OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Scott Forbes had just wrapped up a College World Series news conference Friday when Skip Johnson walked into the room to pose with him for an annual picture of the head coaches next to the national championship trophy, a longtime tradition the day before the start of the finals. “Hey, buddy,” North Carolina’s Forbes said, beaming and extending his hand to the Oklahoma coach. “You thought we were going to fight?” Johnson said, turning to reporters. The college baseball lifers have known each other for decades, since they spent long days and nights scouting the same talent showcases and engaging in recruiting battles during long runs as assistants. “I always thought if we met up together,” Forbes told Johnson, “we’d be hunting.” Oh, they’re hunting together all right. North Carolina will be looking for its first national title in baseball and Oklahoma for its third when the schools square off in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at Charles Schwab Field on Saturday night. The Tar Heels and Sooners have taken different routes to reach the same destination. North Carolina (53-12-1) has lost consecutive games just once, in early March, and has been ranked no lower than No. 4 by D1Baseball.com the last two months. Oklahoma (41-22) was ranked as high as No. 8 and then lost six of nine series in Southeastern Conference play. The Sooners finished 11th in the SEC and were unranked when they entered the national tournament off losses in seven of nine games. “I think the SEC just offers a great preparation, period, for this type of tournament,” OU’s Trey Gambill said. “There’s no breaks. Just like in this tournament, you’re not playing any bad teams. You’re not playing any mediocre teams. You’re playing the best of the best. So the SEC just prepared us for always being ready to put our best out there.” Both teams went 3-0 in CWS bracket play. The Tar Heels have won The Game 1 pitching matchup pits North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro (11-2) against 6-foot-6, 237-pound left-hander Cord Rager (6-3), one of three freshman starters for the Sooners. DeCaro went 6 2/3 innings and struck out nine in Carolina’s 6-2 win over Mississippi last Friday. Rager walked none and struck out eight in seven innings of a 9-0 win over Alabama last Saturday. SEC streak on line Oklahoma will be going for the Southeastern Conference’s seventh straight national title and 18th overall, which would tie the Pac-12 for most. The SEC is assured of having the champion, runner-up or both for the 20th time since 2000. The Sooners are the 10th different SEC team to reach the finals over that span. ACC’s first finals since 2015 North Carolina is the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to make the CWS finals since Virginia in 2015. The Tar Heels are trying to become the third ACC program to win a national title in baseball. Wake Forest won the first in 1955 and Virginia the second in 2015. North Carolina (2006-07, 2026) and Virginia (2014-15) are the only ACC programs to play in the finals since the best-of-three format started in 2003. Power surge DeCaro will face a Sooners team that’s averaging 10.4 runs per game with 22 homers during their eight-game win streak. They’ve gone deep eight times in the CWS, including five in an 11-4 win over Georgia on Wednesday. OU has 45 homers in its 20 games since May 1 after hitting 46 homers in its first 43. “What Jason’s going to do is what he’s been doing,” Forbes said. “We don’t care what the offense has been, what they’re doing, how hot they are. He’s going to go right after them with his stuff. You start being tentative, you start getting negative counts, then that offense gets even better.” Call him K-den North Carolina is 28-0 when Caden Glauber pitches. The freshman leads the Tar Heels with 106 strikeouts and 13.76 per nine innings, and he has allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings over three CWS games. Another freshman reliever, lefty Jackson Rose, pitched 4 1/3 innings of shutout relief in a 12-7 win over West Virginia and has a 2.15 ERA over 50 2/3 innings this season. ===== OKLAHOMA GAMES NOTES: OMAHA, Neb. – Oklahoma (41-22) meets No. 5 seed North Carolina (53-12-1) in the best-of-three CWS Championship Series beginning Saturday at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN. Game 2 is slated for a 1:30 p.m. start Sunday on ABC. Karl Ravech, Kyle