Sooner Pitching Dominates Tigers, Forces Rubber Match
David Billiot Jr • March 21, 2026
Oklahoma - 4, LSU - 2
Friday Night Recap
With their first opportunity to clinch an SEC series tonight, LSU fell just short with a 4-2 loss to Oklahoma to even the series. The night belonged to Casan Evans on Thursday, but Friday belonged to Sooner pitching. L.J. Mercurius wasn’t quite as magical as Evans, but he still rolled through the LSU lineup, retiring 10 in a row at one point. He was on the ropes early with back to back singles to start off the game, but was able to shut the opening rally down. After John Pearson homered to leadoff the 2nd inning, it was all Mercurius. His record improved to 5-1 with the victory tonight. The trio of arms out of the Oklahoma bullpen delivered big pitch after big pitch, despite some very tense moments with Alex Box coming to life late in the game.
Cooper Moore is the story on the LSU side and not for good reason. After a perfect first 2 innings, the Sooners began making him pay for his few mistakes and scratched a few runs across in the 3rd and 4th. But the story comes in the 5th, as Moore spiked his first pitch of the inning and Jay Johnson immediately went out to the mound. Jay told us after the game that it was Moore’s tricep that was bothering him and that’s all of the info he had by the time he did his post game press conference. He did say that he believes Moore will “be ok”, but has no idea if he may miss a week, two weeks, or a month. The initial concern was that it was the elbow, which is devastating for pitchers, but according to Jay, he did not believe that was the case as of now. It’s a tough ask to have your bullpen cover 5 innings in an SEC game, but LSU’s did a great job by only allowing two more runs the rest of the way. They simply just did not get the help they needed from the Tiger bats.
Pitching
Cooper Moore wasted no time trying to rebound from back to back losses after starting his season with three straight wins. He attacked the Sooner lineup right from the start, getting a 2 pitch ground out to leadoff hitter Trey Gambill, who’s best attribute is getting on base. He followed that up with back to back strikeouts, picking up right where Casan Evans left off. It was another quick 10 pitch inning in the 2nd, which included a strikeout and another play deep in the 6-hole that Steven Milam makes look way too easy. Moore hadn’t made any mistakes through the first 2 innings, but he left a few balls up in the zone in the 3rd and Oklahoma made him pay. It started with a leadoff double, then after a sacrifice bunt, had 9-hole hitter Jason Walk down 0-2, but gave him a hittable pitch and Walk tied the game with a single. The damage was nearly worse when Gambill got a hanging breaking ball that he ripped in to right-center, but as he has done all year, Derek Curiel made a phenomenal diving catch to rob a sure extra base hit. The mistakes continued in the 4th, as Moore allowed back to back 1 out singles, the first of which was another 2-strike Sooner hit. With runners on the corners, a wild pitch gave Oklahoma their first lead of the series. He was able to escape without further damage, but after 21 pitches through 2 innings, Moore racked up 40 between the 3rd and 4th innings alone. Things got scary in the 5th, as he threw one pitch, a spiked fastball and Jay Johnson and head trainer Isaac Trujillo immediately came out. They spoke to Moore for about 5 minutes, but pulled him out without the junior throwing a single warmup pitch.
- Final line: 4.0 IP / 4 hits / 2 runs / 4 Ks / 0 BBs / 62 pitches (43 strikes, 69%)
Following Moore’s early exit, Cooper Williams came in following back to back great outings. He threw 3 straight pitches out of the zone to allow the leadoff walk and then got a groundball, but it was hit too slow for a double play and Milam had to get the out at 1st base. Not being able to get the lead runner out immediately came back to bite the Tigers, as a single to left field scored the runner from 2nd to make it 3-1. After a stolen base and a groundout back to Williams, Jay would make his walk out to the mound for another pitching change.
- Final line: .2 IP / 1 hit / 1 run / 0 Ks / 1 BB / 16 pitches (10 strikes, 63%)
Mavrick Rizy came on with 2 outs and the runner on 3rd and despite starting the hitter off with a 3-0 count, battled back to record the strikeout to end the inning. That would be the only out he recorded, as he returned in the 6th and gave up yet another Sooner 2-strike hit and then walked another.
