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Oklahoma Baseball: An Old Foe Awaits Sooners in College World Series Opener

OU will battle old Big 12 nemesis Texas A&M - led by former TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle - to begin their run in Omaha.

OMAHA - The wait is over.

Oklahoma (42-22) is back in the College World Series for the first time since 2010, with play beginning on Friday afternoon against the No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies (42-18).

The matchup will mark the first time the two schools have met since the Aggies left the Big 12 for the SEC following the 2012 season, with the Sooners holding a 33-28 all-time series lead.

It'll also be just the third time the two historic programs have met in the postseason - with OU having won each of the two previous occurrences. 


How to Watch

Charles Schwab Field, Omaha

  • Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M
  • 1 p.m.
  • ESPN

Oklahoma and A&M sharing the diamond again for the first time in a decade is not the only reunion occurring in this collision, as the Sooners and head coach Skip Johnson will also be pitted against a familiar face in the opposing dugout.

Jim Schlossnagle, who coached TCU from 2004-2021, is in the midst of his first season with the Aggies - creating a highly-impressive one-year rebuild to get the team to the CWS so quickly.

So, while Johnson has not yet faced Texas A&M as the head coach of Oklahoma - he and the rest of the Sooners already have a great sense for what they are in store for come first pitch.

“Offensively they're really good,” Johnson said Thursday. “They're going to grind at-bats out. That's what his teams did at TCU. He's done a great job. The world we live in today, with the portal and all the stuff that goes on in college baseball, he's done a really great job of getting a bunch of guys together, get a great coaching staff.”

While Schlossnagle was obviously incredibly successful with the Horned Frogs winning a program-record 518 games and taking TCU to Omaha on five separate occasions, the one-year rise in College Station has certainly been eyebrow-raising.

With just eight teams left standing in the hunt for a national title, Schlossnagle’s Aggies are the second-highest seeded team left in the field and are considered one of the favorites to potentially bring home the national title.

“The resources he's been provided has really helped him,” Johnson said. “Not that he wasn't a good coach before. It just shows you what he's about. And we're looking for the opportunity to go out and perform against him. It's going to be a fun day.”

Getting the start for the Sooners on the mound will be left-hander Jake Bennett, who looks to keep his superb third year with OU going into the game’s biggest stage.

BB - Jake Bennett

Jake Bennett

He will have his work cut out for him against a Texas A&M squad that hasn’t lost a series since losing two-of-three to Alabama all the way back on April 1-3.

“This is a really offensive club that we have,” Schlossnagle said. “We had a couple of offensive teams like that at TCU, but the ballpark at TCU plays significantly different.”

“The biggest difference would be the starting pitching. But because our starting pitching hasn't been elite, our bullpen is really good, because we use it a lot.”

The Sooner and Aggies will get the distinguished honor of being the first teams to take the field in Omaha this week, kicking the CWS off with the opening game.

There won’t be much of an issue of having to wait around to get their shot, Oklahoma will get to get up and go on Friday.

“I'm glad that we're kicking it off,” Johnson said. “It's good. They can go out and play their game and do what they do and see what happens.”

The Sooners will battle No. 5 Texas A&M at 1 p.m. CT at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha with the game broadcast coming on ESPN.