OMAHA, Neb. — No hill was too steep to climb for this Oklahoma baseball team.The Sooners lost seven of 10 games to end the regular season. They went one and done at the SEC tournament. They faced elimination three times in NCAA Regional play.Monday night, OU reached the mountaintop with a 13-2 win against North Carolina in Game 3 of the College World Series finals. The Sooners completed the most unlikely postseason run in college baseball since Fresno State came out of nowhere to win it all in 2008.
STRIKEOUT SEALS THE ‘SHIP 🏆@OU_Baseball x #MCWS /ESPN pic.twitter.com/AbFRdvNGTC
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) June 23, 2026The national championship for Oklahoma (43-23) is its third in baseball and first since 1994. OU athletics counts this as a 47th title, the first in a men’s sport since 2018 and the first in a men’s sport other than gymnastics or golf since the Sooners raised a trophy in football to close the 2000 season.Back on the brink after North Carolina (54-14-1) evened the best-of-three championship series Sunday, Oklahoma played with the calm and confidence that steered it to nine consecutive wins in the NCAA postseason.The Sooners punished North Carolina for runs in five consecutive innings after a scoreless first. UNC pitching phenom Caden Glauber threw seven pitches in the disastrous fourth, issuing a bases-loaded, four-pitch walk to Deiten Lachance before Jaxon Willits laced a single into right field to score two runs and blow the game open.Willits, the older brother of the No. 1 MLB draft pick from a year ago, Eli Willits of the Washington Nationals organization, is set to join the family business in professional baseball this summer. But first, he contributed three hits Monday and reached base five times with the national championship at stake. And after the game, he was named the CWS Most Outstanding Player.LJ Mercurius fired 5 2/3 innings of four-hit relief after starter Nick Wesloski lasted 2 1/3 innings. Wesloski allowed one run on five hits. UNC freshman Jackson Rose faced an equally quick hook. The Sooners got to him for three runs on six hits in 2 2/3 innings.The battle of the bullpens decidedly favored Oklahoma.In that key top of the fourth inning, UNC reliever Walker McDuffie walked Kyle Branch and Jason Walk with one out. Then, for the second consecutive game, Glauber entered to inherit a 2-0 count. He fired a strike to Camden Johnson, but home plate umpire Billy Van Raaphorst called Glauber for a pitch-clock violation.Things quickly unraveled for the freshman, who threw 65 pitches Sunday over five innings to earn his 12th win in 12 decisions this year. Monday, the Sooners led 6-1 when Glauber left the mound.Before the season finale, North Carolina was 29-0 when Glauber pitched. It is now 29-1.The OU victory turned back North Carolina for a third time in the championship series. The Tar Heels lost in 2006 and 2007 to Oregon State and made another six visits to Omaha before this season without earning a shot to play for the crown.Oklahoma claimed a seventh consecutive championship in baseball for the SEC. Six SEC programs have walked away as winners at Charles Schwab Field since 2019.This title ranks as the most unexpected, surpassing Ole Miss’ 2022 run, when the Rebels swept Oklahoma in the championship series. Ole Miss finished 14-16 in SEC play in that season, the same record as OU in 2026.These Sooners won just one series in the regular season against an opponent that reached the NCAA postseason — Texas A&M in March. OU won only two nonconference games against teams that appeared in the postseason.In the Atlanta Regional, Oklahoma came from four runs down in the seventh inning to beat Georgia Tech, the No. 2 overall seed, in a 10-inning championship game.Coach Skip Johnson turned to true freshmen Wesloski, Xander Mercurius and Cord Rager to start 11 of 13 postseason games, including all eight games in Super Regional and CWS play.The Sooners made diving catches. They delivered clutch hits. Simply, they caught fire. Only a dogpile celebration on the infield Monday night could end their hot streak.
