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The Diamond Heels will face Oklahoma in the best-of-three national championship series at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha beginning this weekend. Game 1 is Saturday night, Game 2 is Sunday afternoon and Game 3, if necessary, will be played Monday night. The Sooners (41-22, 14-16 SEC) are not a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, but enter the championship series red hot. Oklahoma has won eight consecutive games and beaten some of the best teams in the country to reach this weekend.
Here’s more on the Sooners:
The Path to the Championship Series
Oklahoma began the 2026 season on a roll, winning 16 of its first 18 games. But the Sooners stumbled more often than not in the latter half of the regular season, dropping eight of their final 12 games before going one-and-done in the SEC Tournament.
It appeared to be more of the same in the NCAA Tournament, as Oklahoma beat The Citadel in its first game but then lost 9-3 to regional hosts and No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech in the second game to fall into the loser’s bracket. After beating The Citadel again to stay alive, Oklahoma was faced with the unenviable task of beating the ACC champion Yellow Jackets twice in a row to advance to the Super Regionals. The odds looked even longer when the Sooners fell behind 8-2 in the first game. But that was start of Oklahoma’s season-changing hot streak, as the Sooners scored 13 unanswered runs to stun the Jackets and win 15-8, forcing a winner-take-all regional final the next day. Oklahoma trailed again, 7-3, in the seventh, but rallied late to force extra innings and then walked Georgia Tech off with a titanic home run in the bottom of the 10th inning (Oklahoma was playing as the “home” team).
The Sooners carried that momentum into another road assignment the next weekend, visiting No. 15 overall seed Kansas in the Super Regionals. Oklahoma proceeded to outscore the Jayhawks 21-3 across two blowout wins to punch its ticket to Omaha. And like UNC on the other side of the bracket, the Sooners swept through their foursome to reach the championship series — blowing out No. 7 overall seed Alabama before upsetting title favorites and No. 3 overall seed Georgia twice in a row to reach the championship series.
Youth Movement
In Oklahoma’s three games in Omaha, the Sooners went with the unorthodox move of starting three freshman pitchers. That gamble paid off in a big way, as Cord Rager pitched seven shutout innings against Alabama in Game 1, Xander Mercurius logged 7.1 quality innings in Game 2 against Georgia and Nick Wesloski earned the win in Game 3 against the Bulldogs. While Rager had been installed as a regular starter for the Sooners, Mercurius and Wesloski were making just their fourth and second starts of the season, respectively. They both shut down one of the nation’s best offenses and got plenty of help from the hot Sooner bats. Mercurius – whose older brother, L.J., also pitches for Oklahoma and has moved from a starting role into the bullpen – had not earned a win prior to his performance against the Bulldogs. The trio of Rager, Mercurius and Wesloski will be lined up to face UNC in the championship series.
Oklahoma pitcher Xander Mercurius (23) throws off the mound during an NCAA baseball College World Series game against Georgia, Monday, June 15, 2026 in Omaha, Neb. Oklahoma won 4-3. (AP Photo/Vera Nieuwenhuis)
Carrying Big Sticks
Though Oklahoma was not known as a power-hitting team for most of the regular season, the Sooners have turned into a powerhouse lately. In its first 43 games, Oklahoma hit 46 total home runs. In the 20 games since then (10 of which have come in the NCAA Tournament), the Sooners have hit a jaw-dropping 45. In NCAA Tournament play, Oklahoma is averaging 2.6 home runs per game — after averaging only 1.2 per game in the regular season.
Several Oklahoma hitters are experiencing an unprecedented power surge: Trey Gambill has five home runs in the NCAA Tournament after entering with only six, and Dasan Harris and Jason Walk have each doubled their season home run total from three to six in the tournament. Dayton Tockey – whose walk-off blast beat Georgia Tech in the regional round – has done even better, hitting five NCAA Tournament home runs after only hitting three in the regular season and SEC Tournament.
Back for More
The Sooners reached the national championship round in 2022, but lost to Ole Miss in a two-game sweep. Oklahoma has two national titles to its name, but the most recent came in 1994, before the implementation of the current NCAA Tournament format in 1999. Under head coach Skip Johnson, the Sooners appear to be in the middle of a new program golden age: the 2026 College World Series appearance is the second for Oklahoma in Johnson’s nine years in charge, and the program has now made the NCAA Tournament in five consecutive seasons. The OU job is Johnson’s first head coaching position at the Division 1 level after serving as an assistant for nearly a decade at Texas. He served as an assistant for one season at Oklahoma before ascending to the head coaching job.
Recent History
UNC’s odd trend of recent postseason rematches will continue in the national championship series. Oklahoma visited Boshamer Stadium in the regional round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and the Diamond Heels and Sooners essentially played a three-game series for the right to advance to the Super Regionals. UNC won the first game 11-5 after scoring six first-inning runs against Oklahoma ace Kyson Witherspoon, but the Sooners came back strong the next day by scoring five runs in the sixth inning to win 9-5 and force a winner-take-all regional final. Carolina rolled in that regional final, leading 8-2 after four innings and scoring six in the eighth and ninth to blow out the Sooners, 14-4. Ryan Lynch, who projects to be UNC’s Game 2 starter for the championship series this weekend, pitched five innings and earned the win.
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Featured image via Associated Press/Vera Nieuwenhuis
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