It feels great to be out of the Regional round. I was worried that this team was going to carry the number one ranking for much of the season only to go meekly in the first round – a defeat that would have only been made more offensive by coming at home. Getting to the Super Regional round validates the season a bit more, but I won’t be truly fulfilled without another trip to Omaha.

To get there, we need to get past Oklahoma. The Sooners are 47-15, and went 15-10 in a largely mediocre Big 12. To further devalue the Sooners’ schedule, they’ve played just five games against ranked opponents this season and have won just one: a 4-2 road victory over TCU in April.

The Sooner pitchers we’ll see are Michael Rocha (7-1, 3.50) tomorrow and Zach Neal (8-3, 4.42) on Sunday. Rocha spent some of this season banished from the OU rotation following a couple of costly losses but has come on strong toward the end of the year. Neal has spent much of the season as their number one, but has been hit hard on occasion.

Garrett Buechele (.387, 16 HR), Danny Black (.339, 10 SB), Chris Ellison (.329, 21 SB), Cameron Seitzer (14 HR) and Max White (14 HR) are the guys to look for in the Oklahoma order – a deep group that is hitting .314 with 93 home runs as a team.

Hultz will get the Saturday start for us, with Morey on Sunday and either Branden Kline (probably) or Cody Winiarksi (less probably) available for Monday’s deciding game (if it comes to that, which I hope it doesn’t).

Thought:

- UVa is undefeated all time against the Big 12: a robust 2-0. A 4-2 win over Oklahoma State in 1998, and a 12-4 win over Oklahoma in 1999.