Boomer Sooner! Oklahoma wins 1st MCWS title since '94
For the first time since 1994, Oklahoma is atop the college baseball world.
The Sooners captured their third national title in program history with a 13-2 win over No. 5 North Carolina in a winner-take-all finale of the Men’s College World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., on Monday night.
Oklahoma previously won the national championship in 1994 and 1951. The SEC continues its remarkable streak of CWS titles, with an SEC program winning the championship for the seventh consecutive tournament.
After being held to just two runs in Sunday’s 6-2 loss – which set up Monday’s winner-take-all Game 3 – the Sooners’ offense roared to life with the season on the line. Oklahoma rapped out 13 runs on 14 hits, while five different players recorded multi-hit games. That included a two-hit, two-walk game from designated hitter Brendan Brock (MLB’s No. 109 Draft prospect) and a 3-for-4 performance from shortstop Jaxon Willits (No. 146), who reached base five times.
The Sooners stranded a pair of runners in the first inning, but that would not be a preview of the action to come. Oklahoma scored at least one run in each of the next five frames, with big hits from Willits – who broke the game open with a two-run single in the fourth – and infielder Dayton Tockey, who clobbered a solo home run in the fifth.
Second baseman Kyle Branch punctuated the outburst with a three-run home run in the eighth inning, capping off a three-hit, six-RBI performance out of the nine hole.
Meanwhile, on the mound, freshman right-hander Nick Wesloski allowed one run while recording the game’s first seven outs. Righty LJ Mercurius (No. 172) was brilliant in relief of Wesloski, allowing just one run over 5 2/3 innings. Mercurius previously recorded the final five outs in Friday’s 9-3 win in Game 1.
Jackson Cleveland struck out the final three batters of the ninth inning to lock down the championship for Oklahoma.