They had a plan for David Sandlin and he executed it to perfection.

We could stop right there. It's as simple as that.

But I'm Big J Ed. Let's dig deeper. Skip Johnson told us the plan on Friday.

Sandlin would come in out of the Oklahoma bullpen in the opener, get his feet wet and be ready to shove in the third game of the Sooners stay.

Literally he laid it all out there for us.

"I wanted to get David out there for an inning, just to get him out there. No better time to get him out there, he's probably going to start the third game, to get him comfortable," said Johnson following Friday's 13-8 opening win. "Whatever happened, it didn't matter."

Good thing. Sandlin was tagged for four runs in the seventh. The internet went wild.

But remember it's about winning and learning. What did Skip hope Sandlin would get out it? His answer on Saturday now seems a bit prophetic. Let's revisit.

"It didn't go as smooth as we planned but this time of the year you never know what is going to happen," said Johnson. "You have to deal with the adversity. Adversity makes some men break and others break records. You have to deal with the adversity and that's what is awesome about baseball everyday is a new day."

Sandlin must be more of the latter. Break records kinda guy.

He is just the fifth pitcher to throw seven innings with 12 strikeouts and allow one run or fewer since the MCWS moved to the Schwab in 2011. It was the most by a Big 12 pitcher in Omaha, ever.

The Friday test run paid off handsomely.

"Absolutely. Just got me ready for the atmosphere I was going to be in and mentally prepare almost more for this game and trust everything I had," said Sandlin. "I think I tried a little too hard, and as Coach Johnson says, you can't do that. You don't want to get geared up when I don't need to be."

Sandlin is just the fifth Oklahoma pitcher to strikeout 10 or more batters in a MCWS game joining Jackson Todd (1972 - 14 vs. Temple), teammate Cade Horton (2022 - 11 vs. Notre Dame), Mark Redman (1994 - 11 vs. Auburn) and Jackson Todd (1973 - 10 vs. Minnesota).

Jimmy the Great

Maybe it's time we start talking about the Sooners backstop more. The leadership. The defense. The hitter affectionately known as Jimmy Rakes. And a relationship with his head coach that allows the redshirt sophomore catcher to call his own game.

"I think it's missed from the catching standpoint," said Johnson. "The leadership that he provides, the comfort when he goes to the mound and either chews their butt out or gets them fired up or makes them execute pitches. I think that leadership from the catching standpoint is what is really needed."

Sure enough he did just that in the fourth inning Wednesday. It was the first jam of the game for Sandlin. Two on, no out. A&M searching for a momentum shifting inning. Crooks turned around to home plate umpire Grady Smith after a leadoff walk, asked for time and jogged to the mound.

"Just told him to be relaxed. I don't really tell David much. Not with any other pitchers. I just tell them to relax, do their thing, and just pound the zone," said Crooks.

"After getting that hit, I knew he was in the zone. That's what got him going, and then he struck out the next three batters."

Deep exhales from the Sooner State.

Oh and he has the team's longest on-base streak (23 games), too. Hitting not one but two home runs in the Sooners three games. Just the third Sooner to hit multiple home runs (Chip Glass, 1994 and Tyler Ogle, 2010) while here.

Rosenblatt memories

Following Oklahoma's Tuesday afternoon workout at Bellevue East High School the team bus made a pit stop en route to the team hotel.

It wasn't at Zesto's for ice cream. It wasn't a recon mission to the Omaha Zoo looking for Damon Minor's 1994 CWS home run ball. But it was to the site of old Rosenblatt Stadium.

A reminder -- and introduction to some-- of the past.

"That's why I have the best baseball operations guy in baseball, Ryan Gaines. He came to me before we went over to practice, and he goes, Man, I got a good idea. I asked him, What's that? He said, Let's go over to Rosenblatt," said Johnson.

"I said, That's cool. Let's go over there and show those guys where this place has been, what the College World Series is about, where the Oklahoma Sooners won the last national championship in 1994 on."

A tip of the cap to the past from the present. Same program, different players. None of the players on this year's edition even alive the last time Oklahoma reached the pinnacle of collegiate baseball.

"As Coach Johnson said to us, it's a part of us. The history and everybody that's played at the University of Oklahoma before us is just as important as the team we have now," said David Sandlin. "They laid the groundwork for us, and we just need to keep going."

Some 28 years later there's a new set of guys pulling on the same rope. This time it's just across town.