Anyone beyond the players on the team didn't really think at this point in the season Oxford would be 20-0 and having thumped the two-time 5A Champion New Hope twice limiting them to a grand total of 4 hits. The 9-0 win at New Hope was the largest since the 2005 Championship team went down there for North Half and thumped the Trojans 14-2. 2015 Oxford then destroyed Saltillo 10-0 and 13-1, both in run-ruled fashioned. Oxford has played quality out of state opponents (many of them that wasn't originally scheduled) and the Oklahoma-Arkansas games are the only games where the pitching staff of Oxford has allowed four or more runs in a game. No one other than those teams have been able to score more than three in a game.
The team ERA sub-1. Oxford as a whole has allowed just 13 total runs, earned or unearned, beyond the Oklahoma trip (26 in total). That means of the 17 games Oxford has played inside the state of Mississippi, they have allowed a total of 13 runs. For those keeping up at home, Oxford has a 0.59 ERA in games played in the state of Mississippi.
How does this team compare to the 2005 team that won it all? First, consider that Oxford had the old bats that had a bigger sweet spot. The BBCOR bats came in 2011. The 2005 Chargers had more than 50 home runs as a team with Chad Cregar and Cade Hoggard accounting roughly half of them. The 2005 team routinely run-ruled opponents even in the playoffs (14 total times Oxford won by at least 10 runs). Although a very good team, that team also suffered 4 losses including an opening round loss in the playoffs to Amory in the at the time double-elimination 4-team first round of the playoffs.
The 2005 team could hit the ball, nearly everyone's average was above .300, with several above .400, and a bunch of home runs were hit. Of that team, all but one player in that starting lineup played somewhere else for college, including having 4 eventually sign to D-1 schools. One was eventually drafted in the MLB Draft in the 15th Round (that at the time at 50 rounds). Oxford had the one dominant pitcher in Wes Grillette who to this day still holds the school record for pitching wins in a season with 14 (he finished 14-1). As it stands for 2015, 4 players in the current starting lineup will be playing somewhere else for college.
What makes this 2015 team different? The fact Oxford has a much deeper pitching staff. 2005 wasn't bad especially with the old bats, but that team gave up at least 6 runs in a game 10 times over the course of the season. This 2015 has not done that one time. In fact outside of the Oklahoma trip, the pitching staff for Oxford has an ERA of 0.59 (with the Oklahoma trip: 0.93). In 17 other games, that is not easy to do for anybody. Outside of the Oklahoma trip, the pitching staff has 130 strikeouts, given up just 46 hits (less than 3 per game), issued 33 walks, and hit just 6 batters and has just given up 9 earned runs. The 2005 team through 20 games gave up 68 total runs. While the old bats in 2005 did help, it is hard to put a 42 run difference on just the bats alone. 2005 during the entire season had 5 shutout games - that includes opponents like Clarksdale who at the time was in Oxford's baseball region. Through 20 games, 2015 Oxford already has 8 shutouts.
The 2015 team also has a more consistent offense. As explosive as the offense was in 2005, 4 times the 2005 Oxford team was held to 1 run or didn't score. Several other times that Oxford team was held to 2-3 runs. Through 20 games so far, Oxford hasn't had a 1 or 0 run game yet and only twice has this year's team scored 3 or fewer. Oxford is averaging 8-9 runs a game and that is about what they score in virtually every game they have played this season. There had been a few games where they have scored 2,3,5 runs, but in all have been scoring at a consistent basis. In fact, through 20 games, the 2015 Oxford team has scored 173 runs. 2005 scored 171 through 20 games. Remember the 2005 team had the old bats, while 2015 is using the BBCOR "softer" bats. Although it will be hard for the 2015 team to keep up with as 13 of the last 20 games for the 2005 team had the team score in double-figures.
It is also worth pointing out the 2005 Oxford team only beat Lafayette by 1 run that year - and it happened twice. Lafayette the following year won the 2006 title. In 2005, Oxford only won 6-5 and 2-1 over Lafayette. They also had a meeting in the playoffs where Oxford eliminated Lafayette 5-0 in that double-elimination first round. This year the 2015 team only beat Lafayette 2-1 and had to walk-off to do so.
What is similar between 2005 and 2015? The teams were loose, and the teams work hard. It's like pulling hairs which team would have won a 3-game series with. But the 2015 team still needs to win the title first before we can all talk about that fun time-travel matchup.