different right now," Rob Vaughn said. "They're playing great baseball right now. They're as hot as can be right now. The team itself is just very different.

"We didn't see Court [Rager] back there. He was hurt and missed that start. We didn't face him. I don't know if that's announced, but I assume who we're going to see on Saturday. We'll see. Saw Mercurius, the younger [Xander] Mercurius come out of the bullpen with electric, felt like he was throwing 15 pitches, they were all for strikes, at 100. Electricity out of him."

Oklahoma is expected to throw freshman left-handed pitcher Court Rager on Saturday after not seeing him in April. Rager is 5-3 in 14 starts, striking out 81 batters and walking 19 with a 5.20 ERA in 64 innings of action this season. The Sooner starter missed three weeks of action to open the month of April and avoided the Crimson Tide.

"At the time Dayton Lachance was, that guy flailed at every slider you threw at the plate," continued Vaughn. "Now look at him, you're like, golly, he had no homers when we played him then. But he's got 15 now. He's catching every day. [Brendan] Brock was catching then. I think Brock's been playing more outfield now. [Dayton] Tockey was hitting about .170 at the time. Not playing. Pinch hit in the Sunday game. And now hit the huge walkoff homer at Georgia Tech. Teams are just very different than when we played a month ago."

Oklahoma went 17-12 after its series against Alabama, going one-and-done, just like the Crimson Tide in the SEC Tournament. But the battle-tested Sooners have run a postseason gauntlet, defeating 2-seed Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional and 15-seeded Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional to get back to Omaha for the first time since 2022.

Sooners head coach Skip Johnson pointed to his team's perseverance throughout the season in explaining the recent run of success. He said his players have gone from thinking they are good, to believing they are good, which has led to confidence and positive results.

"They've grown the most being selfless, helping each other," Johnson said. "That's what I said earlier. I think that's where they've grown the most. They've played really good baseball. We finally played -- we hit and played defense the other day. We haven't done that besides the first weekend. We played really good the first weekend.

"I was, like, I was kind of worried about it a little bit. I'm, like, man, how do you do that? Usually there's something. We go out and punch out 10 or 11 against three really good Big 12 teams. Really good Big 12 teams. Any of those three teams could be here today. They just really kept grinding and kept persevering. They believed a lot in each other. Now they believe. It's been fun to watch."

The Crimson Tide players echoed their coaches sentiments ahead of the first College World Series game as 10 weeks ago may has well have been 10 years ago as far as baseball goes.

"It's been a grind, honestly. It was a really good series, but it was so long ago that I feel like both teams are a little different now," Alabama third baseman Jason Torres said. ",They've had some people stepping up lately, and so have we. Eric Hines, I don't think was playing much when we played them. We had some different pieces that were in there. Our pitching has been really good down the stretch. I feel like it's going to be a little bit different for both teams."

Hines started his first SEC game for the Crimson Tide against Oklahoma in the Sunday contest, reaching base safely twice with one hit and one hit by pitch. He's since emerged as one of Alabama's biggest bats in the lineup, providing a spark to the back end of the batting order.

Alabama starting pitcher Tyler Fay went six innings, allowing four runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and a walk in April against the Sooners, but his mind immediately went to how dangerous the Sooners were, giving credit to a teammate who saved his stat line.

"I remember they were a really good team," Fay said. "I gave up, I think, four runs, should've been seven, but Brady [Neal] robbed a homer for me. Helped me out. Yeah, they're a really good team. It'll be a tough matchup, but I'm excited for it."

Johnson complimented Alabama's pitching and mentioned the Crimson Tide's marquee players, but admitted he'd had his hands full after the April series and hadn't followed the progression of Alabama's season, instead focused on the Sooners' opponenets week to week.

"I really hadn't watched them [Alabama] the last month," Johnson said. "I've been trying to deal with other teams week to week. They're really good, well-coached. They've got a really good pitching staff, really good Friday night starter, one of the best shortstops in the country. An older team. I mean, I think the right fielder is also a big-time hitter. I mean, they're really good. Looking forward to the opportunity to go out and play against them on Saturday. It's an opportunity. There's no doubt about that. They're good. I think we've been really good. I think these guys are starting to -- they thought they were good, and now they're starting to believe that they're good."

The April series goes out the window this weekend as the College World Series kicks off for the Crimson Tide for the first time in 27 years on Saturday. The Sooners will throw a pitcher the Crimson Tide hasn't seen and Johnson has optimized his lineup for the biggest stage. Alabama's standout freshman has spent the last 10 weeks marinating for this moment, while the team as a whole has dramatically improved on the defensive end.

"Now do we know style of play," Vaughn said. "Do they know our style of play? Absolutely. But I think both teams are very different teams than they are today, which is a sign of a Skip Johnson-coached team. That's -- it's not an accident that Skip's been here a lot with different programs. His assistant is a head coach. That guy is an unbelievable baseball coach, and I think he's got his team playing their best baseball at the right time. And so, man, we know we're going to have our hands full. I think like I said, I think we've got a pretty good idea of style of play, but man, that was also, they didn't get a lot of Eric Hines. That was really his coming-out party. That was his first, I think, weekend starting was there. So we're a little bit different on our side, too. So you get two teams playing really consistent, really good baseball right now, battling out at one or 2:00, whatever time it is on Saturday,on the biggest stage. So should be a heck of a show."

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Threads and Blue Sky for the latest news.

Alabama Crimson Tide On SI

Add us as a preferred source on Google