Oklahoma CWS Notebook: In Memoriam, Mercurius Rising, Fab Freshmen 3.0

OMAHA, NE — At his postgame press conference on Wednesday night following Oklahoma’s violent elimination of Georgia, Sooners coach Skip Johnson gave a poignant shout out to a fallen colleague.

Longtime McKinney (TX) North coach Jim Gatewood, who retired in 2025 after winning 446 high school baseball games and led his final team to the state semifinals, passed away in February. The field at McKinney North was named in his honor upon his retirement.

It was especially meaningful to Johnson, as freshman Nick Wesloski, a star pitcher and quarterback at McKinney Boyd, was the winning pitcher for OU against the Bulldogs with 5 2/3 strong innings.

“Nick was the last guy we got in recruiting,” Johnson said. “(Gatewood) was a high school baseball coach, a college baseball coach before that. And he helped us get Nick. I'd like to thank that for sure.

“It was on my heart at the end of the game, during the game, watching him pitch. So I'd really like to thank the late Jim Gatewood for helping us with that.”

Mercurius Rising

Former starting pitcher-turned-long reliever L.J. Mercurius was asked Thursday what was going through his mind as he inherited two baserunners with two out in the sixth and then, after an infield error loaded the bases, promptly walked in a pair of runs.

“Don't let it happen again was the big thing,” Mercurius said with a smile. “No, but it was just getting settled back into it, and then going back out there. I still knew I was the best guy on the mound in that situation, so I was just gonna let it show.”

Mercurius went 3 1/3 innings in relief, and was responsible for just the one run he put on that came around to score. Although that beginning was rough.

"Like, 'Oh, wow, this is what we're doing?' " he said. "And then I snapped out of it pretty quick and got the last guy out."

Mercurius retired seven in a row and 10 of the last 11 hitters he faced.

In the ninth, Mercurius gave up a home run to Kolby Branch, but got the three outs to preserve the victory and push OU into the championship series.

Fabulous Freshmen 3.0

In their three starts in Omaha, Johnson’s three rookie starters — Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Nick Wesloski — are 3-0 with a 1.80 earned run average, combining for 21 strikeouts in 20 innings and allowing just 13 hits with four walks.

That'll play.

And with seven days since Rager’s last start and six since Mercurius’, there’s no doubt those two will be called on for Games 1 and 2 against North Carolina this weekend.

L.J. Mercurius said he was thoroughly impressed with Wesloski’s CWS debut.

“Man. We have a great freshman core,” Mercurius said. “He’s a big — he's gonna be a big part of that. I don't know, he just did great. I mean, shoot, that man, he's another stable guy.”

Center fielder Jason Walk offered his praise for the freshman trio on Wednesday night.

“Nick, Cord, Xander, really all the freshmen, they're unbelievable,” Walk said. “We knew they had it in the fall. So coming into spring, it's really no surprise that they're pitching really well because we had to face them, too. “

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