“The Red River thing, you always get a little jacked up for Texas,” starting pitcher Ryan Gibson said.

Oklahoma went into Friday’s game reeling, and coming off a 25-1 thumping earlier in the day to Ohio.

Oklahoma took an early lead. But an error with two outs in the fifth inning led to a big Texas rally, and things fell apart in a hurry.

That’s just another piece of the Sunbelt’s biggest rivalry.

The two teams always meet under the lights on Friday. Though they’ve met just once in the championship round, that Friday night game has decided which team went to the final plenty of times.

Texas got the best of Oklahoma for the 2005 championship at OU’s L. Dale Mitchell Park.

“A lot of times, it’s Oklahoma and Texas playing for a spot in the final,” Gibson said. “And every Friday night, it’s tradition, it’s Oklahoma and Texas.”

So far, the Texans have plenty to be proud of. They’re one win from becoming the first Sunbelt team to run the table.

“We know our team and we know we have a great shot of going undefeated,” Elander said. “We have a lot of talented players and we just need to come out and play the ball we’ve been playing all week.”

Oklahoma is on the other side of the spectrum. It’s 1-6 and has lost both close games and blowouts.

The Oklahomans’ only victory came Thursday night against Canada.

“We’ve had some things not go our way, and we’ve had some places where we didn’t step up. It’s baseball. That happens.”

Oklahoma gets things started early today when it takes on Illinois in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m. at Noble.

Texas will battle Arizona in the championship game at 7 p.m. at Norman High.

“It’s a new day,” Gibson said. “Baseball’s great because every day is a new day. Anyone can beat anyone.”