FAYETTEVILLE — In Minute Maid Park on Friday there will be a fan in the stands wearing a Razorback shirt and Sooner hat.
No, she's not confused. She's supportive.
"Last game people kept kind of staring at me," Roxanne Webb said. "But I wore an OU hat and I wore an Arkansas shirt, and I will do the same this time."
Webb, the mother of Arkansas outfielder Braydon Webb and Oklahoma relief pitcher Braxton Webb, will watch as her twin boys face each other for the first time in a competitive game when the Sooners (7-2) and Razorbacks (7-0) take the field at 3 p.m.
When the teams met in a scrimmage last fall, neither twin played. Braxton's name wasn't called and Braydon was hurt.
"In our picture you could tell... not a speck of dirt," Roxanne said. "I told them, 'Maybe you should rub some dirt on you, act like you played a little bit.'"
Roxanne will take it all in on Friday - her twins, an MLB stadium, two highly-competitive programs - but she's not shocked she's in this situation.
"The boys have always been super athletic since they were little," she said, "so I'm not surprised."
The Webb boys didn't always play baseball. They started on a soccer pitch, but when they were in elementary school a child on a local baseball team went down with an injury and the twins were asked to step up.
"I asked them and they were sure," their mother said. "They had never played baseball in their life."
It didn't take the twins long to adjust. After spending some time practicing it was apparent the Webbs needed to shift gears.
"Nobody could even catch their ball," Roxanne said. "They would literally roll it to first base to get the ball, because they just couldn't catch the ball. (The coaches) said, 'You need to have them continue to play and they need to move to a higher level team,' so that's what we did."
As the Webb twins grew so did their interests. "We did it all," Braydon said. "Basketball, football, baseball."
When the twins entered high school in their hometown of McKinney, Texas, three sports was pared down to two: Friday night lights on the gridiron and long summer days on the diamond. The boys even had plans to take their two sports down to just one.
After talking to their mom the twins decided to tell their football coaches that they wanted to just focus on baseball, so they did what most teenagers do in the 21st Century. They sent their coaches a text.
"I said you're going to have to talk to them in person," their mother said. "And that's exactly what happened. They said, 'You come in here and talk to me.'"
After the face-to-face meeting the boys resolve didn't hold up.
"We sat down with our coaches and assistant coaches for our positions," Braxton said. "They were like, 'Yeah right. You're getting your butt out there on the field for practice.'"
"The coach heard them for five minutes and he said, 'Just go put your cleats back on, and get on the field,'" Roxanne said.
The twins ended up playing football throughout their entire high school career. Braydon drew interest from some smaller colleges, and he was even named an all-state player. Despite his success, Braydon knew his future wasn't at inside linebacker, but rather in baseball.
"It was just kind of funny how it all worked out, but baseball has always been my first love," Braydon said. "I just knew that baseball was the route for me."
After high school, Braydon and Braxton had plans to attend the University of Houston, but something didn't seem right to their mom.
"They were kind of taking Braxton for Braydon kind of like a two-for-one," she said. "And I was like, 'No. He's worth more than that.'"
To resolve the situation Roxanne split up the twins and had them write down five things that were important to them to continue their baseball careers. When they looked at the list they decided being at Houston wasn't the right path for them.
Instead they went to junior college and played their next few years at Grayson Community College, much closer to home.
"Really, junior college is the way to go for baseball, maybe not for other sports, but for baseball it is," Roxanne said. "It's just a good stepping stone, to being on your own. You've got to figure out that you love baseball, because it is a grind."
"It's one of those deals where you'll find your strengths and you'll find your weaknesses and you'll improve on those over time," Braxton said. "And that's exactly what we did."
One thing neither twin needed to work on was competitiveness.
"(Braydon's) super competitive and he wants to be the best of the best of the best," Roxanne said. "He's probably his own worst enemy because he strives so hard, and Braxton does, too, but he takes it with a grain of salt and he knows that he can persevere and things will work out."
That competitiveness would sometimes lend itself to a rivalry between the brothers.
"We used to have a chart of how many times I struck him out, or how many times he hit a double or home run," Braxton said. "We used to get after it quite a bit."
The chart wasn't a physical one, but both brothers made sure that they other one knew when he had been one upped.
Braydon's competitive drive showed up when, due to an injury, he stayed an extra year at Grayson while his brother went off to Oklahoma.
"I think it put a chip on his shoulder to work that much harder," Braxton said. "He's one of the most talented players that I've ever played with. I'm not just being biased, that's just a fact. He's going to outwork you, and he's talented as well."
According to his mom, Braydon used the extra time to work on his core strength and it paid off. In his last year at Grayson he had a .450 batting average, an .842 slugging percentage and was second in all of junior college with 25 doubles, according to the National Junior College Athletic Association.
Braydon was recruited by multiple schools, but he said there was something unique about Arkansas.
"The program speaks for itself," he said. "Just the people here and the camaraderie and the supportive nature that they have. The willingness to work hard every day and play with a chip on your shoulder."
Braydon said the chip on his shoulder was instilled in him by his mother.
"She's a single parent, and her hard work just rubbed off on us," Braydon said. "I love her so much. She's my rock. She's my why. This is why I do it is for her. (I'm) just thankful for all the stuff she's done. I can't thank her enough, honestly, because it's just beyond my head how she's managed to do it with me and my brother."
Friday's game will be the first of two times the Webbs could potentially go head-to-head this season. Arkansas is scheduled to play Oklahoma again on March 17 in Oklahoma City.
If the brothers face each other this season there will be a lot of emotions for the entire family.
"I'm going to step off the mound for a second and just kind of soak it in," Braxton said. "It's going to be a crazy moment for me. One that I'm never going to let down."
When asked what he will say to Braxton in the postgame handshake line, Braydon smiled and said, "I love you, Man. It was good seeing you.
"We obviously were with each other so long and now that we're not it's just different. We're still close, it's just not the same."