- Final line: .1 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB
With runners on 1st and 2nd and no one out and already down two runs, Grant Fontenot entered in his biggest spot of the season. The senior delivered, going strikeout, groundout, strikeout to end the threat. The final strikeout came on the next pitch after John Pearson dropped a pop up in foul territory. Fontenot returned for the 7th after recording a big first out on a bang-bang play at 1st base, he walked the next hitter on 4 pitches and that would be the end of his night. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that performance in the 6th inning to keep it a 1-run game.
- Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 1 BB
Santiago Garcia entered following the 1-out walk and quickly did his job, as he has done for the past few weeks. A fly out and a strikeout left the runner stranded at 2nd base. He returned for the 8th and recorded a quick 1-2-3 inning, including strikeout of Sooner leader Jaxon Willits to start things off and then another highlight play by Steven Milam on a slow roller, assisted by a beautiful pick out of the dirt by Zach Yorke. Garcia returned for the 9th and wasn’t able to keep a 1-out Sooner double from adding an insurance run, as Gambill singled to deliver his second RBI of the night. He would get caught stealing to end the top of the inning.
- Final line: 2.2 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 3 Ks / 0 BB
Hitting
Chris Stanfield was the only Tiger to record multiple hits on Friday night, finishing 2-4. It looked like he had scored the tying run in the 7th inning on a ball to the backstop, but it barely grazed Milam and was a dead ball.
Omar Serna continues to find himself in big spots with these extra opportunities in the starting lineup and he seems to come through at least once per game. His RBI single in the 6th inning pulled LSU within a run to make it a 3-2 game. He also walked once, finishing 1-3.
John Pearson’s solo homerun to leadoff the 2nd inning was his third of the season. It was his 4th consecutive start, making the most of his recent chances to make an impact. He finished 1-4.
After pinch hitting in the 7th inning, Seth Dardar finished 1-2. His 1-out single in the 9th inning allowed the Tigers to bring the tying run to the plate. Unfortunately, Stanfield hit a hard ground ball to Camden Johnson at 3rd base and the Sooners turned their second 5-4-3 double play of the night.
Quiet nights for Jake Brown pretty much look like this one. He went 1-2 with 2 walks and scored once, continuing to make an impact even when he’s not driving in a ridiculous amount of RBIs.
Up Next
LSU and Oklahoma will square off in the rubber match tomorrow afternoon. First pitch will be for 2 pm central. William Schmidt will take the mound for the Tigers with his record of 3-1. He entered the weekend as the team leader in strikeouts with 39, but has since been passed by Casan Evans. The sophomore is coming off of his early exit at Vanderbilt where he was experience back tightness, so that is something to keep an eye on, although Jay Johnson has said he’s good to go and did not appear on the injury report. Oklahoma will counter with freshman LHP Cord Rager, who will make his 6th start of the season. He is 2-1, with back-to-back no decisions in his last two starts. In his first SEC start last week vs Texas A&M, the freshman struggled. He only went 3.0 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, while striking out 6 and only walking one. LSU falls to 16-8 (2-3 SEC), while Oklahoma improves to 18-5 (3-2 SEC).
