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OMAHA, NEBRASKA - JUNE 20: Jason DeCaro #29 of the North Carolina Tar Heels walks to the dugout after being taken out of the game against the Oklahoma Sooners during the fourth inning during game one of the Division I Baseball Championship held at Charles Schwab Field on June 20, 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Tanner Pearson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) | NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Oklahoma continued their home run party in Omaha by smashing two against starter Jason DeCaro, took advantage of a couple of Carolina mistakes, and put themselves one game away from a national title by beating Carolina in the Men’s College World Series Finals opener 9-3.
Saturday’s game time was moved up from the evening to mid-afternoon thanks to expected weather in the Omaha region, and that seemed to help both teams see the ball well early on. In what is likely DeCaro’s last start as a Tar Heel, he never seemed fully comfortable as there was only one inning where he didn’t give up any runs.
The action started early as DeCaro struck out Jason Walk for the Sooners, but then the action quickly turned as Camden Johnson laced a single and Sooner hero Deiten LeChane—bum ankle and all—belted a ball into the right field stands to put Oklahoma up 2-0 early. DeCaro was able to recover and strike out the last two batters, but the Sooners made it known this was going to be the best offense that this Carolina staff had faced all tournament.
It seemed like Carolina was in the mood to answer, though. Oklahoma put up Cord Rager to start, and the freshman had been on a run to start the tournament, but Carolina was able to get to him early. It started with a Jake Schaffer single, then Owen Hull continued his hot streak by getting a double to get Carolina with second and third and no outs. Gavin Gallaher then brought them both home with a single. Gallaher would later get home on a sacrifice fly and the Tar Heels would take a 3-2 lead.
It would be the last run that Carolina would get on the day.
DeCaro seemed to have settled in until LaChance came up in the third and belted a solo home run, this time to left field. The Sooners tied it at three, and from there the game would unravel. DeCaro got out of that inning, but in the fourth some uncharacteristic mistakes by the Tar Heels led to a four running inning.
It started innocuously enough as catcher Colin Hynek was unable to corral a foul tip third strike by Brendan Brock. Brock would ultimately draw a walk, with one out, and that came back to bite DeCaro as he was able to get the second out, but then Kyle Branch punched a single to drive two home, and he would eventually get to third thanks to a wild pitch. Then Branch was driven home, and DeCaro was driven out of the game.
The inning ultimately ended with Oklahoma up 7-3 and Carolina was never able to gain any sort of traction from that point on.
Oklahoma would scratch out another couple of runs. Walker McDuffie came in to pitch 2 1/3 in relief of DeCaro but from there, Scott Forbes basically saved the major arms in his bullpen using Tom Chmielewski and then Cameron Padgett to finish out the nine innings. The Sooners would get five from Rager before giving way to Gavyn Jones and then LJ Mercurius would get the final outs.
The bottom of the UNC lineup didn’t do the Tar Heels any favors, as spots five through nine only had one hit all game. By comparison the seven, eight, and nine hitters for Oklahoma went five for ten and kept the innings going for the Sooners.
Carolina will now look to replicate their Super Regional feat by winning the next two games after losing game one against a hot hitting unseeded team. It’ll be on Ryan Lynch and the rest of the UNC bullpen to try and get the game. A loss Sunday will make UNC’s 0-13 in trips to the MCWS in coming back with a title, which as the ESPN broadcast loved reminding us all, would bring them second all on their own.
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