Peterson, Chris Burke and Kris Budden will be on the call. All games can be heard on the radio via The REF 99.3 FM/1400 AM and 107.7 The Franchise in Oklahoma and on The Varsity Network app with Toby Rowland and Carly Murray on the call. Tickets for the Men’s College World Series are available via NCAAtickets.com. THE BASICS • The Sooners advanced to the champ series with a 3-0 start in Omaha, beating seven-seed Alabama 9-0 last Saturday before beating No. 3 seed Georgia twice (4-3, 11-4). • OU is making its second CWS finals appearance in the last five years and fourth championship showing all-time (1951, ’94, 2022). • OU has been led by a trio of freshman pitchers, Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Nick Wesloski, en route to the champ series. Rager went seven innings of three-hit ball while striking out eight vs. Alabama, while Mercurius shut down the UGA offense in the first meeting, hurling 7.1 innings of three-run ball with a career-high nine strikeouts. Wesloski took his turn vs. UGA, going 5.2 innings and surrendering one earned run on four hits with four K’s. • OU is making its 12th CWS appearance in program history and second in the last five years this week in Omaha, Neb., at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. • Oklahoma is seeking its third national title, winning titles in 1951 and 1994. • En route to the CWS finals, Oklahoma has gone through the ACC regular season and tournament champ (Georgia Tech), the Big 12 regular season and tournament champ (Kansas) and the SEC regular season and tournament champ (Georgia). OU IN THE NCAA TOURNEY • OU has advanced to the College World Series 12 times including this season (1951, ’72, ’73, ’74, ’75, ’76, ’92, ’94, ’95, 2010, ’22, ’26). • This is Oklahoma’s 43rd NCAA Tournament appearance and fifth straight. The Sooners are 110-87 all-time in the NCAA postseason, and won national championships in 1951 and 1994. • En route to its 12th appearance in Omaha, Oklahoma won its 15th regional in program history and third super regional. • OU is 21-18 all-time at the College World Series and 6-2 under head coach Skip Johnson. RECAPPING THE CWS RUN • The Oklahoma bats belted five home runs and Nick Wesloski was the latest Sooner freshman to deal in the starting role as the Sooners, 11-4, Wednesday, to advance to the Championship Series. • Dasan Harris and Jason Walk became the second duo to have a two-homer game in the same game in the history of CWS contests at Charles Schwab Field and Wesloski went 5.2 innings en route to the second win of his season. • The Sooners have now won eight in a row. • Freshman righty Xander Mercurius earned the first win of his collegiate career in his fourth start of the season Monday against the Sooners’ 4-3 win over No. 3 Georgia. • The frosh hurled 7.1 innings for a career-high nine strikeouts against a potent Bulldog lineup. • Righty reliever Jackson Cleveland turned in 1.2 innings of scoreless ball to secure his ninth save of the year, stranding four runners combined and slamming the door in the ninth with the tying run in scoring position. • Brock and Willits both went yard against Georgia’s Caden Aoki, who the Sooners handed just his second loss vs. an SEC team this season. • OU moved to 2-0 in the 2026 College World Series, needing one win to advance to the championship series. • In the CWS opener vs. Alabama, freshman lefty Cord Rager continued his prolific postseason performance with seven innings of shutout ball, and the Sooner bats came up with timely hits as Oklahoma shut out Alabama, 9-0. • It was OU’s seventh shutout of the season, third in program history at the CWS and first since 1975. • It was the largest shutout victory for a team in the opening game of the CWS since 2002. • The Sooners put up their sixth-consecutive double-digit hit performance, and Rager notched a season-best 7.0 scoreless innings and tied a career high with eight strikeouts. UP NEXT • Game 2 of the championship series is set for Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT on ABC. The if necessary game would be at 6 p.m. Monday evening on ESPN. MORE CWS NOTES & NUGGETS Georgia (Semifinals) • Oklahoma has won eight in a row, its longest winning streak of the season. • Wesloski made just his second start of the season, both of which have come in the NCAA Tournament and in consecutive starts. Wesloski hadn’t pitched in a game since May 31. • Oklahoma has started a freshman on the