First of Three Shriners Children’s Hospitals Showdowns Lives Up to Expectations
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ARLINGTON, TX – It was as good as advertised, and as good as college baseball gets, on Weekend One of 2026 NCAA Division I competition during the Shriners Children’s Hospitals Showdown Feb. 13-15 at Globe Life Field.
With No. 5 nationally Arkansas joining No. 9 TCU and No. 18 Vanderbilt in the six-team field along with traditional powers Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech – all Top 25-30 vote recipients in the USA Today and NCBWA preseason surveys – the three-day meet featured power hitting and pitching as well as defense similar to what is played in May and June in leading college diamond circles.
What transpired was some NCAA Ratings Percentage Index-driving competition and anticipated matchups between DI powerhouse conferences – the Big 12 and Southeastern – and even a little intra-Oklahoma Bedlam Series activity for good measure (the historic 351st meeting Saturday of these colleges since 1909 – just two years after statehood for Oklahoma in 1907 – and Oklahoma’s 190th win in the series ahead of the Cowboys 161 victories).
From a 10-3 win by the Sooners over Tech to start the proceedings to a 3-0 record by tourney winner OU late Sunday night, Oklahoma was clearly the dominant squad in all areas with a composite winning margin of 32-6.
Pacing the three routs was Sooners 3B Camden Johnson smashing six hits, including a 4-for-4 night in a 12-2 finale win over TCU, with six RBI and six runs scored.
And practically each head coach in the tourney appreciated the level of competition and strategy behind these rugged, early season tests.
“The (win over Tech) was a positive opening for us,” said OU’s venerable head coach Skip Johnson. “We got a good showing on the mound from Cameron Johnson (11 strikeouts, there hits allowed over six innings in his start). He stayed within himself, and he has been on a mission to keep improving in several areas since our Red-White game last fall.
“Brendan Brock finished off the game with that grand slam,” he observed, “and we showed more power in this game than we did early in the season last year with the three home runs. The team battled the whole game and showed we are ready to play some great baseball this year. These guys like to practice and like to play. They play selfless.”
That might be the coaching understatement of the year to date.
Vanderbilt’s 21-year veteran head coach Tim Corbin was equally impressed with both the opposition and his team’s bounceback for a 5-4 loss to Top 10 TCU last Friday afternoon with a 13-3 triumph over Texas Tech.
“These were two great teams playing Friday when we met TCU and just excellent, quality baseball,” Corbin explained. “TCU was the preseason pick to win the Big 12, and that is a talented league. This gives us a chance to face some NCAA tournament teams, and the level of play has been outstanding.”
On the field after OU’s convincing opener over Texas Tech in a matchup of two head coaches who are best friends from boyhood and products of the Denton, Texas, sandlots, TCU used a pair of solo homers by Sawyer Strosnider and Lucas Franco and a tie-breaking, two-run throwing error to top Vanderbilt 5-4 Friday as all four Vandy tallies came on three solo homers by catcher Collin Barczi and one dinger by Brodie Johnston.
Later Friday night Arkansas flexed its hitting muscles with a 13-safety attack and four homers in a mercy rule 12-2 victory over Oklahoma State before Vandy opened Saturday morning with its mercy number over Texas Tech as the Commodores lashed seven homers in their first two contests. VU clipped 66 round-trippers in 61 encounters as a team in 2025.
Oklahoma’s 10-1 victory over OSU in the mid-Saturday contest featured another three hits and a double by Brock as starting pitcher LJ Mercurius handcuffed the Cowboys with 12 strikeouts in five-plus innings.
Saturday night’s Top 10 finale was another classic bout as Chase Brunson’s pair of doubles and three RBI staked TCU to yet another 5-4 triumph over Arkansas. TCU pitchers continued mowing down opposing batters with 28 strikeouts in their first 18 innings pitched in ’26 behind a crew of 90-95 miles-per-hour fastball hurlers in starting and relief roles.
Early Sunday Oklahoma State broke into the win column and sent Vandy back home at 1-2 with another mercy rule 11-1 (eight innings) verdict in the tourney. That gave the SEC a 4-3 advantage (eventually a 6-3 weekend margin in games) over the Big 12 through seven encounters and brought a bit of a smile to Cowboys head coach Josh Holliday. The Cowboys Collin Ritchie broke open a 0-0 tie after five innings with a 3-for-6 showing and six RBI while there OSU moundmen combined to fan 13 Commodores.
“Now I can smile a little on the trip back home,” said Holliday with a grin. “I like this tournament. The players get to see the best arms in college baseball, and we found our contact at the plate late in the Sunday game. We have a lot of young guys who will continue to improve, and our pitchers did a great job a good-hitting Vandy team.”
Sunday’s mid-day game matched Arkansas and Texas Tech as the No. 5 Razorbacks lost a 4-0 lead to Tech in the top of the ninth and then rallied to win 6-5 in extra innings (11) on a sacrifice fly by SS Maika Niu.
“We played well, didn’t make any errors and made some good plays in the field,” said Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn, “but again we left runners out there early and should have scored some more runs. I was proud of the way we fought back in the ninth and 11th innings to win.”
In the ninth and final clash of the Shriners Children’s Showdown both 2-0 Oklahoma and TCU tangled after the Sooners had ripped opposing pitchers for 20 runs in their first two tussles with the Sooners rolling to a 12-2 run-rule triumph over the No. 9 Horned Frogs.
Tourney Notes: Vandy’s Corbin did a good job hightailing back to Arlington from Overland Park., Kan., Thursday night while observing former Vanderbilt pitching great David Price’s induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
“David Price is one of my all-time favorite players and people,” Corbin said with a smile of the 2007 Dick Howser Trophy as collegiate player of the year. “He changed the whole trajectory of the Vanderbilt program and has been generous in his support of our program for many years since then.”
Oklahoma State’s award-winning play-by-play radio broadcaster Rex Holt started his
44th season at the mike last weekend. He trails only David Kellum of Ole Miss and John
Cox of Southern Miss (working their 48th seasons since 1979) along longest-tenured college baseball radio legends and among the longest-tenured broadcasters at their respective colleges in all sports. Holt also once was play-by-play voice for 14 Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Championship web broadcasts during four days in Oklahoma City.
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Bo Carter is the Executive Director of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and is a long time professional in sports media and information. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and has plied his trade in the Southeastern Conference, the Southwest Conference, and the Big 12 Conference. In addition to his NCBWA duties, he also serves as a consultant and columnist for the National Football Foundation. Follow the NCBWA, which produces ranking polls for D1, D2, and D3, as well as naming All America teams at both the D1 and D2 levels and the Dick Howser Trophy (presented each year in Omaha at the Men’s College World Series) at @NCBWA. If you’re a college baseball fan, you don’t have to be media to be a member, check them out at ncbwa.com and join today!