No. 14 Oklahoma Looking to Stay Hot in Road Series vs. No. 11 Auburn

The Sooners are in a favorable position after the first six weeks of conference play.

Oklahoma, ranked No. 14 in D1Baseball’s latest rankings, is tied for fourth in the SEC at 10-8. The Sooners are right around the cutline for hosting an NCAA Tournament regional, currently No. 18 in RPI.

For Oklahoma to stay in the mix for hosting, the Sooners must play well over the final four weeks of the regular season — and a couple of road wins this weekend would go a long way.

OU will battle No. 11 Auburn in a three-game conference road series, starting Friday. The Sooners have won five conference games in a row heading into the series.

The Tigers are one of the four teams tied with Oklahoma for fourth place in the SEC. Most recently, they won two games of three against Florida on the road.

Auburn has arguably the best pitching staff in the SEC. The Tigers lead the conference with a team ERA of 3.27, and they have walked a conference-low 98 batters in 2026.

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Two of the Tigers’ arms, Jake Marciano and Andreas Alvarez, rank in the top five of the SEC with ERAs at 1.91 and 1.96, respectively. Auburn’s Sunday starter, Alex Petrovic, has also pitched exceptionally throughout the year, entering this weekend’s series with a 2.82 ERA.

While the Tigers’ pitching stands out, they are also a strong offensive team.

Though the Tigers have only hit 43 home runs (which puts them 14th in the SEC), Auburn ranks fifth in team batting average at .300. Two of Auburn’s batters — Eric Guevara and Brandon McCraise — are hitting above .350.

Last weekend, Oklahoma got quality outings from LJ Mercurius and Cameron Johnson, its Friday and Saturday starters, respectively. Mercurius gave up three earned runs in six innings in Game 1 against Mizzou, while Johnson allowed two hits and zero runs during 5 ⅓ innings of work in Game 2.

It’s imperative for those two to pitch well again if the Sooners hope to win the road series.

The Sooners also must bring an offensive approach like the one they had against Missouri.

In three games, Oklahoma outscored the Tigers 21-10. The Sooners hit seven home runs over the course of the weekend, blasting four of them in Game 1.

Auburn is a much tougher test than Missouri was. The Tigers are 3-15 and dead last in the SEC, and they haven’t reached the NCAA Tournament since 2012.

But if Oklahoma can play consistent baseball and take a couple of games from Auburn, the Sooners can keep themselves in the thick of hosting discussions.

The first pitch of Friday’s series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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