Oklahoma Starts Cord Rager Against North Carolina’s Jason DeCaro in College World Series Game 1

Oklahoma will start left-hander Cord Rager in Game 1 of the national championship series against North Carolina on Saturday, June 20. 31 ERA for the 2026 season. 69 ERA over 71 innings pitched in 15 starts.

Despite the regular-season mark, he has recorded 15 and two-thirds consecutive scoreless innings dating back to his Game 1 start against Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional. Oklahoma finished 11th out of 16 teams in the 2026 SEC standings. The Sooners advanced through the NCAA Tournament by defeating No.

2 Georgia Tech twice, sweeping No. 15 Kansas, beating No. 7 Alabama 9-0, and defeating No. 3 Georgia twice. Rager opened the 2026 season as Oklahoma’s No. 3 starter. After a minor adjustment from coach Skip Johnson, his fastball velocity rose from the 89-91 mph range to as high as 97 mph.

In the Atlanta Regional, Rager pitched seven innings against The Citadel, allowing three runs on seven hits with zero walks and eight strikeouts. He followed with a six-inning shutout against Kansas in the Lawrence Super Regional, permitting one hit and one walk while striking out six.

Rager then threw a seven-inning shutout against Alabama in the College World Series, giving up three hits with zero walks and eight strikeouts.

His 2026 season record stands at 6-3 with 89 strikeouts and 19 walks. Rager is from Maypearl, Texas, a town with fewer than 1,000 residents. He leads a rotation composed entirely of true freshmen. “He’s made me a lot better,” Rager told The Oklahoman.

“In the fall, I kind of just threw the ball with no real thought behind it. But I’ve cleaned up some things and I’m more efficient in my delivery.