North Carolina and Oklahoma are set to meet in the College World Series finals, with the Tar Heels seeking their first national title and the Sooners aiming for their third. The best-of-three series begins on Saturday at Charles Schwab Field.
Coaches’ Long History
North Carolina’s Scott Forbes and Oklahoma’s Skip Johnson have known each other for decades, having spent years scouting talent showcases and engaging in recruiting battles as assistants. Forbes said he always thought that if they met in the finals, they’d be ‘hunting’ together.
The Tar Heels have lost consecutive games only once this season, in early March, and have been ranked no lower than No. 4 by D1Baseball.com over the last two months. Oklahoma, on the other hand, was ranked as high as No. 8 but lost six of nine series in Southeastern Conference play and finished 11th in the SEC.
Surging Sooners
Oklahoma is on a season-best eight-game winning streak, averaging 10.4 runs per game with 22 homers during this stretch. The Sooners have gone deep eight times in the CWS, including five in an 11-4 win over Georgia on Wednesday.
North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro will face Oklahoma’s Cord Rager in the Game 1 pitching matchup. DeCaro went 6 2/3 innings and struck out nine in Carolina’s 6-2 win over Mississippi last Friday, while Rager walked none and struck out eight in seven innings of a 9-0 win over Alabama last Saturday.
Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.
