UNC baseball falls flat in College World Series decider

An abysmal middle-inning stretch saw Carolina baseball come up short of a national championship yet again, losing to Oklahoma 13-2 in the deciding third game of the College World Series finals.

The Tar Heels are now in sole possession of second-most CWS appearances by teams without a title at 13. Florida State holds the top spot with 24.

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The Sooners took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, scoring on a Kyle Branch single and a wild pitch. In the bottom of the frame, UNC complemented its defensive misstep with an offensive one; Rom Kellis V hit a single to right field with two outs that should have scored Erik Paulsen from second, but Carter French was thrown out trying to go from first to third, ending the inning with OU’s lead intact.

Oklahoma added another run in the top of the third on a two-out single by Brendan Brock immediately after Walker McDuffie relieved starting pitcher Jackson Rose. This time, the Tar Heels were able to answer in the bottom of the inning, but they still left a lot on the table. A Gavin Gallaher RBI single made it 3-1 and gave Carolina runners on the corners with one out, prompting the Sooners to relieve starting pitcher Nick Wesloski with LJ Mercurius, who retired the next two batters.

The wheels fully came off for UNC in the fourth inning. McDuffie issued three straight walks to load the bases and was pulled for Caden Glauber, who walked in a run and allowed a two-RBI single before he himself was pulled for Matthew Matthijs. Matthijs got Carolina out of the inning without further damage but gave up a leadoff home run to Dayton Tockey in the fifth. Branch drove in two more runs for Oklahoma in the sixth on a bases-loaded single with two outs (Folger Boaz gave up that one).

Offensively, UNC had almost no answer for Mercurius, managing just one baserunner in the middle innings. Owen Hull drove in a run off of him in the seventh, which was negated and then some by an OU four-spot in the eighth (Dasan Harris hit an RBI single and Branch hit a three-run home run). Mercurius’ final line was four hits and one earned run with zero walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings. He was credited with the win as Oklahoma claimed its third national championship and first since 1994.

Carolina used a total of eight pitchers, with Rose taking the loss. Only Glauber, Boaz, and Kyle Percival (who pitched the ninth inning) were not tagged with an earned run.