mound in every game of the CWS thus far (Rager, X. Mercurius, Wesloski). The trio has combined for 20 innings over the three starts, allowing only four earned runs across those starts. • During OU’s winning streak the Sooners have won seven games against top-20 teams including five against top-10 teams. • Oklahoma bounced the ACC Champion (Georgia Tech), Big 12 Champion (Kansas) and SEC Champion (Georgia) during the NCAA postseason. • Harris tallied the second multi-home run game of his career. He had one previously at Arkansas May 9. • Walk posted the first multi-homer game of his career. • Oklahoma tied its season high with five home runs. It hit five at Arkansas May 10. • Walk and Harris both entered tonight’s game with four homers apiece. • Oklahoma has hit 43 home runs in the last 16 games, nearly half of its total of 91 this season. • OU has hit 26 home runs in 10 NCAA Tournament games. • OU’s five home runs are the second most by a team in CWS games played at Charles Schwab Field (opened in 2011). • Walk extended his hitting streak to 12 games and subsequently his reached base streak to 20 games, both of which are team bests. • Oklahoma has scored first in six consecutive games. The last time an opponent scored first was during OU’s 15-8 win at Georgia Tech May 31. • All 11 of OU’s RBIs and subsequently all five home runs came from left-handed hitters (Walk, Willits, Gambill, Harris). • OU is tied with LSU with the most CWS Championship Series appearances in the last five years. • Oklahoma went 3-0 to reach the CWS Championship Series this year, just as it did in 2022. • The Sooners enter the championship series with 41 wins, the fewest by a team since the 2022 Ole Miss national championship team. • Oklahoma is 3-0 against Georgia in postseason play over the last two years. The Sooners eliminated UGA in the 2025 SEC Tournament and in the 2026 CWS. • Gambill posted the first four-hit game of his career. • OU is 11-2 in neutral site games this season. • The Sooners are now .500 (17-17) in games against SEC teams this year, going 14-16 in the regular season and 3-1 in SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament play. Georgia • The last time both starters (Aoki, Mercurius) went seven or more innings in a CWS game was in 2023 when Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder met LSU’s Paul Skenes in the championship series. • Brothers Kyle Branch (OU) and Kolby Branch (UGA) squared off in the first instance of brothers playing against one another in a College World Series game. • It was only Aoki’s second loss all season in games in which he’s started against an SEC opponent. • Oklahoma snapped Georgia’s winning streak at nine games • Mercurius’ longest outing of the season prior to Monday was his 5.2 innings against Georgia Tech in the regional. He broke 100 pitches for just the second time on the year. • Cord Rager and Xander Mercurius have combined for 14.1 innings of the 18 played at the College World Series, going 2-0 with 17 strikeouts and only three earned runs in that stretch. • OU held UGA to 0-12 with runners on and 0-3 with runners in scoring position, with those three instances coming in the final two innings. • OU is 11-3 in one-run games. Alabama • Rager turned in his third consecutive start of six or more innings, all of which have come in NCAA Tournament play. Prior to postseason play Rager had not gone longer than five innings. • It was the largest shutout victory for a team in the opening game of the CWS since 2002. • The shutout was OU’s third at the College World Series in program history and first since 1975 (7-0, Eastern Michigan). • Lachance hit his 12th home run since May 2, the most in NCAA Division I during that time span. It was Lachance’s fourth homer in the NCAA Tournament. • Rager is just the third Sooner in CWS history to spin seven or more shutout innings. • Lachance posted his 16th multi-RBI game performance of the year, a team best. • Three Sooners posted multi-hit days. Eight of OU’s nine batters reached via at least one hit. • Rager tied a season high with eight strikeouts. He’s reached eight four times this year and twice in postseason play. • OU has won the opening game of the College World Series seven of 12 times, including three straight. ===== NORTH CAROLINA GAMES NOTES: CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Diamond Heels have claimed their spot in the 2026 Men’s College World Series Championship Series