Oklahoma Rides Freshman Cord Rager to Easy CWS Victory Over Alabama

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.