Oklahoma Overcoming Challenges Heading Into Notre Dame Collision

BELLEVUE, NE – Fresh off of an impressive 13-8 win over Texas A&M in the College World Series opener on Friday, Oklahoma is knee deep in preparations for what lies ahead.

The Sooners enter the winner’s bracket in Omaha for a Sunday date with Notre Dame. Beat the Irish and OU is in the in the driver’s seat to reach the best-of-three championship series.

How to Watch

Charles Schwab Field, Omaha

Oklahoma vs. Notre Dame
6 p.m.
ESPN2

To do that, Skip Johnson’s club must navigate multiple obstacles in front of them, including the CWS' unique schedule, and do it without their everyday designated hitter.

Brett Squires, who had been quietly putting together a rock solid season, will miss the rest of the event after getting hit on the hand with a pitch against Texas A&M.

Now, the Sooners know that someone else’s name will have to be called upon to fill the void of one of OU’s emerging hitters.

“Brett’s (Squires) gotten better every week,” Johnson said Saturday after practice at Bellevue East High School. “I’ve really watched him as he’s gone through the last month and his at-bats got better every week. His contact rate has gotten better every week, his chase rate. So that’s going to put us back a little bit, but it’s the next man up. You never know who is going to get the most important at-bat or make the most important pitch at this time of year.”

Oklahoma certainly has capable bodies to replace Squires in the lineup, with left-handed outfielder Sebastian Orduno a likely candidate and right-handers Diego Muniz, Max McGwire and Trent Brown also potential options.

Johnson and company have a little bit of time to make that decision thanks to a built-in day off in the CWS schedule, with the Sooners not resuming action until Sunday night.

While the day away from game action is helpful in some respects, it certainly breaks a mold that OU, or any college team, is used to.

In fact, this weekend marks Oklahoma's first Saturday without a game since Feb. 12 — six days before the 2022 season even began, making Saturday afternoon’s practice all the more important for combating the unusual off day.

“Do a little weightlifting, do a little BP (batting practice), throw bullpens, stuff like that,” Johnson said. “Kind of the same routine we would in practice just not on a game-like scale, so to speak.

“Just get their body moving, that’s the biggest thing.”

The gap day between the games is extra challenging for the starting pitchers, who Johnson typically likes to keep on their regular routine as much as possible.

He will still manage to do just that for Cade Horton, who gets his normal Sunday start against the Fighting Irish.

That means right-hander David Sandlin, however, will have to wait to until Tuesday or Wednesday to take the mound for his regular start. To try and limit the rust, Johnson used him out of the bullpen against the Aggies — with mixed results.

The results, however, weren’t really the point.

“I wanted to get David (Sandlin) out there for an inning, just to get him out there,” Johnson said postgame Friday. “No better time to get him out there, he's probably going to start the third game, to get him comfortable. Whatever happened, it didn't matter.”

One way or another and with whomever in the lineup, Oklahoma vows to be ready to go come Sunday evening.

Resilience has been a calling card for the Sooners all season, with this weekend setting up to be no different.

“We’re never going to be out of the fight,” catcher Jimmy Crooks said. “We’re just going to keep going. If we’re down, we’re going to keep fighting all the way through to the ninth (inning).

“That’s what we got the Sooner Magic for.”

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