Oklahoma players explain their approach to bouncing back facing CWS final elimination

The College World Series final got underway between Oklahoma and Ole Miss on Saturday night, and the Rebels jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Following the opening game, Ole Miss is now one win away from winning its first CWS title, putting Oklahoma on the brink of elimination.

Oklahoma must win on Saturday in Game 2 of the CWS, and then must win again if the Sooners are able to force the if necessary Game 3. As the team enters the do-or-die Game 2 on Sunday afternoon, Oklahoma first baseman Blake Robertson isn’t scared.

Defying the odds is something that both of these two teams have done all postseason. Neither was a regional host, and Oklahoma has been fighting back throughout the year. Robertson also isn’t intimidated by the crowd in Omaha, which has certainly favored Ole Miss thus far.

“Well, we’ve been doing it all postseason,” Robertson said. “Took care of Florida down in Florida, and went to V-Tech at their place and took care of business.

“I really don’t think a home crowd for them really does anything. I think we actually enjoy shutting up the crowd. I just don’t think it impacts us.”

The environment in the CWS is pressure-filled, but like Robertson, Oklahoma pitcher Jake Bennett thinks that the atmosphere actually opens up the team a little bit.

“It’s definitely a big environment, but I feel like a lot of our guys really play free and loose and just kind of tune it out,” Bennett added.

Oklahoma isn’t letting the CWS Game 1 loss define them

The Ole Miss bats were hot on Saturday, scoring ten runs across 16 hits. Oklahoma, on the other hand, only scratched across three runs with five hits. Robertson had one hit on the day and drove in one of Oklahoma’s three runs, and he knows that there is still a lot of baseball yet to be played in the CWS final.

“Well, we don’t give up,” said Robertson. “We go pitch to pitch, and we don’t give up, and we’re going to fight to the last out. Like I said, we were getting beat in every aspect of the game until the sixth inning, and we still had a chance to come back and win. So it’s just an unfortunate loss for us, but it doesn’t define us as a team.”

Game 2 of the CWS between Oklahoma and Ole Miss will begin a little after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.