Kenny Gajewski picked up a transfer from Utah on Saturday, and so did Josh Holliday.

Right-handed pitcher Kaden Soder announced he has committed to Oklahoma State.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, Soder was a junior this past season. In 22 1/3 innings, Soder had a 4.84 ERA with a 3-0 record and a save. He struck out 28 while walking a dozen.

This season was his first playing at the Division-I level, as the Las Vegas native spent the previous two seasons at the College of Southern Nevada (JUCO). He had a 6-3 record in his time in JUCO with a 3.68 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings. He was named his conference’s pitcher of the year as a sophomore, earning first team honors for the conference and the region.

Prior to that, Soder spent the 2023 season at Oregon but didn’t play. That was the year before OSU pitching coach Blake Hawksworth got to Eugene, but there could be a connection there nonetheless.

OMAHA, NE — A child shall lead them indeed.

On the biggest stage of his young life, Oklahoma freshman Cord Rager was unfazed by the moment, undeterred by the huge crowd, and unbothered by the Sooners’ opponent.

Rager got plenty of run support, but he was virtually untouchable Saturday in his College World Series debut, a 9-0 victory over No. 7 seed Alabama. 

Among OU coach Skip Johnson’s seven new freshmen he welcomed last fall, none have been more impactful than the 6-foot-6, 237-pound left-hander from Maypearl, TX.

On Saturday in the Sooners’ CWS opener, Rager was the best player on the field, the centerpiece of Oklahoma’s ongoing postseason rebirth.

“I’ve said it from the very beginning, it’s probably one of the best classes I’ve been around,” Johnson said on Thursday. “I don’t consider those guys freshmen anymore. They’ve been through the gauntlet of the season.”

With the win over the Crimson Tide, the Sooners advance to Monday’s 6 p.m. second round against the winner of Saturday’s first-round contest between Georgia and Texas.

The victory was Oklahoma’s first shutout at the CWS since 1951, and it was the biggest shutout win at the CWS since 2002.

Rager was hyper efficient in his third straight start in the NCAA Tournament, striking out eight, walking none and needing only 88 pitches (63 strikes) across seven innings. It was the longest outing of his career so far, besting the six innings he threw against the Citadel in the Atlanta Regional two weeks ago and against Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional last week.

Rager gave up just three hits and hit one of the 24 batters he faced — three over the minimum for seven innings. He got help from a handful of Sooner defensive gems, including a slick double play started by Dayton Tockey in the fifth inning and clever leather by Camden Johnson at third and Kyle Branch at second.

Rager’s overall season numbers weren’t that impressive. He came into the CWS with a 5-3 record and a 5.20 earned run average in 64 innings (14 starts). But the last two of those wins were in the NCAA Tournament as he has quickly settled into Johnson’s ace role.

Against Bama, Rager threw single-digit pitches in three of his first four innings, and only got better the more he threw. After striking out the side in the seventh, he pumped his arms and shouted into the sold-out Charles Schwab Field crowd of 24,579, ready to throw as many pitches as Johnson needed from him.

Johnson, however, gave Rager the rest of the night off, bringing in L.J. Mercurius to pitch the eighth and ninth.

Rager located his 95 mph fastball all day, but his deadliest pitch might have been an 80 mph, two-strike slider, with which he ended the first and seventh innings, and quelled the Tide’s only offensive push with a weak ground ball to end the fifth.

The Sooners wasted no time jumping on Alabama starter Tyler Fay with a pair of runs with two out in the first inning, as Jason Walk led off with a single. After a fly ball and a groundout, Jaxon Willits singled to center, and Trey Gambill delivered a two-out, two-strike double to the gap in right-center field, easily scoring Willits and Deiten LaChance for a 2-0 lead.

OU added to that in the third inning when Walk drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third on Camden Johnson’s sharp single to right, and then scored on LaChance’s double play ground ball.

With Rager having not yielded a hit through four innings, Alabama finally broke through in the fifth — briefly.

Bama’s John Lemm and Eric Hines opened the inning with back-to-back singles, but then Rager induced two ground balls to end it — the first a double play started by Tockey at first, the next a soft roller to Branch at second to end the threat.

OU added two runs in the sixth when Camden Johnson was hit by pitch and LaChance smashed Fay’s next pitch over the bullpen in left field for a 5-0 lead.

It was LaChance’s team-leading 16th home run of the season — all since April 9. It also tallied the Sooners’ 36th home run in their last 14 games and their 19th of the postseason.

Rager struck out the side in the seventh and was still riding the crest of the wave when OU added a pair of runs in the eighth.

Walk led off with another walk, and LaChance moved him up with a one-out single to left. Willits then delivered a single to center that scored Walk for a 6-0 lead. Brendan Brock followed that with a two-out, hustle double to center field that brought home LaChance for a 7-0 OU edge.

The Sooners continued their big eighth inning as Dasan Harris roped a single to right to score Brock and Willits to make it 9-0. Tockey, hero of the Atlanta Regional, slashed a double down the line in left to put runners on second and third, but Bama third baseman Jason Torres robbed Branch of a hit that would have made it 11-0.

LaChance’s day was particularly impressive after what looked like a badly sprained left ankle stepping on second base in the first inning. He got the ankle taped in the dugout, then remained in the game as Rager’s catcher.

