Thanks to monster nights from Kyle Branch and Jaxon Willits, Oklahoma blasted No. 5 North Carolina 13-2 to win the program’s third Men’s College World Series title, taking the decisive Game 3 of the championship series on Monday in Omaha, Neb.
Branch went 3-for-4 with two runs and six RBIs, blasting a three-run homer in the eighth.
Branch was just 1-for-16 in the MWCS before his big night Monday.
Willits reached base in his first five plate appearances, finishing 3-for-4 with two runs, two RBIs and two walks.
“He’s one of our hardest workers, and he’s our best leader,” Sooners coach Skip Johnson said. “When you have your team where one of your best leaders is your hardest worker, and then he does that, I don’t have to say much. That’s called attitude.”
The last four in Oklahoma’s lineup went a combined 9-for-17 with eight runs and nine RBIs.
In the ninth, Jackson Cleveland struck out three consecutive hitters after a leadoff single to give the Sooners their first title since 1994.
The Sooners averaged eight runs per game in the MCWS.
It was an improbable run for Oklahoma, which dropped its final four Southeastern Conference series before going one-and-done in the conference tournament.
However, the Sooners got hot in the regional, eliminating No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech before sweeping Kansas in the super regional to advance to Omaha for the second time in five seasons.
“They didn’t want to give in, and that was what was incredible,” Johnson said. “They never gave in, and they were selfless for that.”
The SEC has won seven consecutive MCWS titles, with six different programs winning championships in that span.
The Sooners finished 14-16 in SEC play but wound up 43-23 overall.
“I think we knew that the talent was always in the room,” Willits said, “and that’s something that Skip and all the coaches preached to us from day one in the fall is that this group of guys is special. Whether we were playing well or not, we believed that we had the talent in the room to go out and win a national championship.”
Oklahoma scored in five consecutive innings to build a 9-1 lead, turning much of the latter part of the game into a celebration as pitchers Nick Wesloski and LJ Mercurius kept the Tar Heels largely off balance.
Mercurius (7-7) came on with one out in the third and surrendered just four hits and a run with five strikeouts and no walks in 5 2/3 innings.
North Carolina starter Jackson Rose had surrendered just three hits over 12 innings in the NCAA Tournament entering the Monday finale, but the Sooners touched him up for six hits in 2 2/3 frames. He fanned five without issuing a walk.
“They (the Tar Heels) took us on a ride that was unbelievable,” North Carolina coach Scott Forbes said. ‘We came up a little bit short, but I would take that ride again every day of the year. While we’re sad, the sadness will go away. We also talk about joy. Joy doesn’t go away, and these guys have given me, our coaching staff, our fans, our administration, everybody, a ton of joy and a ton to be proud of.”
The Sooners broke through for two runs in the second.
The Tar Heels appeared to cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second on Rom Kellis V’s single to right with Erik Paulsen on second.
However, Dasan Harris came up firing to third, throwing out Carter French at third just before Paulsen crossed the plate to end the inning.
The Sooners made it 3-0 in the third before the Tar Heels scratched across a run in the bottom half.
After four consecutive one-out walks and a two-run single by Willits made it 6-1 in the fourth, Tar Heels freshman phenom Caden Glauber came in to escape the jam.
In North Carolina’s Game 2 win on Sunday, Glauber threw five shutout innings in relief, firing 65 pitches.
North Carolina had not lost a game this season in which Glauber appeared.
The loss keeps the Tar Heels (54-14-1) without a title despite 13 MCWS appearances. They were also the runner-up in 2006 and 2007.
“They gave it all they had,” Forbes said. “We just ran out of gas when it’s all said and done.”
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