Oklahoma
OU baseball prediction for College World Series game vs Georgia
OMAHA, NE — Oklahoma baseball continues its stay at the College World Series in the winners’ bracket on Monday.
Fresh off their blowout win over Alabama to open the CWS, the Sooners (39-22) will face No. 3 seed Georgia (52-12), which crushed Texas in its opening game.
Both teams enter the matchup scorching hot as the Bulldogs have won nine consecutive games, while the Sooners are riding a six-game win streak. The SEC foes didn’t play in the regular season.
OU will start right-hander Xander Mercurius, who owns a 5.82 ERA in three starts this season. Mercurius will try to replicate fellow freshman Cord Rager’s CWS performance after he struck out eight Crimson Tide batters in seven innings on Saturday.
The Sooners’ offense has yet to cool off as Dayton Tockey has hit five home runs in eight postseason games and all 16 of Deiten Lachance’s home runs have come in his last 29 games.
Georgia was one of the best offensive teams all season with a .326 team batting average (fourth nationally) and its 9.4 runs per game (second nationally).
Here’s everything to know about the matchup:
Battle of Branch brothers
OU second baseman Kyle Branch is set to face his brother, Bulldogs shortstop Kolby Branch, on Monday.
The brothers’ parents, Kari and Rusty Branch, bounced back and forth between Athens, Georgia, and Atlanta and Lawrence, Kansas, during regional and super regional play in order to watch both sons play. They also made it to Lovejoy High School in Texas, where their younger son Carson Branch won a state championship.
Kolby Branch is hitting .286 with 19 home runs and 58 RBIs. Kyle Branch, an All-SEC Freshman Team selection last season, is batting .225 with three home runs and 21 RBIs.
Xander Mercurius looks to keep up hot postseason
Xander Mercurius is coming off two impressive postseason outings.
In the Sooners’ loss to Georgia Tech, Mercurius struck out eight Yellowjackets in 5 2/3 innings. During OU’s CWS-clinching win over Kansas, Mercurius struck out six Jayhawks, allowing only one run in four innings across two days after a weather delay.
Sooners coach Skip Johnson has all the confidence in the world in his freshman flamethrower.
“If we get beat with a freshman, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow,” Johnson said.
How to watch Oklahoma vs Georgia: Time, TV channel, live stream
Oklahoma vs Georgia airs on ESPN at 6 p.m. Monday. Streaming options for the game include Fubo.
Oklahoma vs Georgia score prediction
Georgia 9, Oklahoma 7: Mercurius tosses another gem, but the Bulldogs’ offense gets to the Sooners’ bullpen late.
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at csulley@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.