While the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is widely recognized for its dominance in football and both men’s and women’s basketball, its most impressive claim to supremacy might actually come on the baseball diamond.
That supremacy is becoming more evident to new SEC member Oklahoma, whose baseball team is starting to feel the pressure of playing in the nation’s toughest conference.
The Sooners suffered a tough 10-2 defeat at the hands of LSU on Friday night. It marked their second consecutive loss to the Tigers and their second straight weekend losing a conference series. After starting strong in SEC play by winning two out of three in each of their first two league matchups, the ninth-ranked Sooners are now below .500 in conference games. Their overall record dropped to 23-7, and they fell to 5-6 in SEC competition. Meanwhile, LSU, ranked seventh nationally, continued their hot streak, improving to 29-3 overall and 9-2 in the SEC.
Baseball success has long been a point of pride for the SEC. The conference has claimed the last five national championships, and 10 of the past 15 College World Series titles have gone to SEC schools. LSU took the national crown just two years ago, notably the same year Oklahoma finished as runner-up. This level of excellence — driven by deep rosters full of both hitting and pitching talent — has clearly been on display in the first two games of this weekend’s series at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Oklahoma. LSU secured a 2-0 victory on Thursday, followed by Friday’s dominant performance.
Entering the series, LSU led the SEC in team batting average, hitting .333, and also topped the conference in total strikeouts with 352 — a lethal combination that makes them a dangerous opponent on both sides of the ball.
But it’s not just LSU that showcases the SEC’s depth. The league is stacked from top to bottom. Even though Oklahoma was ranked ninth nationally in the coaches poll going into Friday’s game, they were only tenth in the SEC standings. Their national RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) ranked them ninth as well — but that placed them just sixth in their own conference, one spot ahead of LSU before the weekend began.
In Friday’s game, Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson used seven different pitchers in an attempt to slow down LSU’s potent lineup, but most of them struggled. Starting pitcher Cade Crossland was hit hard early, giving up four runs in the second inning.
LSU jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Chris Stanfield’s two-run double. Stanfield then scored on a double by Derek Curiel to make it 3-0, and Jared Jones added another run with a bloop single that brought Curiel home.
The Sooners managed to claw back in the third inning, scoring two unearned runs to cut the lead in half. Dasan Harris reached base and was driven in by Trey Gambill’s single, and Jaxon Willits followed with a double over the right fielder’s head to bring Gambill home, narrowing the deficit to 4-2.
Crossland settled down for a couple of innings but ran into trouble again in the sixth, when LSU’s Josh Pearson blasted a solo home run to extend the Tigers’ lead to 5-2.
Pearson’s home run came after LSU pitcher Kade Anderson had thrown a complete game shutout in Thursday’s opener. On Friday, starter Anthony Eyanson handled most of the workload, pitching 5 2/3 innings while allowing only three hits and striking out eight batters. Importantly, the two runs scored against him were both unearned.
Oklahoma had a chance to rally in the sixth inning after a walk by Dayton Tockey and an infield single by Dawson Willis put two runners aboard. That forced LSU to go to the bullpen, bringing in Casan Evans, who promptly struck out Harris to end the threat.
LSU padded their lead in the seventh. With Beau Sampson replaced by Michael Catalano on the mound, LSU’s Jones and Daniel Dickinson opened the inning with singles. A potential double play ball off the bat of Steven Milam turned into an extra run for the Tigers when Tockey overran first base, allowing Jones to score and making it 6-2.
In the ninth inning, LSU put the game completely out of reach. Dickinson led off with a solo home run, pushing the lead to 7-2. After a pitching change, Pearson hit his second homer of the night to make it 8-2. The Tigers then piled on two more runs when Stanfield hit a double under the glove of the left fielder, bringing the final score to 10-2.
Oklahoma had a minor spark in the bottom of the ninth when Willis reached third on a dropped fly ball, but Evans struck out the next three batters to end the game decisively.
With this loss, the Sooners now face the possibility of being swept at home — a sobering introduction to the relentless grind of SEC baseball. The series finale is set for Saturday at 2 p.m., where Oklahoma will aim to salvage a win and regain some momentum.
This tough stretch for the Sooners underscores just how competitive the SEC is. They recently dropped a series to Alabama as well and find themselves learning quickly that even a nationally ranked squad has little room for error in this conference.
The SEC’s depth and talent are unmatched, and while Oklahoma’s entrance into the league brings exciting new matchups and challenges, it also comes with a steep learning curve — one that the Sooners are now experiencing first-hand.
