OMAHA, Neb. – The rookie arm quieted the Bulldog bats.
Freshman Xander Mercurius recorded season highs with 7.1 innings and nine strikeouts as Oklahoma edged No. 3 Georgia 4-3 in front of 24,455 fans on Monday evening in Game 8 of the 2026 College World Series at Charles Schwab Field.
The Sooners (40-22) advance to the first bracket final game on Wednesday, June 17 at 6 p.m. CT. The Bulldogs (52-13) will meet Texas in an elimination game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. CT.
In his fourth collegiate start, Mercurius (1-2) held UGA to three runs. He scattered six hits and walked two.
“I thought he stayed in the process, one pitch at a time,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said of Mercurius. “He executed pitches when he had to execute pitches.”
“Skip Johnson, he’s been great,” Mercurius said. “He’s been helping me every single day just becoming better. And that’s all I can do. That’s all I can hope or ask for. My teammates putting up runs in the first inning, helping me out. And just can’t do it without my teammates.”
Jackson Cleveland took over on the mound for Mercurius with a 4-3 lead and one away in the top of the eighth. He gave up a base hit to Rylan Lujo and a two-out walk to Kenny Ishikawa. Ryan Wynn sent a fly ball to the warning track in right to end the threat.
In the top of the ninth, Brennan Hudson got a leadoff hit off Cleveland. Following a strikeout, Cleveland plunked pinch-hitter Cole Johnson to move the tying run into scoring position. Cleveland struck out leadoff hitter Tre Phelps to bring National Player of the Year Daniel Jackson to the plate. Cleveland got Jackson to fly out to center to end the contest, notching his ninth save.
OU got the offense started in the bottom of the first. Jason Walk laced a leadoff double and Camden Johnson was plunked. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a failed pickoff attempt at second. Walk came home on a groundout by Deiten LaChance to give the Sooners a 1-0 edge. Jaxon Willits followed with his seventh homer of the season to make it 3-0.
In the top of the fourth, Ishikawa hit a foul popup on the left side that could not be caught. He took advantage of the reprieve to homer to right on the next pitch, his third long ball of the season, as UGA narrowed the deficit to 3-1. Wynn followed with a double, but Mercurius picked him off second to end the inning.
“I saw the way he was taking his lead,” shortstop Willits said. “The first pitch he was on second, he was doing a five-step lead, and on his fifth step he still had his chest facing third. And he went 0-1. I’m not going to it with an 0-1 count. But if he throws a ball here we’re going to run a pick. He threw a change-up in the dirt, and I’m, like, man, now’s the time now’s the opportunity. So we ran a quick pick. And I feel like all the times that nobody wants to work on that in the fall when it’s 100 degrees and everybody’s complaining that we have to do team defense for 45 minutes, it all came together in that one play.”
The Sooners answered immediately in the bottom of the frame as Brendan Brock went the other way on a homer to right, his 13th of the season, to give OU a 4-1 cushion.
The long balls continued in the top of the fifth as Hudson led off with a dinger to left center, his 22nd of the spring, as the Bulldogs pulled within two at 4-2.
Jackson hit a long homer to left center in the top of the eighth, his 32nd of the season, to pull UGA within one at 4-3. That signaled the end of the night for Mercurius.
Willits was 3 for 4 with a homer and two RBI, while Walk had two hits and one run for OU.
Ishikawa and Hudson both had two hits, including a home run, for UGA.
Caden Aoki (9-2) went the distance for the Bulldogs, allowing eight hits and four runs in eight innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
“Not to sugarcoat it, my stuff was really bad early on,” Aoki said. “They didn’t miss the pitches that I left in the heart of the plate. I had to take a step back and change my mindset, to be honest. It was a trying day on the mound. I felt better as the game went on. I just had to stick to my approach and stick to my mindset and realize where my stuff was. And I had to elevate my game towards the end of it.”
“I thought it was a really good ball game tonight,” said UGA head coach Wes Johnson. “We had some opportunities to get back into the game. We didn’t cash in on those. I thought Caden was awesome tonight. We had a hiccup there in the first, and for him to finish the game for us was massive, as you look forward and saving your bullpen.”
Notes
- Georgia’s Kolby Branch and Oklahoma’s Kyle Branch became the first brothers to play against each other in a College World Series contest.
- The Sooners have won seven straight games since falling into the loser’s bracket of the Atlanta Regional.
- OU has started the CWS 2-0 for the fourth time. The Sooners won the title in 1951 and 1994, and lost in the finals in 2022.
- The Sooners have homered in nine straight games. OU has 40 homers in its 19 games since May 1 after just 46 homers in their first 43 games.
- OU is 30-1 when leading after eight innings this season.
- Jason Walk extended his on-base streak to 19 games and hit streak to 11 games.
- Georgia hit three solo homers to raise its season total to 178, a program record and the top total in NCAA Division I.