The Oklahoma Sooners used a 14-hit attack in a decisive winner take all Game 3 of the Men’s Baseball College World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha on Monday night, rolling to their first national championship in 32 years in a 13-2 drubbing of #5 North Carolina.
OU (43-23) broke open a 3-1 game by scoring a total six times over the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings for a 9-1 advantage to help capture their third title overall and their first since 1994. Kyle Branch had three hits and six RBI including a three-run homerun in a four run eighth. Jaxon Willits had three hits and two RBI, while Brendan Brock, Dasan Harris, and Dayton Tockey added two hits and one RBI each. LJ Mercurius (7-7) got the pitching win allowing just one run on four hits with no walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Jake Schaffner, Owen Hull, and Carter French had two hits a piece for North Carolina. Hull and Gavin Gallaher had the RBI in the defeat. The Tarheels were seeking their first national championship, finishing as runner-up for a third time (also in 2006 and 2007) with a final record of 54-14-1. The Sooners got past #2 Georgia Tech (Regionals), #3 Georgia (World Series), #7 Alabama (World Series-twice), and then #5 UNC (World Series-twice) to win it all. It was the most difficult path ever to a college national championship win, according to the PEA Ratings database.
Photo images from the NCAA
