What to Expect from Oklahoma Baseball’s Opening Weekend

NORMAN — In modern college baseball, every team is drastically different from the previous season’s.

Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson noted that the Sooners had roughly 20 players competing during fall practice between transfers and freshmen.

After months of getting the newcomers acquainted with each other and the Sooners’ returning players, Johnson is confident in his squad heading into Friday’s season opener against Texas Tech.

"It's been refreshing to watch those guys communicate with each other and talk to each other,” Johnson said. “We've got to understand that these young men are still amateurs — they're going to make mistakes. The only thing we can ask out of them is give us a good effort and have a good attitude and do what's right off the field and what's right on the field. And they've done it so far. This team really likes to play in practice and they have really built continuity with each other.”

OU’s pitching rotation will be far different than it was in 2025.

Kyson Witherspoon, the Sooners’ 2025 ace, went 10-4 with a 2.65 ERA in 95 innings pitched. Witherspoon’s brother, Malachi Witherspoon, pitched 74.1 innings, while Cade Crossland logged 68.1 innings on the mound.

Left-handed pitcher Cameron Johnson will be OU’s opening-day starter. In addition to Friday’s game against Texas Tech, the Sooners will battle Oklahoma State and TCU on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, as part of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field.

Johnson, who transferred to Oklahoma from LSU ahead of the 2025 season, struggled in his first year in Norman. In 10 appearances and seven starts, Johnson registered a 5.57 ERA.

Johnson went to LSU with lofty expectations, ranked as the No. 11 player in the Class of 2023 by Perfect Game. The St. Louis Cardinals also picked Johnson in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

Since the pitcher’s arrival in Norman, Skip Johnson has seen steady growth from him, making him believe that he’ll be an ace for OU in 2026.

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“He came in totally different,” Skip Johnson said. “He's always been a guy that had the talent. I just want him to be the best version of himself. He's got some of the best stuff in all of college baseball. He's got as good of stuff as most big leaguers.”

OU’s other two opening-weekend starters are both newcomers — LJ Mercurius will start against Oklahoma State, while Cord Rager will begin Sunday’s game on the mound.

Mercurius is a transfer from UNLV who registered a 3.47 ERA in 53 innings en route to earning Second Team All-Mountain West honors. Rager is a true freshman from Maypearl, TX, who was ranked as the No. 34 prospect from Texas in the Class of 2025.

Offensively, the Sooners will have to replace their top bat from 2025, as the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Easton Carmichael in last year’s MLB Draft.

Carmichael, a catcher, finished his final college baseball season with a .329 batting average and 17 home runs.

While Carmichael’s departure is certainly a notable one, the Sooners have plenty of key pieces back from last year’s lineup, including Jaxon Willits, Jason Walk, Kyle Branch and Trey Gambill.

OU also reinforced its lineup through the transfer portal, signing infielder Camden Johnson (Wichita State), outfielder Nolan Stevens (Mississippi State) and utility player Cayden Brumbaugh (Nebraska).

Last year, Oklahoma posted strong team-wide numbers of .278 and .388 in batting average and on-base percentage, respectively. The Sooners, though, hit only 70 home runs, which ranked 12th in the SEC.

Adding power in OU’s lineup was a focus of Johnson’s throughout the offseason.

“It was one of the needs that we needed to work on,” Johnson said. “We're still going to be dynamic, but we're also gonna add a little bit of power in our lineup.”

The first pitch of OU’s opener against Texas Tech is scheduled for 11 a.m.