Oklahoma
Sen. Lankford Pushes Bill To Increase Transparency On Foreign Farmland Purchases In Oklahoma
Lawmakers met with farmers to discuss the future of agriculture here in the state.
U.S. Senator James Lankford (R- Okla.) says it’s time to crack down on the foreign land purchases happening in Oklahoma threatening national security.
The discussion inside a closed-door roundtable revolved around the need to pass a bill sponsored by Lankford that would allow oversight and transparency on foreign purchases of U.S. farmland.
“They’re not American citizens who are purchasing the land here, affecting water, electricity, and safety. It’s a lot of people illegally present,” said Lankford.
Lankford says that Oklahoma farming land has been turned into Marijuana grow farms since the passage of the marijuana laws in 2018.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says Canadians own the most acres in Oklahoma, but Lankford’s big concern is Chinese nationals. “No one is complaining about the land owned by Canadian people because they follow the rules. But if you are talking about Chinese nationals, they are not following the rules,” said Lankford.
The SOIL Act was introduced last year. Now, he’s hoping to make more progress with it with the help of a ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
The goal is to get it inside the next Farm Bill. “Congressman Frank Lucas (R- Okla.) is also working on the House side, and I am working on the Senate side, trying to deal with what we see in Oklahoma as a major issue.”
Groundwork on the Senate’s farm bill is expected to start next week.
Inside that farm bill, they also want to see safety nets for farmers, trade tools conservation, and research.
OU baseball coach Skip Johnson, Sooners ‘never stopped believing’ on CWS journey
Skip Johnson’s OU baseball team defeated Georgia 11-4 Wednesday night to advance to the College World Series finals. Freshman pitcher Nick Wesloski allowed only one earned run in 5 ⅔ innings in just his second career start.
NCAA
North Carolina forced a winner-take-all Game 3 at the College World Series after taking down Oklahoma 6-2 on Sunday, June 21, after the Sooners took the opening game, 9-3.
Now, who will win the national championship?
Watch Game 3 of the College World Series finals live with Fubo (free trial)
Tar Heels head coach Scott Forbes said everyone is available to pitch on Monday, June 22, potentially even star reliever Caden Glauber, who tossed five scoreless innings of relief in Game 2 with eight strikeouts to one hit. While North Carolina hasn’t decided on a starting pitcher yet, Oklahoma will turn to true freshman right-hander Nick Wesloski (2-1, 3.63 ERA).
Oklahoma’s bats were silenced by UNC starter Ryan Lynch and Glauber. The Sooners were held to four hits in Game 2 after their 14-hit barrage on June 20. The loss snapped Oklahoma’s 9-game win streak dating back to its first loss against No. 2 Georgia Tech in the Atlanta Regional.
North Carolina, meanwhile, continued its unbeaten streak after a loss, avoiding back-to-back defeats since the Tar Heels’ March 6-7 losses against Virginia to open ACC play.
Here’s how to watch Oklahoma vs. North Carolina for all the marbles on Monday, June 22:
What TV channel is Oklahoma vs North Carolina on today?
Game 3 of Oklahoma-North Carolina will air live on ESPN, with streaming options on the ESPN app or Fubo, which offers a free trial.
Wattch UNC vs OU baseball live with Fubo (free trial)
Oklahoma vs North Carolina time today
- Date: Monday, June 22
- Time: 7 p.m. ET | 6 p.m. CT
- Location: Charles Schwab Field Omaha (Omaha, Nebraska)
Oklahoma vs North Carolina predictions, picks, odds
Odds from BetMGM as of Monday, June 22
- Spread: North Carolina (-1.5)
- Over/under: 10.5 runs
- Moneyline: North Carolina (-160) | Oklahoma (+125)
- Prediction: Oklahoma 7, North Carolina 5
Oklahoma rebounds from its Game 2 loss and takes down North Carolina, with pitchers Nick Wesloski, Jackson Cleveland and LJ Mercurius all appearing. The Tar Heels throw the kitchen sink in Game 3, but ultimately the Sooners come out on top, capping off one of the most impressive runs in recent memory. — Austin Curtright
Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Hometown/High School: Washington, OK (Washington H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★★ (92 Rivals — No. 123 player overall)
Notable Offers: Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Utah
Not very often Penn State goes into Oklahoma and gets a prospect, let alone one that is a four-star that the Sooners very much wanted. Fortunately for Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions here, the familial relationship paid off, as Case’s brother, Cooper, is a rising redshirt sophomore tight end at Penn State. Doesn’t take a lot of dot connecting to imagine how much that played a part in Case deciding on the Nittany Lions. Still, given the ebbs and flows of the recruiting cycle, not sure you can take any recruitment for granted. So despite the connections Penn State had here, getting a top 10 kid from Oklahoma that the Sooners wanted is a big victory for the new staff in recruiting cycle #1.