LaChance finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored despite what looked like painful trips around the bases. His home run trot was slow, but he exhorted Sooner Nation as he crossed home plate.

Willits and Harris also were 2-for-4 at the plate, and Gambill and Harris each had two RBIs. Walk had a hit and two walks and scored twice.

OMAHA, NE — Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson might not be a certified zen master.

But he did study for 10 years under the late, great Augie Garrido.

Regarded as one of college baseball’s best pitching coaches, Johnson’s teaching gifts go well beyond grip and arm angle and release point and RPMs.

Johnson understands the minds of pitchers. He understands how they think, what motivates them, and how to make them believe in themselves — and each other.

And that’s been the strength of this OU pitching staff — indeed, the entire roster — as the Sooners have returned to the College World Series.

“We’re trying to teach them to be selfless people in a world that’s really a selfish world,” Johnson said. “They became really selfless. They didn’t care who got the credit. They went out and played for each other. That’s been the coolest thing that I’ve seen.”

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Johnson’s tutelage will be front and center on Saturday when the Sooners (38-22) take on No. 7 national seed Alabama (42-19) in a 2 p.m. contest at Charles Schwab Field. To advance to Monday’s second round against either Georgia or Texas, OU will have to pitch well against the Crimson Tide — again.

In their regular-season series in Norman, Bama won the opener 10-7, OU took game two 4-2 and the Tide finished with a 3-2 win.

Good pitching was at a premium that early April weekend at Kimrey Family Stadium. But the three starters Johnson called on to stem the Tide two months ago — Cameron Johnson, LJ Mercurius and Trent Collier — could have a completely different role when the teams meet again Saturday.

Johnson’s starters in OU’s three most recent games this postseason — Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Michael Catalano — were not starters when the season began. Nick Wesloski, who started the elimination game against The Citadel in Atlanta, also has played various roles.

Johnson views his pitching staff not through traditional lenses like “starter” or “long reliever” or “situational” or “closer.” He comes into most games with the mindset that all 15 guys need to be able to help at any point.

And remarkably, he has convinced the whole pitching staff that predetermined roles might not be all that important to the success of the team.

“As coaches, we always say, ‘Nobody knows at the beginning of the year who is going to get the most important hit, who is going to have the most important at-bat, important pitch, or strikeout.’”

Reid Hensley and Jaden Barfield have logged strong relief innings this postseason. So have Nate Smithburg, Jason Bodin, Trent Collier, Gavyn Jones and Mason Bixby, among others. 

But the “unsung hero” of the staff in the postseason, Johnson said, has been senior Jackson Cleveland. He was roughed up in the comeback win at Georgia Tech, giving up five earned runs (six total) on five hits and two walks over three relief innings. 

But Cleveland was suddenly needed in long relief that day after Johnson pulled starter Cameron Johnson in the top of the first inning. OU trailed 7-2 when Cleveland left in the fourth, but then he pitched four shutout innings in relief over the next two games: three in a closeout win over the Yellow Jackets and one in a romp over KU. 

In seven games over the previous two weekends in Atlanta and Lawrence, Johnson has rolled out 12 different arms, and they’ve posted a 6-1 record with 3.86 earned run average. In the six wins, OU pitchers have 49 strikeouts and 21 walks.

“Cord, we’ve been starting on Sunday,” Johnson said. “Xander was in the bullpen. Starting Nick … we actually start him on Tuesdays right out of the bullpen. Moved LJ (Mercurius) — we thought LJ got a little tired, gave him a little bit of a break and started throwing him out of the bullpen. He’s been really good out of the bullpen.

“As far as Bodin and Bixby and Jones and Cleveland — what Cleveland did at the super regional, I mean, that guy went through the lineup like three times in two different nights back-to-back. I mean, those guys are pretty good. He’s like the unsung hero really when you go back and look at it.”

Back in April, in the opener against Alabama, LJ Mercurius got the start but gave up seven earned runs on five hits, a walk and two hit batters and didn’t make it out of the second inning. His brother Xander replaced him and ate up six innings while yielding three runs with seven strikeouts, and Collier and Bixby finished without allowing any more damage.

Cameron Johnson started game two and was terrific, striking out eight over 6 1/3 innings while giving up just two runs on eight hits, two walks and a hit batter. Kadyn Leon pitched 2 2/3 innings in relief to earn his first save. 

In the rubber match against the Tide, Collier turned in a quality start: one earned run allowed on three hits and a walk to go with three strikeouts in just two innings. The bullpen was excellent, as Wesloski threw two shutout innings, Jones held Bama scoreless over 2 2/3 innings, Bodin was nearly perfect in 1 1/3 innings, and Cleveland gave up just a walk in his only inning.

Ineffective at-bats limited the Sooners during that stretch of the season, but the way OU has hit the ball in the postseason, maybe they’ve turned that corner.

“I think both teams are incredibly different right now,” said Alabama coach Rob Vaughn. “They’re playing great baseball right now. They’re as hot as can be right now.” 

If the Sooners’ bats can stay hot against Bama, Johnson believes his pitching staff — however many he needs, and wherever he needs them — can be the difference Saturday.

“We’re not afraid to put them out there,” Johnson said. “That’s the biggest thing. Our players have confidence in them because they faced them in the fall, and they knew how good they were.

“You can do amazing things when you don’t care who gets the credit.”