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Thursday Night Recap Casan Evans was “embarrassed” after his performance at Vanderbilt last Friday night. Those aren’t my words, they’re his. The Tiger ace expressed to us after the game just how upset he was with himself following his season-worst outing against the Commodores. He only made it through 3.0 innings, gave up 5 hits, 6 runs, and gave up 6 free passes (5 BB/1 HBP). Evans said that upon returning to Baton Rouge on Monday, it was the first time in his life that he threw a bullpen immediately after getting off of the bus coming home. Jay Johnson also mentioned that the two of them, along with pitching coach Nate Yeskie, spent 3 hours fine-tuning preparation for tonight’s start. Whatever it was that they did, it worked. Evans struck out a career-high 15 hitters, flat out dominating the Sooner lineup. He lived in the zone and had all four of his pitches working. The curveball that he debuted in Omaha last season looked the best that it ever has in a game. If his final line doesn’t fully express how special of a start that was, a relatable comparison will. He is the first LSU pitcher to strike out that many hitters in an SEC game since Paul Skenes did it in May of 2023. That’s pretty good company to be mentioned with. As for the offense, they were aided by a Oklahoma ace Cam Johnson’s worst start of the year. The former Tiger has been their Friday guy since the preseason and was pretty good through non-conference play during the first four weeks of the season. Some cracks started to show with a rough performance against Texas A&M a week ago, but the floodgates opened on him in his return to Baton Rouge on Thursday night. LSU had built a 4-0 lead in the 2nd inning without recording a single hit. John Pearson’s single to make it 5-0 was the first one of the game for the Tigers. That hit came off of Oklahoma reliever Xander Mercurius, who had just entered the game. Johnson only made it through 1.1 innings, while walking 6 and hitting another batter. Of his 67 pitches thrown, only 28 were for strikes. LSU’s offense went completely silent for four innings after the 2nd, but the damage was already done and it was becoming clearer and clearer with every pitch that Casan Evans threw, he was on his way to a special night. Pitching Casan Evans was coming off of his worst outing of the year at Vanderbilt last Friday. He got off to a good start tonight, though, striking out 4 hitter through the first 2 innings. In the 1st, he had to record an extra strikeout, after a dropped third strike got away from Cade Arramide for a 2-out baserunner. Evans followed that up with a 10 pitch 2nd inning thanks to the help of two Trent Caraway put outs and then his 4th K to end the inning. He kept it going in 3rd, starting off with a quick reaction stop on a hard ground ball right back at him. His 5th strikeout was followed by a 2-out single, but Evans quickly recorded a two pitch groundout to end the inning. Efficiency was his best friend through the first three innings with 44 pitches thrown, 29 of which were strikes. His best came in the 4th, striking out the side on 12 pitches and getting fired up in the process. With 2 outs and a 1-2 count, Deiten LaChance tried to slow down Evans’s tempo by talking to the umpire and then stepping in to the box and staring back at the pitch clock to avoid the “eye contact” necessary for a pitcher to start his delivery. Casan threw a nasty and struck him out, anyways, getting fired up and letting LaChance hear about it as he walked off of the mound. That was the first time this season that we’ve seen that intensity from the sophomore ace. It only took 5 innings for Evans to record double digit strikeouts, as his two in the 5th got him up to 10 on only 68 pitches. His scoreless outing finally came to and end in the 6th, despite the fact that he struck out another two. A leadoff single ended up coming around on a throwing error by Zach Yorke. The third and final hit that the Sooners got off of Evans came with 2 outs in the 7th, but that was all. With 95 pitches, he returned to the mound in the 8th and with back to back strikeouts to start the inning, he set his new career high with 15. His previous high was when he struck out 12 in the winner-takes-all game vs Little Rock in the Baton Rouge Regional in 2025. Evans fell behind 3-0 to the third hitter of the inning and nearly battled all the way back, but issued his only walk of the evening and with 110 pitches, his remarkable night came to an end. Final line: 7.2 IP / 3 hits / 1 run / 15 Ks / 1 BB / 110 pitches (76 strikes, 69%) Ethan Plog entered to relieve Evans and seemed to be a one batter matchup insertion. He only threw 4 pitches and gave up a single through the infield to put two runners on base with two outs and that was all for him. Final line: 0.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 0 Ks / 0 BBs Coming off of his season best performance at Vanderbilt last Friday, Zac Cowan entered to put the nail in the coffin. He promptly recorded a flyout to end the 8th, then breezed through the 9th on just 9 pitches to record another flyout, a strikeout, and a groundout back to himself to secure the game 1 win for LSU. That’s back to back perfect outings for Cowan, which could be a massive development for the Tiger bullpen. