Oklahoma
OU Baseball: Oklahoma Gearing up for Eventful Weekend as Baylor Comes to Town
NORMAN — With just two series left in the regular season, No. 18 Oklahoma sits atop the Big 12 Conference standings.
At 29-17 on the year and 18-6 in conference play, the Sooners hold a three-game lead over heated rival Oklahoma State and will have the chance to host an NCAA Regional event if Skip Johnson’s team can close the year on a high note.
That opportunity will begin on Friday night, when the Baylor Bears travel to Norman for Game 1 of a three-game series between the two squads. The three home games will mark OU’s final regular season contests at L. Dale Mitchell Park this season.
At 6:30 p.m. CT on Friday, junior left hander Braden Davis will take the mound for the Sooners against Baylor right hander Mason Marriott to start the series. Davis has earned a win in his last four starts and has developed into Oklahoma’s ace as the 2024 campaign has progressed.
On Saturday, sophomore right hander Kyson Witherspoon is set to be on the bump for OU while sophomore left hander Ethan Calder is set to start for the Bears. Calder is one of Baylor’s top arms and has just a 2.91 ERA this season, but hasn’t gotten a win since March 19.
The former Lake Travis (TX) standout allowed four earned runs and eight hits in 6.2 innings pitched against TCU during his last outing as the Bears fell to the Horned Frogs.
Saturday’s contest will start at 4 p.m. CT, with a pregame jersey retirement celebration for legendary OU baseball coach Enos Semore taking place just before the game at 3:30.
Semore coached at Oklahoma from 1969-89, tallying over 850 wins in his nearly 20-year tenure as head coach. Under the Haskell County, OK, product, the Sooners made five consecutive College World Series appearances and won a program-record 62 games in 1976.
Semore also coached OU to seven Big Eight titles and was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in 1989. The accomplished coach was a 2005 American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and will now see his jersey retired at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Johnson, Oklahoma’s current head coach, said that he is looking forward to the event and is excited for his athletes to meet one of college baseball’s legendary figures.
“He was one of the icons,” Johnson said on Thursday. “It’s unbelievable, I’m kind of glad it happened under my watch. Is it long overdue? Probably so, but that’s not my choice. I’m excited from our standpoint so our kids can really see the man that built this program in their lifetime. We try to carry that torch, I know that I try to carry that torch about how he went about the business and how our kids act on a daily basis. Whether it’s getting on a plane, going into a restaurant, taking your hats off. Doing the things that that guy set the example for us a long time ago and then playing on the field, playing the game the right way.”
The final outing of this weekend’s series between Oklahoma and Baylor will start at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday. This will be the Sooners’ final home game of the regular season and will serve as senior night, where players who are graduating this semester will be honored.
After sweeping Texas Tech in Lubbock last weekend, Johnson and company will look for their sixth series sweep of the season this weekend against Baylor. A sweep of the Bears would continue to build OU’s momentum with the postseason less than two weeks away.
Following their series against Baylor, Oklahoma will have just four regular season games left. The Sooners will travel to Xavier on May 14 for a matchup against the Musketeers before playing a three-game series against Cincinnati to close out the regular season.
New Iowa State wrestling coach Brent Metcalf outlines vision for team
New Iowa State wrestling coach Brent Metcalf outlines vision for team
Iowa State wrestling’s first commitment of the Brent Metcalf era will be a transfer portal addition.
The Cyclones added Oklahoma State transfer Brayden Thompson, who announced his commitment on April 18 via Instagram. Thompson is a one-time NCAA qualifier at the 2024 NCAA Championships, doing so as a true freshman. He redshirted in 2024-25, but competed in open tournaments at 184 pounds and was 9-0. He did not wrestle a match in 2025-26 and will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.
Out of high school, Thompson was ranked the No. 3 pound-for-pound wrestler and No. 1 at 182 pounds in the 2023 recruiting class by Flowrestling. He also won Powerade and Ironman titles, two of the more prestigious high school tournaments in the nation. Assuming Thompson returns to 184 pounds where he last wrestled, he should fill in nicely as a potential replacement for Isaac Dean after his graduation.
