OMAHA, NE — As Xander Mercurius walked off the hill he owned for 7 ⅓ innings, Christina Mercurius stood from her seat atop the Oklahoma baseball parents’ zone in Section 117, waved her left arm and cheered on her son.
With her right hand, Christina filmed, aiming to document every moment when she wasn’t wiping away tears. She zoomed in with her smart phone camera on Xander’s final line shown on Charles Schwab Field's jumbotron.
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Six hits. Three runs. Two walks. Career-high nine strikeouts.
“It's just so surreal to see him from a baby to now in college,” Christina told The Oklahoman, standing in the concourse of the mecca of college baseball, which packed in 24,455 fans Monday night during the Sooners’ 4-3 win over Georgia to advance to the semifinals of the College World Series.
Oklahoma is one win away from the championship series.
Christina remembers a serious conversation she had with a then-4-year-old Xander when he told her he was going to be in the MLB someday. Like most mothers do with their wide-eyed children, she rattled off the statistics detailing how few and far between major leaguers are.
Xander didn’t care.
That same confident kid Christina raised in Las Vegas set the college baseball world on fire in only his fourth collegiate start. He had only pitched 33 ⅔ innings throughout the regular season before being slotted in as OU’s No. 2 starting pitcher for the NCAA Tournament.
Freshmen Cord Rager and Xander have combined for 14 ⅓ innings of the 18 played at the College World Series, recording two wins and hurling 17 strikeouts with only three earned runs.
“(Xander's) just a tough kid,” said Sooners coach Skip Johnson, seated next to his freshman flamethrower who he compares to two-time MLB All-Star Marcus Stroman. “His fastball command has been there for a while, he’s been up to 99 mph this year. He pitched a great game… He executed pitches when he had to execute pitches.”
It was that fastball that did the Bulldogs in.
Mercurius consistently hovered around 93-95 mph and put away six Georgia hitters with the heater.
“Really dominated us,” Bulldogs coach Wes Johnson said.
make it seven K's ⚔️@XanderMercurius // 📺 ESPN pic.twitter.com/Ju35vqhN60
— Oklahoma Baseball (@OU_Baseball) June 16, 2026
When asked postgame where the roll he’s been on during the postseason came from he gave all the credit to Johnson, who shook his head when he heard the praise.
“The guy next to me,” Xander said.
The Mercurius family knew from their first official visit that Johnson was going to work wonders with Xander and his brother, junior right-hander LJ Mercurius.
“Skip is amazing,” Christina said. “He was very humble. He was very honest with us, he never tried to sell us. As I left, I already knew. I’m a mama bear, so I didn't want my kids to go far. I was comfortable when I left, like, 'OK, I know I'm gonna be OK to leave him there.'
“To see Skip work with him and see him develop so much, it's just been amazing.”
Like his mother, LJ was living and dying with every one of his brother’s 104 pitches from his perch in the left field bullpen. The brothers fought a lot as kids and didn’t attend the same high school, but have grown closer throughout the past year since playing on the same team.
LJ gave his younger brother a pep talk this morning, letting him know he belongs on this stage and can pitch against anyone, including the No. 2 ranked offense nationally this season.
“It's nothing other than special,” LJ told The Oklahoman from the field minutes following the game. “Extraordinary is the other word. It's just awesome. To get to see him every day and come this far this year is awesome. I honestly don't want it to end anytime soon.“He’s a freaking goofball and he’s always going to fight and compete.”
Next, after a day off, Oklahoma will face the winner of Georgia-Texas at 6 p.m. Wednesday. If the Sooners win that, they're two wins away from a national championship — and Xander will play a vital role.
Xander has a unique ability to block out noise.
Amidst the raucous where a ferris wheel lights up the skyline and the smell of hot dogs and cotton candy fill the air, Xander is still. If you look closely enough in between pitches, you’ll notice him utter words of encouragement to himself.
A ritual he started involves a deep breath and a glance over to wherever Christina is sitting during any given game. She says they locked eyes more than once during his career night.
It was hard for Christina not to think back to the young kid watching the game he loves on his iPad or TV and perfecting his pitches in the backyard.
“Now look at him,” Christina said with tears in her eyes. “In the College World Series as a freshman.”
Colton Sulley covers the Oklahoma Sooners for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Colton? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @colton_sulley. Support Colton's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing adigital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How OU baseball freshman Xander Mercurius dominated Georgia in CWS