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BBs / 11 pitches (8 strikes) Hitting It was a weird night for the LSU offense with not a single player carrying the load as far as damage goes, but Omar Serna came away as the most productive Tiger hitter, yet again. Following up his homerun on Tuesday against Grambling, the freshman catcher made his first game 1 start at DH. He doubled, walked, and scored a run to finish 2-3. Jay Johnson has been raving about Serna a lot recently and the signs point to a lot more playing time if he keeps producing in SEC play. The only other Tiger with multiple hits was John Pearson, who, like Serna, started for the 3+ straight time for the first time in 2026. Pearson was at 3rd base and delivered one of only 5 credited RBI for LSU on Thursday night. The sophomore finished 2-4 and bumped his on base percentage during his three consecutive starts up to .600. Zach Yorke had the most productive swing of the night when he drove in 2 RBI in the 7th to put the first runs on the board for LSU since the 2nd inning. He had a rough start to his night at the plate, striking out quickly in his first two at bats and leaving 5 runners on base, himself. He came up with the bases loaded and 1 out, following a bad strikeout by Cade Arrambide and with the pressure of not coming through, once again, he delivered. Yorke finished 1-3. Trent Caraway made his first start since Saturday at Vanderbilt, this one coming at 2nd base as Jay Johnson looked to stack an extra right-handed hitter against LHP Cam Johnson. He finished 1-2 and scored a run, while also drawing 2 walks. His one single was another backside missile to right-center. Although he has had some struggles lately, he has proven the ability to hit the ball hard the other way. Jake Brown’s barrel has cooled off a bit since Nashville, but as he always does, he finds a way to be productive as the rock in the Tiger lineup. Despite the 0-2 line, he walked three times and scored twice. Through 23 games played, Brown has failed to reach base only once. Derek Curiel has also come back down to earth after a great opening SEC weekend, but also found a way to contribute like his fellow outfielder. The super sophomore went 1-4 with a walk, RBI, and a run scored. Up Next LSU and Oklahoma will return to action for game 2 tomorrow night. First pitch will be at 6:30 pm central, setting up a busy day on campus with the Lady Tiger basketball team set to start their NCAA tournament run at 5 pm central down the street at the PMAC. The Tigers will send Cooper Moore to the mound with his record of 3-2, but coming off of back to back losses to Sacramento St and Vanderbilt. The Sooners will answer with L.J. Mercurius, a junior transfer from UNLV with a record of 4-1 and a 1.59 ERA. Despite filling the game 2 role, Mercurius has been Oklahoma’s best starter, statistically. He has struck out 41 and only walked 8 in 28.1 innings pitched. Thursday night’s victory improved LSU’s record to 16-7 overall (2-2 SEC), while Oklahoma dropped to 17-5 (2-2 SEC). This was the first time that the Sooners have lost consecutive games in 2026 after being shut out by SLU in Hammond on Tuesday 3-0. For much more, follow me on X @DCBilliotJr
Tuesday Night Recap After finally exploding for 16 runs in Sunday’s series salvaging win at Vanderbilt, LSU’s offense rode the struggle bus back home from Nashville. Facing a Grambling team that had allowed 10+ runs in 11 of their 18 games, the Tigers weren’t able to put a crooked number on the scoreboard until their final at bat in the 8th inning. Better late than never, they say, but watching this team struggle against an opponent of this caliber is perplexing. The lineup only struck out 6 times, while drawing 8 walks, so it was a simple issue of not finding grass with the balls they put in play. Jay Johnson told us after the game that Grambling used their entire weekend rotation, plus some of their top relievers, but that won’t stop the persisting question. What is going on? As for the pitching, the staff bounced back from some abysmal control issues at Vanderbilt where they issued 26 walks and hit three more. On Tuesday, Tiger pitchers only walked three. The staff, as a whole, was outstanding. Having fallen out of the top 25 of every major poll in the country this week, the 7-1 victory is the first step to finding their way back next Monday. Pitching Reagan Ricken made his second midweek start of the season and things seemed like they may go sideways pretty quickly. He struck the leadoff batter out, but Omar Serna’s throw on the dropped 3rd strike hit the runner and resulted in an error. Ricken got a flyout to Stanfield, but followed with a wild pitch and a hit by pitch and Grambling had two runners on with one out. He locked in from there, recording a groundout and struck the final batter out looking. Returning for the 2nd, Ricken walked the leadoff hitter after starting him with an 0-2 count and then gave up a hard hit single up the middle to put two runners on with 0 outs and that would be the end of his night. Ricken was in the zone with 24 of his 36 pitches for strikes, but struggled to finish hitters off. Final line: 1.