No. 24 Vols, No. 20 Sooners Square Off in Oklahoma City to Close Regular Season

OKLAHOMA CITY - With the NCAA Tournament positioning on the line, the No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers and No. 20 Oklahoma Sooners open a pivotal three-game Southeastern Conference series Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

First pitch for Game 1 is set for 7:30 p.m. ET. The series continues Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET before concluding Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network+, with Toby Rowland on play-by-play and Blake Brewster serving as color commentator.

Stakes Could Not Be Higher

Both programs enter the final weekend of the regular season knotted at 13-14 in SEC play tied for 10th place in the conference standings with the SEC Tournament seeding and NCAA at-large positioning hanging in the balance.

Tennessee (35-18 overall) and Oklahoma (31-18) are in a near-identical situation: each needs at least one win to comfortably secure an NCAA Tournament bid heading into the SEC Tournament, which begins May 19 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala. The NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed May 25 on ESPN2.

The series also carries historical significance. It marks the first meeting between the two programs as SEC members, with Tennessee entering the league in 2024 and Oklahoma joining in 2025.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Game 1 Thursday

• Tennessee: RHP Tegan Kuhns (4-4, 3.13 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 72 IP, 95 K, 13 BB)

• Oklahoma: LHP Cameron Johnson (6-1, 3.53 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 51 IP, 67 K, 37 BB)

Game 2 Friday

• Tennessee: LHP Evan Blanco (6-3, 4.56 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 73 IP, 88 K, 24 BB)

• Oklahoma: RHP Xander Mercurius (0-0, 5.65 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 28.2 IP, 27 K, 13 BB)

Game 3 Saturday

• Tennessee: TBD (Note: LHP Landon Mack listed as questionable entering the weekend)

• Oklahoma: LHP Cord Rager (3-3, 5.32 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 47.1 IP, 61 K, 18 BB)

Tennessee Overview

Tennessee enters the series ranked No. 24 nationally and projected as the No. 29 national seed in the NCAA Tournament field placing them as a projected No. 2 seed in a regional hosted by Georgia Tech.

Offensively, Henry Ford leads the Vols with 16 home runs on the season, while Garrett Wright paces the lineup with a .346 batting average. Kuhns has been Tennessee’s most consistent arm, posting a 3.13 ERA with 95 strikeouts against just 13 walks across 72 innings.

The Vols closed the regular season home schedule on a strong note, defeating Belmont 11-1 on Tuesday and taking a series win over No. 4 Texas the previous weekend.

Oklahoma Overview

The Sooners have stumbled down the stretch, dropping three consecutive series against Auburn, Florida and Arkansas to fall to 13-14 in SEC play. After sweeping Missouri in mid-April, Oklahoma had been squarely in the conversation as a potential regional host. That conversation has since faded.

The Sooners rank first in the SEC and 34th nationally with 14 triples on the season and have homered in 30 of 49 games.

On the mound, Cameron Johnson (6-1, 3.53 ERA) has been OU’s most reliable starter and set a career best with 13 strikeouts at Vanderbilt on April 9.

Historical Context

The series is the first between the two programs as SEC foes and the first matchup of any kind since the 2024 season-opening Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas for a 5-1 Oklahoma victory.

All-time, Oklahoma holds a 3-1 edge over Tennessee. The most storied meeting came in 1951, when the Sooners defeated the Volunteers 3-2 in the College World Series championship game to claim Oklahoma’s first national title.

What’s Next

The winner of the series will have the advantage heading into the SEC Tournament, which begins May 19 at Hoover Met in Hoover, Ala. Both programs are widely projected to earn NCAA Tournament bids regardless of this weekend’s outcome, though seeding and potential hosting opportunities remain in play.

📸: Tennessee Athletics