Last week I started a weekly series where I would take a look at an upcoming series where one (or both) of the teams in the Sooner State have an intriguing matchup on their hands.
I started with a Sooner Athletic Conference matchup in NAIA between MACU and Southwestern Christian met up in the first conference series of the season for both teams. MACU won the series, 2-1, by the way.
I’ll admit that most of the weeks I’ll most likely pick a series from the small college (D2, NAIA) or JUCO world and would also focus on a series over a weekend. However, there may be a time or two where that is not the case.
This is one of those weeks as Arizona State visits Norman to play OU in a 2 game set on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Why is that you say? Well, not only are the Sooners 7-0 on the young season, the Sun Devils are 7-0 as well. And after that abomination of a team called Coppin State played in Norman this past weekend, it’ll be intriguing to see how OU does against another Big 12 opponent after going 3-0 against that conference in Arlington to start the season.
The Sooners So Far
Perhaps no team in the country has been more impressive that the Sooners to this point. They dominated the Shriners Children’s Showdown in Arlington, TX to start the season beating Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and then #10 TCU a combined 32-6.
OU then beat New Mexico State 10-6 on Monday in another game in Arlington before beating Coppin State a combined 57-1 in 3, 7 inning run rules to open their home slate.
They’ve been so impressive that that are all the way up to #13 in D1Baseball’s top 25 after starting the season outside the rankings.
Yes, the Sooners have scored double digit runs in all 7 games and their offense looks the part that we heard out of Norman in the preseason. However, it is the pitching that has been dominant so far. The Sooners’ weekend starters – Cameron Johnson, LJ Mercurius, and Cord Rager, have a combined line of 31.1 IP, 6-0, 1.50 ERA , 15 H, 4 ER, 12 BB, 52 K. As a team, the Sooners have an ERA of 1.96 with only 29 H, 29 BB, and 79 K in 55 IP.
At the plate, the Sooners have been just as impressive. As a team, they are slashing .359/.524/.576 with 9 HR, and 92 RBI. Trey Gambill leads the team in AVG at .545 and 2 HR (tied with Drew Dickerson) while Jaxon Willits leads with 13 RBI.
The Sun Devils So Far
As stated above, Arizona St comes into the set also at 7-0. There wins came against Omaha (3 games), UConn (1 game), and St Johns (3 games). Not exactly a murderer’s row of opponent as those 3 are a combined 7-6 against other teams with 3 of them from Omaha.
The Sun Devils have also been outstanding at the plate as they are averaging just under 10 runs/game with 69 total in their 7 games. As a team, ASU is slashing .350/.442/.595 with 13 HR and 62 RBI. Landon Hairston (.423/.500/.692, HR, 11 RBI), Nuu Contrades (.400/.483/.800, 3 HR, 13 RBI), and Dominic Smaldino (.393/.452/.679, 2 HR, 3 RBI) have been the best hitters so far.
Pitching wise, this is where the Sooners may have the advantage. As a team, Arizona State has an ERA of 3.29 with 52 H in 63 IP, and 36 BB against 71 K.
Looking at the midweek games the Sun Devils won against UConn last week (17-7), Kole Klecker started for ASU on the mound and went 5 IP giving up 2 H and a run with 7 K’s. It was the bullpen that gave up 6 earned runs to the Huskies over the last 4 innings.
Outlook
Looking at the game vs New Mexico State last Monday, the Sooners went with a “Johnny Wholestaff” approach as only 1 Sooner pitched more than 1 inning. Drew Rerick did start that game, but only pitched the 1st inning. Neither he nor Michael Catalano pitched this past weekend, so I’m thinking those may be your starters. Catalano has pitched well for the Sooners in 2025 and had 2 outstanding innings vs OSU in his only appearance this year.
Arizona State was picked to finish 4th in the Big 12 (by a decent margin from 5th). They are coming through Norman this week on their way to Arlington, TX to play in an event this weekend. They are a good team that shouldn’t be taken lightly, but the Sooners have been more impressive that the Sun Devils to this point.
I expect the Sooners’ offense to wear down the Sun Devils’ pitching as Arizona State has given up run totals of 5, 4, 7, and 6 to teams that aren’t near as good as the Sooners are offensively.
This set should be a good test for the Sooners, but a 2 game sweep by scores of around 9-4 ish should play out as OU will win games 8 and 9 in a row to start 2026.
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