after sweeping through their half of the bracket with three decisive wins. It is the third time in program history UNC has made the MCWS Final alongside the 2006 and 2007 teams, who both fell short in losses to Oregon State. Carolina is 3-0 in Omaha for just the second time (2006) and is 1-1 in their previous opening games of the champ series. In ’06 it was a tight 4-3 win over the Beavers whereas ’07 saw n 11-4 defeat.UNC is looking to become 32nd different program to win a D1 baseball national championship. Since 1977, every four-year student enrolled at North Carolina has been on campus for at least one national title. With a win, this would be the 64th UNC team championship from the 10th different program.SCHEDULEGame 1: Saturday, June 20 – 3 PM ET – ESPN – Live Stats Team Sendoff: 12PM ET – Hilton OmahaGame 2: Sunday, June 21 – 2:30 PM ET – ABC – Live StatsGame 3 (if necessary): Monday, June 22 – 7 PM ET – ESPN – Live Stats No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (53-12-1)(22-8 ACC) Head Coach: Scott Forbes Record at UNC: 253-116-1 Record vs. OU: 2-1 Oklahoma Sooners (41-22)(14-16 SEC) Head Coach: Skip Johnson Record at OU: 309-197 Record vs. UNC: 1-2 PROJECTED STARTERS Saturday: RHP Jason DeCaro vs. LHP Cord Rager SERIES HISTORY All-Time: OU 3-2 Current Streak: W1 Chapel Hill: 2-1 Away: 0-2 Neutral Site: 0-0 First Meeting: June 5, 2010 OMAHA: WHERE THE HEELS PLAY ➤ UNC is tied for the most MCWS berths since 2006 with nine, square with only Florida in that span. The tie in third is between four teams at seven appearances. ➤ It is a second trip in three years for head coach Scott Forbes, who is the first coach in the program’s history to earn a MCWS berth twice in his first six seasons. In total, the Heels have gone nine times with him on staff. ➤ A testament to both the parity of college baseball and the consistency of this program, Carolina is the only team to have made it to Omaha twice in the last three years. And it was one win away from going in 2025. ➤ All-time the Heels hold a 22-25 record in Omaha and are 5-5 against members of the Southeastern Conference in their 13 MCWS appearances. ➤ The Heels are led by four veterans who played in the 2024 trip to the CWS in Gavin Gallaher, Jason DeCaro, Matthew Matthijs, and Cam Padgett. Five more were on the roster, but did not take the field. OMAHA RECAP: HOW UNC GOT TO THE FINAL RAN OFF THE REBELS W, 6-2 | W: Caden Glauber (11-0), L: Hudson Calhoun (5-4) | Tyler Howe: 2 H, 2 R, 1 2B ➤ Colin Hynek hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead North Carolina to a 6-2 win over Ole Miss in the team’s opening game of the 2026 Men’s College World Series. ➤ The Rebels led, 1-0, before UNC tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth through an Owen Hull solo shot. ➤ The Heels poured in five more in the seventh and eighth, with three coming on Hynek’s homer to earn the come-from-behind win. ➤ Jason DeCaro started on the mound and allowed five hits and two earned runs in 6.2 innings for Carolina, striking out nine to tie his career high before leaving the game in the top of the seventh. ➤ Caden Glauber pitched the final 2.1 innings, blanking the Rebels while fanning two to pick up the win, improving to 11-0 in his rookie campaign. HANDLED RED-HOT WEST VIRGINIA W, 5-2 | W: Walker McDuffie (9-3), L: Maxx Yehl (9-3), SV: Caden Glauber (5) | Gavin Gallaher: 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 3B ➤ Carolina scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to break open a pitcher’s duel and top #16 seed West Virginia, 5-2. ➤ The Tar Heels manufactured two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick, 2-0 lead. WVU tied it with single runs in the third and fourth, then the game was a scoreless pitcher’s duel until UNC took the lead in the bottom of the seventh by scoring three, taking advantage of two Mountaineer errors. ➤ Gavin Gallaher’s two-run triple was the key blow and provided the game-winning RBI for the second straight game. ➤ Walker McDuffie pitched 3.2 scoreless, hitless innings and picked up the win for Carolina, striking out four. ➤ Caden Glauber pitched the final 0.2 frames to pick up his fifth save of the season, blowing away both batters he faced with strikeouts. SURMOUNTED THE MOUNTAINEERS W, 12-7 | W: Jackson Rose (5-0), L: Chansen Cole (10-2) | Owen Hull: 4 H, 3 R, 2 RBI, 3 XBH, Gavin Gallaher: 4 H, 4 RBI, 2 R ➤ The Diamond Heels exploded for 12 runs, jumping