Friday night at the Sunbelt Classic always means one thing: Oklahoma vs. Texas.

The Sunbelt’s version of the Red River rivalry always adds a spark and a little extra incentive for the players. It also brings out the fans.

A nice-sized crowd piled into the Norman High bleachers Friday night, and they saw Texas continue its Sunbelt dominance.

The Lone Star State’s finest trailed through the first four innings, but they pulled away and ended up routing Oklahoma 11-5.

For the Texas players, winning is always nice, but beating Oklahoma is always a little nicer.

“It’s great because there’s a lot of people in the stands, more than I expected,” Texas’ Josh Elander said. “Oklahoma has great baseball year in and year out. You know they’re going to be tough.”

After all, the rivalry between the Sooners and Longhorns is one of the biggest in the country, and there’s even more behind the two states’ rivalry.

In 1919, Texas Rangers drove off an Oklahoma oil-testing crew from the disputed banks of the Red River. And the Oklahoma governor even showed up at the border once in an Army tank.

Fortunately, the Sunbelt rivalry is a little more on the good natured side.

“I’m going to TCU, but I’ll always be a Longhorn at heart,” Elander said with a laugh. “The same goes for everybody (in the dugout).”

The old slogan goes, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.”

That includes state pride.

Texans fly the state flag like it’s the Star Spangled Banner, and they proudly boast about their home state. The players from south of the Red River who came up to play baseball this week are no exception.

“We think Texas is the greatest state in America,” Elander said. “We want to come up here and show that. We have great prep sports in Texas.”

The Oklahomans had a lot of pride on the line Friday night, too.