Beyond on who his brother is, there’s a reason Case was maybe *the* top linebacker target for Penn State this cycle. This kid is an absolute beast. Tremendous linebacker frame at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds that will allow him to play up to 240 pounds easy, Alexander is what you think of when you imagine the modern day middle linebacker. He has the speed and fluidity to drop back into coverage, but has the physicality and bruteness to win in tight. The first play on his highlight film is his giving a Spinebuster to a poor opponent that rivals that of Arn Anderson’s Spinebuster on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 18.
Kamden Mantooth caps wild week by leading Mustang to 6A baseball title
It was a wild week for Kamden Mantooth, who helped Mustang beat Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 for the 6A baseball title. After being forced to sit in the semifinals due to an ejection in the quarterfinals, he pitched 5 2/3 innings Saturday.
Joe Patterson was hoping it would be different this time.
The Mustang baseball coach is no stranger to state championship games.
But as Mustang headed into its Class 6A title matchup against Edmond Santa Fe in May, a state championship victory remained a goal that hadn’t been fulfilled for Patterson as a player or head coach.
“That was all together — playing and coaching — my (sixth) state championship game, and I was 0-5,” Patterson said.
Patterson can now revise that record to 1-5 as the Broncos beat defending champion Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
An unforgettable day for Patterson.
An unforgettable season.
After leading Mustang to its third title and a 39-6 record while playing a brutally difficult schedule, Patterson is The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year.
“It was one of those years where it felt like I wasn’t working the whole year,” Patterson said. “Just a special group and everybody involved did such an amazing job and the players got along and the senior leadership was just unbelievable.”
A year after going 19-16 and falling at regionals, this season was vastly different for Patterson as Mustang dominated from beginning to end.
The Broncos won 11 of their first 12 games and ended the season the exact same way, claiming victories in 11 of their last 12 matchups.
They thrived in tight games, going 12-3 in matchups decided by two or fewer runs.
“We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Patterson said. “We didn’t have as great a season as we wanted, so we talked about trying to change the team morale and change the culture just a little bit in the fall, and we really focused on that. Just trying to make the place a more positive place for the kids and emphasize them having a little bit more fun but still working.”
Born and raised in Duncan, Patterson’s love of baseball and sports in general go back to those days.
His dad, Bill, was Duncan’s head football coach from 1997-2003 before accepting an assistant position at Owasso and serving as the Rams’ head coach from 2007-2016.
A standout in football and baseball in high school, Joe Patterson was at Duncan as a freshman and sophomore before spending his final two years at Owasso and then playing college baseball from 2007-2010. He went to Oral Roberts for one year, Seminole State for a season and Texas A&M for his final two.
Patterson was named the national junior college player of the year at Seminole State and had a successful stint at Texas A&M, hitting .362 with 21 homers and 100 RBIs with the Aggies.
He’s been at Mustang since the summer of 2019 after coaching at Westmoore.
Former OU shortstop Brandon Zaragoza played for Patterson during his senior year at Westmoore and was a Mustang assistant for the last four seasons before recently being named Westmoore’s new head coach.
Patterson has had a huge impact on Zaragoza, who will take what he’s learned from his former coach into his new gig.
“He just brought pure joy to the game for me, especially with just his ability to, one, obviously coach the game, but two, to allow his players to go out there and perform,” Zaragoza said. “The coolest thing about Pat was his ability to just pick up on player knowledge. Just kind of knowing what he has in terms of personnel and then of course his ability to just game plan, strategize, just get his guys ready to play.”
Patterson always wanted to coach at a one-high school town like Mustang.
He has his wish now, and Zaragoza says it’s a well-oiled machine.
“That’s kind of how I describe it a lot to people,” Zaragoza said. “Just a well-oiled machine in terms of just the coaches that are over there and the attention to detail and the preparation. There’s no loose ends at Mustang. And given how big the school is, you can always get kind of lost in personnel or all that stuff, but just the way that Mustang operates, it’s top tier.”
Mustang didn’t necessarily have big names this season like some teams in the state, but the Broncos had several guys who shined.
Outfielder and Northern Oklahoma College-Enid signee Nate Sutton hit .449 with 15 homers and 70 RBIs.
Fellow senior Kamden Mantooth was second on the team with a .442 batting average. A shortstop, Mantooth started at pitcher in the title game and held Edmond Santa Fe to eight hits and four runs — three earned — over 5 2/3 innings.
“It means everything for us,” Mantooth said after the championship win. “We’ve been working for this since we were in seventh grade. We’ve been working for this, and we finally achieved our goal that we wanted.”
For Patterson, it’ll forever be a special moment as he had his 6-year-old son with him in the dugout and his dad watching from the stands.
Patterson had lost two title games as a player at Owasso and three as a head coach — two at Westmoore and one at Mustang.
The outcome was different this time, and it was well worth the wait.
“It was just a feeling of relief and happiness,” Patterson said.
Nick Sardis covers high school sports for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Nick? He can be reached at nsardis@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @nicksardis. Sign up for The Varsity Club newsletter to access more high school coverage. Support Nick’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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