Oklahoma Baseball: Sooners Face Notre Dame in Matchup of Red Hot Teams

OMAHA – Two of the hottest teams in America together on one diamond.

Following their 13-8 win over No. 5 Texas A&M to open the College World Series on Friday, Oklahoma (43-22) now turns its attention to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (41-15) on Sunday night.

The Sooners and Irish have taken similar paths to this point, both entering the NCAA Tournament as an unseeded team and yet seemingly being unbothered by the challenges that presents.

Oklahoma won its regional and super regional at No. 13 Florida and No. 4 Virginia Tech, and Notre Dame did the same at No. 16 Georgia Southern and No. 1 Tennessee.

The Sooners upset No. 5 Texas A&M to open the CWS, while the Fighting Irish upset No. 9 Texas.

But, now, the two teams meet one another with the ultra-coveted 2-0 spot in the winner’s bracket on the line.

“They’re a good ball club,” OU catcher Jimmy Crooks said Saturday. “They’re going to be another tough opponent for us.”

This role of attempting to end a hot streak is certainly one that Oklahoma is familiar with, having faced a Hokies squad that hadn’t lost a series since mid-March prior to last weekend’s super regional and an Aggies team that hadn’t done so since April 1-3.

The Sooners, who have been playing as well as anyone in college baseball for the better part of two months, are going to be quite the challenge for Notre Dame as well.

“It’s going to be tough for them (Notre Dame) with our aggressiveness on the base paths,” Crooks said. “We’re going to have a good pitcher (Cade Horton) on the mound just carving, so hopefully we’re going to throw strikes and keep with our approach at the plate.”

The two teams not only parallel each other in hot streaks and paths to this point, but in the mentality they take to the ballpark each day.

Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson has frequently touted the Sooners as just “a bunch of David’s” throughout the postseason, in reference to the story of David and Goliath.

The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, have adopted a similar mentality as well, firmly believing they belong among the best despite often being considered the underdogs.

“It doesn't really matter to us if we're underdogs or projected to win,” UND pitcher John Michael Betrand said postgame on Friday night. “The message is to go 1-0. By any means go 1-0. I'm not sure if that really matters to us. It's more how we play and just being ready to play some baseball.”

“I think a lot of the kind of underdog story is we don't really feel that internally on the team,” Irish infielder Jared Miller said. “We know when we go out and we play good baseball that we can play with anyone in the country.”

But, while whatever the special sauce has been for both teams has obviously worked to this point, something has to give now.

How to Watch

Charles Schwab Field, Omaha

Oklahoma vs. Notre Dame
6 p.m.
ESPN2

Only one team can move to 2-0 and thus put themselves in the driver’s seat to reach the championship series.

The loser may not be eliminated, but this is still undoubtedly the most important game of the year for both squads.

For the vital contest, Johnson is going to his normal Sunday starter in Horton, who looks to follow up three consecutive dynamite performances against Texas, Florida and Virginia Tech.

“He's (Horton) gotten better every outing,” Johnson said at CWS Media Day on Thursday. “I think he'll continue to get better every outing. And that just shows you the work that he puts in. He's the guy that wants to stay late and keep working. He wants to come early and keep working.”

First pitch for Oklahoma's matchup with Notre Dame is set for 6 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.