After a decisive 6-2 win over Notre Dame Sunday, the Oklahoma baseball team needs just one more win to advance to the three-game championship round of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

OU was set to play the winner of the Tuesday game between Notre Dame and Texas A&M on Wednesday. If OU wins that game, they go to the finals and if they lose, they will play that same team a second time on Thursday.  Championship play will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday (if needed).

For the third time in the history of Oklahoma baseball, the Sooners have won their first two games at the NCAA Men’s College World Series. The two previous times, OU went on to finish as Division I national champions in 1951 and 1994.

OU pitcher Cade Horton struck out a career-high batters in six innings while Tanner Tredaway had three hits as defeated the Fighting Irish.

“They outplayed us in essentially every phase of the game. I thought Horton was outstanding when you have mid-90s you have a good slider and curveball. He flashed his change periodically. I mean, that was a lot,” Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett said. “Clearly we didn’t recognize it. I thought he did just a phenomenal job. I thought he mixed very well. And when you have that assortment of pitches to deal with, it’s difficult. And clearly it was.”

A redshirt freshman from Norman High School, Horton sat out last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Horton began this year as a utility infielder and designated hitter before heading to the mound full-time. He has 25 starts at third base, four at shortstop, 10 as the DH and 10 as a pitcher.

“I think he’s going to get better,” OU coach skip Johnson said of Horton as a pitcher. “I really don’t know if he’s ready yet, but his freshman fall was incredible. I mean, we’re just throwing two innings a week and he’s also playing positions. I said it to several people, (he’s) one of the best freshman pitchers I’ve been around, ever. I can remember things that he did in that fall like it was yesterday. Then all of a sudden, the adversity hits him and he really started working.

Tredaway and shortstop Peyton Graham led the Sooner’s offensive show.

Graham tied a career high with four hits, going 4 for 4 and became the first shortstop in a MCWS game to have four hits since LSU’s Alex Bergman in 2015. Graham had two stolen bases (now 34 for 36 on the year) and became the first player since Arizona State’s Barry Bonds in 1984 to have four hits and two steals in an MCWS game.

Tredaway went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and scored two runs while extending his hitting streak to 16 games. He has reached base in 39 of the last 40 games, is now hitting .381 and has multiple hits in nine of 13 postseason games.

“I think we’ve always thought that ever since we got started and got rolling in the Big 12 Championship,” Tredaway said. “I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, our thing is we want to prove people wrong and make a statement, and we were able to do that in Regionals and Supers, and we want to do that here. And so yeah, to us it’s kind of an expectation to do well. And we’re rolling right now and we’re going to keep riding it.”

Horton said, “To back up Tanner with that, I feel with our team we’re good at not looking ahead. We’re good at staying in the moment and focusing on winning a pitch instead of focusing on the bigger picture. We focus on the task at hand, and I think that’s where a lot of our successes came from.”