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Oklahoma Rides Freshman Cord Rager to Easy CWS Victory Over Alabama

The Sooners' big left-hander was in complete control throughout OU's first-round triumph over the Crimson Tide.
John Hoover|
Oklahoma Sooners starting pitcher Cord Rager smiles after striking out another Alabama hitter.
Oklahoma Sooners starting pitcher Cord Rager smiles after striking out another Alabama hitter. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

OMAHA, NE — A child shall lead them indeed.

On the biggest stage of his young life, Oklahoma freshman Cord Rager was unfazed by the moment, undeterred by the huge crowd, and unbothered by the Sooners’ opponent.

Rager got plenty of run support, but he was virtually untouchable Saturday in his College World Series debut, a 9-0 victory over No. 7 seed Alabama. 

Among OU coach Skip Johnson’s seven new freshmen he welcomed last fall, none have been more impactful than the 6-foot-6, 237-pound left-hander from Maypearl, TX.

On Saturday in the Sooners’ CWS opener, Rager was the best player on the field, the centerpiece of Oklahoma’s ongoing postseason rebirth.

“Cord was good today, just really good. We just really struggled getting on time with his heater,” said Alabama coach Rob Vaughn. “We knew how good the fastball was, the extension is really good on it, so 95-96 plays even firmer. We just couldn't quite get on time today.”

With the win over the Crimson Tide (42-20), the Sooners (39-22) advance to Monday’s 6 p.m. second round against the winner of Saturday’s first-round contest between Georgia and Texas.

The victory was Oklahoma's first shutout at the CWS since 1951, and it was the biggest shutout win at the CWS since 2002.

Rager was hyper efficient in his third straight start in the NCAA Tournament, striking out eight, walking none and needing only 88 pitches (63 strikes) across seven innings. It was the longest outing of his career so far, besting the six innings he threw against the Citadel in the Atlanta Regional two weeks ago and against Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional last week.

Rager gave up just three hits and hit one of the 24 batters he faced — three over the minimum for seven innings. He got help from a handful of Sooner defensive gems, including a slick double play started by Dayton Tockey in the fifth inning  and clever leather by Camden Johnson at third and Kyle Branch at second.

Johnson told Sooners On SI that while he tries to “stay out of their way” when a pitcher is rolling, he didn’t necessarily take that tact with Rager. 

“I went down there and talked to him in between innings,” Johnson said. “Just about executing a pitch. … They fouled a couple balls off us — ‘Hey, man, look, just execute the pitch. You can't make them swing and miss. All you can control is just throw it to the target. Whatever happens, happens.' ”

Rager pitched with emotion, but he controlled that side of the game while on the mound.

“I just tried to tell myself, it's like any other game,” he said. “And I just worked the process. And everything else just kind of fades away. So I had tunnel focus.”

Rager’s overall season numbers weren’t that impressive. He came into the CWS with a 5-3 record and a 5.20 earned run average in 64 innings (14 starts). But the last two of those wins were in the NCAA Tournament as he has quickly settled into Johnson’s ace role.

Rager missed time earlier in the season with a muscle strain — one that kept him out of the Sooners’ series at home with the Crimson Tide. Vaughn said that may have affected his team’s approach at the plate, but gave all credit to Rager.

“I’m definitely not the same pitcher I was,” he said. “So it's definitely good that they probably saw the old me, the guy who was still learning during the SEC play. And throughout SEC play you learn so much and especially as a freshman, I've just really learned so much, especially going into the postseason.

“And now I'm kind of finding the good mixture and I'm able to keep guys off balance. And I'm not getting ambushed anymore. And always working the process.”

Against Bama, Rager threw single-digit pitches in three of his first four innings, and only got better the more he threw. After striking out the side in the seventh, he pumped his arms and shouted into the sold-out Charles Schwab Field crowd of 24,579, ready to throw as many pitches as Johnson needed from him.

Johnson, however, gave Rager the rest of the night off, bringing in L.J. Mercurius to pitch the eighth.

“I knew Cord was done when he exhausted a lot of energy, when he punched the guy out,” Johnson said. “I was, like, 'Ooh, I'm not running him back out there.”

Rager located his 95 mph fastball all day, but his deadliest pitch might have been an 80 mph, two-strike curveball, with which he ended the first and seventh innings, and quelled the Tide’s only offensive push with a weak ground ball to end the fifth.

“It's just two really good pitches in the zone that he commanded,” Bama’s John Lemm said. “For the are righties he obviously also has a cutter and a changeup.”

The Sooners wasted no time jumping on Alabama starter Tyler Fay with a pair of runs with two out in the first inning, as Jason Walk led off with a single. After a fly ball and a groundout, Jaxon Willits singled to center, and Trey Gambill delivered a two-out, two-strike double to the gap in right-center field, easily scoring Willits and Deiten LaChance for a 2-0 lead.

OU added to that in the third inning when Walk drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third on Camden Johnson’s sharp single to right, and then scored on LaChance’s double play ground ball.

With Rager having not yielded a hit through four innings, Alabama finally broke through in the fifth — briefly.

Bama’s John Lemm and Eric Hines opened the inning with back-to-back singles, but then Rager induced two ground balls to end it — the first a double play started by Tockey at first, the next a soft roller to Branch at second to end the threat.

OU added two runs in the sixth when Camden Johnson was hit by pitch and LaChance smashed Fay’s next pitch over the bullpen in left field for a 5-0 lead.

It was LaChance’s team-leading 16th home run of the season — all since April 9. It also tallied the Sooners’ 36th home run in their last 14 games and their 19th of the postseason.

Rager struck out the side in the seventh and was still riding the crest of the wave when OU added a pair of runs in the eighth.

Walk led off with another walk, and LaChance moved him up with a one-out single to left. Willits then delivered a single to center that scored Walk for a 6-0 lead. Brendan Brock followed that with a two-out, hustle double to center field that brought home LaChance for a 7-0 OU edge.

The Sooners continued their big eighth inning as Dasan Harris roped a single to right to score Brock and Willits to make it 9-0. Tockey, hero of the Atlanta Regional, slashed a double down the line in left to put runners on second and third, but Bama third baseman Jason Torres robbed Branch of a hit that would have made it 11-0.

LaChance’s day was particularly impressive after what looked like a badly sprained left ankle stepping on second base in the first inning. He got the ankle taped in the dugout, then remained in the game as Rager’s catcher.

“I should have probably took third on it,” LaChance said. “I kind of went easy until I arrived at second. … I was (thinking), ‘I should probably take third.’ I went to take a step a little fast. I had a bad step on the bag. I was fine after that. It's like a bruise, a little bit. I'm good to go.”

LaChance finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored despite what looked like painful trips around the bases. His home run trot was slow, but he exhorted Sooner Nation as he crossed home plate.

“Took my time around the bases,” LaChance said. “There's no timer around there. That's what it is. I'm an aggressive hitter. If you give me something to hit, I'm going to hit it out or at least hit it hard. It was awesome.”

Willits and Harris also were 2-for-4 at the plate, and Gambill and Harris each had two RBIs. Walk had a hit and two walks and scored twice.

“Hat tip to Oklahoma,” Vaughn said. “They played great today.”

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John E. Hoover
JOHN HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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