out to a 12-1 lead and holding off 16th-seeded West Virginia, 12-7, to advance to the championship series of the College World Series. ➤ With the victory, their fifth in a row, UNC advanced to the MCWS champ series for the third time and the first time in 19 seasons, joining the 2006 and 2007 squads. They improved to 3-0 in games to send themselves to the championship finals. ➤ Owen Hull went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles, a triple and two RBI to set the tone while Gavin Gallaher also went 4-for-5 and became the second Tar Heel with four hits and four RBI in a CWS game, joining Tim Federowicz (2006). ➤ Erik Paulsen added three hits, while Jake Schaffner went 1-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored in the leadoff spot. ➤ Jackson Rose was masterful in relief in picking up his fifth win, throwing 4.1 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts. ➤ Caden Glauber pitched for his third straight game, ending a WVU run and finishing the game with 2.1 IP and 3 K. BACK SO SOON(ER)? ➤ The Heels face a familiar postseason foe in the MCWS Champ Series in Oklahoma, a team they hosted in the 2025 Chapel Hill Regional last year. ➤ Forbes’ unit took two of three against the No. 2 seed Sooners to advance to the Super Regional round. ➤ UNC won the first contest 11-5 in Saturday winner’s bracket game to move on to the regional final. Sam Angelo was the offensive star with a pair of home runs as Jason DeCaro out dueled eventual top-10 pick Kyson Witherspoon with eight Ks in 6.0 IP. ➤ Oklahoma won 9-5 on Sunday to force the if necessary game three where Carolina came back with a dominant 14-4 outing to win it. ➤ Gavin Gallaher, who was named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player, finished off his red-hot weekend with four hits, four runs, and four RBIs featuring a pair of home runs that put the final nail in the coffin. ➤ In the three games against OU, he was 11-16 (.688) with three doubles, six runs scored, and nine RBIs. ➤ True freshmen on the mound shutdown the OU offense. Ryan Lynch got his second career start and went 5.0 with six strikeouts before Walker McDuffie came in for the final 4.0 and recorded seven punchouts. THAT DUDE DECARO ➤ Carolina’s superstar junior has carried the weight of high expectations since the then 17-year-old made his first start in the first midweek of 2024 before moving into the weekend rotation by week three. Eventually elevating himself to be the Friday guy. ➤ Named Freshman All-America with a 3.81 ERA and a 6-1 record as he helped the team to Omaha. He got the start for UNC’s College World Series opener against Virginia, striking out six and giving up just one run as the Heels took a 3-2 victory. ➤ He was just as dominant in 2025, earning second team All-ACC honors for the second straight year. ➤ The Northport, N.Y. native really turned it on down the stretch. He was sensational, going 6.0 IP with just one run allowed, in an 11-1 run-rule win at No. 2 Florida State. Then, two weeks later, he would out duel eventual top-10 pick Kyson Witherspoon to lead Carolina to a pivotal 11-5 win over Oklahoma in the regional. ➤ To start 2026, he became just the sixth Tar Heel to start back-to-back Opening Day games since 1999. ➤ In week two against ECU, he tossed a complete game, eight-inning shutout with seven strikeouts while only allowing five hits and one walk. Only two ECU runners even managed to reach third. ➤ It was the team’s first eight-inning complete game win since Kent Emmanuel against Miami in 2013 and only the second time over the last 12 seasons a Carolina pitcher has thrown eight or more shutout innings on the road (Austin Bergner, 2019). ➤ DeCaro set a new career high in strikeouts when he took out nine on the road at No. 23 Notre Dame earlier this season. ➤ In the home game against Duke, he recorded his 200th career strikeout. He is the first Tar Heel to surpass that milestone since Austin Bergner in 2019. ➤ Continually performing on the biggest stages, he threw 6.2 commanding innings in the Heels’ 2026 College World Series opener. He tied his career high with nine strikeouts, the second most by a Tar Heel in a MCWS game all-time. ➤ He is just the second Carolina pitcher to start two Omaha openers, joining Alex White in ’08 and ’09. About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts Post navigation COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: OKLAHOMA 11, GEORGIA 4