Thompson is Iowa State’s first transfer portal addition after several departures, including Anthony Echemendia and Christian Castillo, who also entered the portal.
Eli McKown covers high school sports and wrestling for the Des Moines Register. Contact him at Emckown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EMcKown23.
NORMAN — The Oklahoma Sooners liked their wide receiver room a year ago. They want 2026 to be even better.
Isaiah Sategna’s return helps that desire. Earning experienced pass catchers Trell Harris and Parker Livingstone via the transfer portal gives you added play makers. But after the Sooners Spring Game on Saturday, an unlikely hero emerged.
When Jahsiear Rogers flipped from Penn State to Oklahoma last December, he drew the usual excitement that comes with a new commitment. But few expected him to climb the depth chart this quickly, even with the injuries that hit Emmett Jones’ room.
Rogers did just that and more on Saturday. He led all pass catchers with five receptions for 70 yards in Oklahoma’s annual Red/White game.
“I knew it was time to showcase,” Rogers said after the game. “It was amazing to see the fans and get used to the OU way. I’m a playmaker. They really want to put the ball in playmakers hands. I pretty much knew I had to lead the white team.”
Rogers got the ball rolling early. On the second offensive play for the white team, backup quarterback Whitt Newbauer rolled to his right wide, then stopped and looked towards the middle of the field where he saw Rogers running open. Newbauer connected with Rogers for a 39-yard gain.
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With Rogers on the white team, he is running against (most of) Oklahoma’s starting defense. As fate would have it, on that 39-yard reception, Rogers beat his favorite teammate to compete against — Reggie Powers.
“He is just a leader, good guy,” Rogers said of Powers. “Me and him go after it every day in practice. Reggie is strong. When I come at him, I have to really come at him.”
Rogers’ big play over Powers was the second-longest catch of the spring game — Sategna’s 50-yard reception that appeared to be a touchdown before coaches pulled it back to set up a red-zone rep. The other four catches weren’t flashy, but they were important in their own way, and Rogers looked like he belonged on the field.
“I love it. As long as I can get the ball, I can be me. I love it,” Rogers said. “When I am on the field, I am ready to go. I am ready to be a playmaker.”
The season is still months away, and Rogers hasn’t earned a spot high on the depth chart yet. A strong spring and an encouraging Red/White Game can only lead to early playing time if he carries that momentum into summer and fall camp.
More experienced players will return from injury and receivers who’ve been in the program for a few years will have an extra leg-up.
But Rogers is taking everything in stride and leaving no stone unturned in his development.
“Just learning from the older guys,” Rogers said. “Manny Choice, Isaiah Sategna, Trell Harris, Mackenzie Alleyne. Really all of them. We lean on each other, learn from each other. That is kind of how our room is.”
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The Oklahoma baseball team is back in the mix and trending upward.
After a rough few weeks in Southeastern Conference play, the 14th-ranked Sooners have won three of their last four games to get to .500 at just beyond the halfway point of the league slate. Friday’s 9-6 win over Missouri allowed Oklahoma to move to 8-8, tied with three other teams for eighth in the standings.
Friday’s win wasn’t truly that close, even. OU took a 9-3 lead into the ninth before Mizzou made it somewhat interesting with three runs in the frame. Two of them came with two outs, though, and Mason Bixby induced a groundout with the bases empty to hold on.
The large edge came via a home run-happy night. The Sooners popped four over the wall at Kimrey Family Stadium, including three in a four-run seventh inning that gave OU a four-run lead.
Jason Walk, who hit one of the four homers, had the best day at the plate. He went 2 for 5 with the shot, three RBIs and a run. Camden Johnson, who also homered, went 2 for 3 with a walk, a double and two runs, and Dasan Harris went 2 for 4 with a home run, two RBIs, and three runs. Trey Gambill hit the Sooners’ other jack.
Oklahoma jumped out to a four-run lead in the second behind four hits and a walk. Missouri helped the Sooners out with an error that resulted in a bases-loaded situation and three unearned runs registered to Tigers starter Josh McDevitt.
The runs were more than enough for Oklahoma’s LJ Mercurius, who pitched six strong innings, giving up three runs on six hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Game 2 in the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday and the finale will be played Sunday at 2 p.m., weather permitting.
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