North Carolina Beats Oklahoma 6-2, Forces Game 3

The North Carolina Tar Heels forced a decisive Game 3 for the NCAA baseball national championship by defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 6-2 on Sunday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. The victory leveled the best-of-three College World Series finals after Oklahoma had taken the opening game.

Pitching was the decisive factor as North Carolina’s staff cooled off a potent Oklahoma lineup that had been averaging 9.4 runs per game in the postseason. Starter Ryan Lynch worked four innings before exiting with a left oblique injury in the fifth. Freshman reliever Caden Glauber entered and struck out eight over five shutout innings to secure the win. The duo combined to hold Oklahoma to just four hits and two runs, both scored in the first inning. The Sooners managed only five baserunners after the first.

Offensively, North Carolina erased an early deficit with a three-run third inning. Jake Schaffner tied the game with a two-run triple and then scored on a wild pitch to give the Tar Heels a lead they would not relinquish. Owen Hull added a solo home run in the fifth, his ninth of the season, and Cooper Nicholson hit a two-run homer in the seventh, his team-leading 16th.