North Carolina and Oklahoma Both Punch Their Tickets to The College World Series Final
North Carolina defeats West Virginia in their rematch
The Tar Heels are headed to their third College World Series final in their program’s history, and first since 2007. However, they are still searching for that first illustrious national championship despite this being their 13th appearance in Omaha and ninth since 2000. This current iteration of the Tar Heels might have the best shot at securing that first title as they are playing some of their best baseball all season, and that was on display Wednesday afternoon against West Virginia.
The offense remained hot as it put 12 runs on the board, the most runs they’ve scored in a game thus far in the NCAA tournament. Owen Hull led the way once again to no one’s surprise, going 4-5 on the day with three extra base hits - two doubles and a triple. He has hit safely in every one of UNC’s games dating back to regionals, and now has five multi-hit games throughout the tournament. Gavin Gallaher joined Hull with a four-hit game of his own as he also has hit safely in every game of the NCAA tournament. Erik Paulsen came through with three hits while Carter French logged two hits as well. The offense didn’t need a single home run to put the 12 runs on the board either as they got it done in the fashion in which they’ve done all year - stringing together hits and running into the big one when it matters.
The final line for the pitching staff wasn’t as pretty, but they got the job done in a hybrid bullpen game. Junior left-hander Folger Boaz got the start for the Tar Heels, but pitched just one inning while allowing one earned run. Freshman left-hander Jackson Rose took over for the next 4.1 innings as his efforts allowed the UNC offense to pull away from West Virginia with a scoreless outing, surrendering just two hits and two walks. Matthew Matthijs and Cameron Padgett both got tagged for five runs in the seventh as the Mountaineers started creeping back into the game which prompted the Tar Heels to go to their relief ace, Caden Glauber. He would throw the final 2.1 innings in this one, allowing just one run as the Tar Heels took this one by a score of 12-7.
If you’re North Carolina, you definitely didn’t want to go to Glauber in this game if you didn’t have to, but the good news is that he only threw 45 pitches with two off days ahead of him. With that being said, he should be ready to go over the weekend which gives the Tar Heels the flexibility to stack up their pitching staff in whatever way they want against Oklahoma. Jason DeCaro likely gets the start against the Sooners in game one, but there are a few different directions they could go. Regardless of whatever plan they go with, this is neither a pitching staff or an offense I would want to see on the other side of the field if I’m an opposing team.
Oklahoma rolls through Georgia as the Sooners remain undefeated
Myself included, the world of college baseball has kind of been waiting for this dominant run from Oklahoma to end as their regular season would have never suggested this type of success in the tournament. However, I’m glad to be proven wrong as the Sooners just keep rolling. I felt like Georgia was going to get at least one game from Oklahoma in this final set considering Georgia had been beat twice by one team just once all season. That just simply wouldn’t be the case as Oklahoma’s win over Georgia on Wednesday night was by far their most impressive win of the World Series thus far.
The Sooners sent their third consecutive freshman to the mound after Cord Rager and Xavier Mercurius both shoved in their outings, with the right-hander Nick Wesloski following as the next freshman to leave his mark on Omaha. It was just the second start of his career as he made one in the regional round. However, he looks like he’s been in the role for a long time after throwing 5.2 innings in which he allowed just one earned run on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts against the best offense in the nation.
The brother of aforementioned Xavier, junior right-hander LJ Mercurius took over for Wesloski when Georgia had pulled the score within two runs, throwing the final 3.1 innings in this one, allowing just one run as the pitching has remained the driver of success for this Sooners team.
While it has been the pitching that has led the way for Oklahoma, the Sooners had their best showing offensively in Omaha, scoring 11 total runs with five home runs. No Oklahoma Sooner had ever homered twice in a College World Series game in their program’s history, and two different hitters did it on Wednesday. Junior center fielder Jason Walk got the scoring started in the third with his first of two home runs on the night before Trey Gambill and Dasan Harris both hit big flies in the fourth. Hill wasn’t done either as he added another one later in the game. Both Walk and Harris homered in the eighth inning which effectively put the game away. Coming into the game, both had just four home runs on the season, and they combined for four home runs on the night. It was the just the second multi-home run game of Harris’s career while it was the first in the career of Walk.
The Sooners are headed back to the College World Series final for the fourth time in their program’s history, and it’s a place they are not strangers to. You only have to date back four years to 2022 to find the last time the Sooners appeared in the final. However, they are searching for their first championship since 1994 and third in program history.
