OMAHA (Interstat) — Xander Mercurius pitched 7 1/3 strong innings and Jaxon Willits drove in two runs with a first-inning homer as Oklahoma held off Georgia 4-3 on Monday in a College World Series playoff game at Charles Schwab Field.

The Sooners improved to 40-22 while the Bulldogs fell to 52-13.

Mercurius allowed six hits and three earned runs while striking out nine. He left with a one-run lead after surrendering a solo homer to Daniel Jackson in the eighth inning. Jackson Cleveland finished the game, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts to earn the save.

Oklahoma struck quickly in the bottom of the first. Jason Walk doubled to right-center and scored on a groundout by Deiten Lachance after a throwing error by Georgia pitcher Caden Aoki advanced the runners. Willits then launched a two-run homer to right-center, giving the Sooners a 3-0 lead.

Georgia chipped away with solo home runs. Kenny Ishikawa led off the fourth with a blast to right field. Brennan Hudson tied the game in the fifth with a homer to left-center.

But Oklahoma answered immediately in the bottom of the fourth when Brendan Brock hit a solo homer to right-center, restoring the lead at 4-3.

That proved to be the decisive blow. Aoki, who was the hard-luck loser, pitched eight innings without allowing a hit through the first three frames but surrendered four earned runs while striking out six. He allowed eight hits overall.

Georgia threatened in the eighth after Jackson’s homer, but Cleveland escaped a bases-loaded jam by retiring Robby Wynn on a flyout. In the ninth, the Bulldogs put two runners on with one out after a hit batter, but Cleveland induced a strikeout and a flyout to end the game.

Willits finished 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Walk had two hits. Lachance drove in a run and Tockey doubled for Oklahoma.

Hudson went 2-for-4 with a homer and an RBI for Georgia. Ishikawa was 2-for-3 with a homer.

The most critical sequence occurred in the first inning when Oklahoma capitalized on a two-out error and Willits’ homer to build a three-run lead. That early cushion allowed Mercurius to pitch aggressively, and Georgia’s solo shots never fully erased the deficit.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Georgia 8, Oklahoma 7, and its ELO system gave Georgia a 61.30 percent probability to win.