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 2 Ks / 1 BB Grant Fontenot was tasked with taking over Ricken’s 2nd inning mess and made quick work of the next three Grambling hitters. He recorded a ground out to Steven Milam, a shallow flyout that Chris Stanfield got back in quick enough to hold the runners, and then froze Chris Marcellus for a called 3rd strike to end the inning. In the 3rd, Fontenot got himself in to a little bit of trouble. He gave up a leadoff single, then a 1 out walk, but was able to lock in and strike the final two hitters out to, once again, keep Grambling off of the scoreboard. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 1 BB Dax Dathe entered for the 4th inning and after striking out the first hitter of the inning, he gave up singles to 2 of the next 3 hitters to allow Grambling to tie the game at 1-1 and that was it for him as Jay Johnson came out to make another pitching change. He was in the zone with 10 of his 14 pitches for strikes, but credit Grambling for finding the barrel against the 5th year senior. Final line: .2 IP / 2 hits / 1 run / 1 K / 0 BB With two outs in the 4th, Jay called upon Cooper Williams to shut down the Tigers rally. He was coming off of a fantastic last outing on Sunday, as he threw a perfect 9th inning to finish the LSU win, while striking out two. He did exactly what he was called upon to do with a 4 pitch strikeout to end any further threat. Williams continued his hot streak by coming back in the 5th and striking out two more. That would be the end of his outing, throwing 14 pitches, 11 of which were strikes. Final line: 1.1 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 0 BBs Mavrick Rizy took over to start the 6th and his time on the mound was brief, throwing only 7 pitches. He recorded a flyout, gave up a bloop single, and then drew a ground ball right to Milam who stepped on 2nd base and gunned to 1st to record LSU’s 6th double play of the year. Returning for the 7th, Rizy started the leadoff hitter 2-0 with two bad misses, drawing a visit from pitching coach Nate Yeskie. He promptly threw three straight strikes and then struck out the side to finish his outing. Final line: 2.0 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 3 Ks / 0 BB Ethan Plog came in for the 8th inning and didn’t last very long. With the compounded schedule this week, it appeared as if some of the Tiger pitchers had very limited pitch counts and Plog was one of them. He only threw 10 pitches, recording a strikeout and allowing a single. Final line: .1 IP / 1 hit / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BB Following his heartbreaking last appearance in Friday’s walk-off loss Friday night, Gavin Guidry took over, looking to bounce back with a man on first and 1 out. With just 7 pitches, he delivered a strikeout and a groundout. Final line: .2 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 0 BB After his offense finally extended the LSU lead to 7-1, Marcos Paz entered to record the final 3 outs in the 9th inning. He found a quick first out on a nice slow-roller play by Trent Caraway, then recorded a strikeout on a nasty slider, before issuing a 2 out walk. Four pitches later, a fly ball dropped in to Stanfield’s glove and that would do it. Final line: 1.0 IP / 0 hits / 0 runs / 1 K / 1 BB Hitting Omar Serna delivered his second straight big midweek game, blasting his second homerun in as many weeks. Last Tuesday, the freshman hit the go ahead grand slam against Creighton. Tonight, he led off the 8th inning with a solo shot that kick-started the 4 run inning for LSU. He was the only Tiger with multiple hits, finishing 2-5 and scoring 3 runs. Chris Stanfield continued producing since returning to the lineup last week. Although he was only 1-5, his one hit was a 2 RBI single that created more separation in the 8th inning and showed slight signs of life for the LSU offense. Zach Yorke finished with an official line of 1-1, but drew 3 more walks, extending his team lead and bringing his season total up to 21, six more than the next closest Tiger. Yorke also scored a run. Speaking of walks, Derek Curiel drew two of his own, while finishing 1-3. His biggest impact came on the bases, though, as he stole three bases on Tuesday night. Up Next LSU will welcome Oklahoma for their SEC home opener for a Thursday-Saturday series. This will be the only series that starts on Thursday for the Tigers until the final weekend of the season when every series starts a day early. Game 1 will be a 7 pm central first pitch Thursday night. Oklahoma will come to Baton Rouge off of a 2-1 series win at home against Texas A&M on the opening weekend of conference play. Their overall record is 17-4, following a 3-0 loss to Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond on Tuesday night.