Baseball in the Sooner State

#17 Vanderbilt Commodores (25-8, 7-5 SEC) vs. #19 Oklahoma Sooners (23-9, 5-7 SEC)
Game 1: Friday, April 11 @ 7 p.m. CT • SEC Network
Game 2: Saturday, April 12 @ 4 p.m. CT • SECN+
Game 3: Sunday, April 13 @ 2 p.m. CT • SECN+

Weekend Preview: Vanderbilt visits Oklahoma for a three-game series against one of the newest members of the SEC.

• The Commodores and Sooners have played four times before, splitting the all-time series 2-2. Oklahoma won the most recent meeting in 2008 in the NCAA Tempe Regional.
• This weekend’s series marks the second time since 2021 the Commodores are playing in the state of Oklahoma. Vandy won two of three games at Oklahoma State that season.
• RJ Austin competed with a pair of Oklahoma Sooners (Kyson Witherspoon, Malachi Witherspoon) on the 2024 USA Collegiate National Team.

Last Time Out: Vanderbilt takes a five-game win streak into Norman after sweeping Florida on the road last weekend and defeating Dayton at home on Tuesday.

• JD Thompson, Miller Green and Sawyer Hawks combined for a 6-0, shutout win at Florida last Friday.
• In Game 2 on Saturday, Colin Barczi hit the go-ahead solo home run in the top of the ninth to put Vanderbilt in front and Connor Fennell slammed the door in the home half for the save.
• The Commodores pulled away from Florida in the late innings on Sunday to finish off the series sweep. Jonathan Vastine went 4-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Rustan Rigdon drove in four runs, including his first collegiate homer.
• Vandy stole nine bases in the win over Dayton on Tuesday, the most steals in a game by the Commodores since at least 2009.

On the Mound and Behind It: Vanderbilt’s pitching staff boasts a 3.37 ERA, sixth best in D1 and third in the SEC.

• Vandy’s pitchers have reached double-digit strikeouts in 24 of 33 games this season.
• Vanderbilt leads the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (6.52) and is fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (12.1).
• The Dores’ five shutouts are most in the SEC.
• Defensively, Vandy owns the fifth best fielding percentage in DI (.985), second in the SEC.

RJ Doing RJ Things: Junior RJ Austin is second in the SEC in stolen bases with 13, trailing only his teammate Jacob Humphrey.

• Austin enters the weekend batting .302 with a home run, and SEC-leading four triples, 10 doubles and 16 walks.
• He walked off WKU on April 1 with an RBI single in the 10th inning.
• Austin hit the go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning to help lift Vanderbilt past Texas A&M on March 22.
• He hit two triples in the win over Saint Mary’s on Feb. 21, the first Commodore since Tony Kemp in 2012 to do so.
• Austin’s 13 multi-hit games this season is most on the team. His nine multi-RBI performances also leads all Commodores.

Big Innings: Vandy has scored four or more runs in an inning 18 times this season.

• The Dores have scored seven or more runs in an inning five times including a nine-spot twice.