OMAHA, Neb. – Sometimes, winning a championship isn’t about being the best team over the course of the season.
Sometimes, it’s about getting hot at the right time, and that’s exactly what the Oklahoma Sooners have done in the NCAA Tournament.
After finishing tied for 11th in the Southeastern Conference with Vanderbilt at 14-16 having won just four of six SEC series they played, the Sooners, who were 16th in the season-ending RPI ranking, were one-and-done at the SEC Tournament, losing 4-3 to LSU in the first round on May 19.
But that tough regular season is what prepared them for this incredible run to the championship series at the Men’s College World Series in Omaha.
“We’ve been through a lot. I think Trey [Gambill] said it best yesterday. We’ve been hit in the mouth,” said Sooners head coach Skip Johnson at Friday’s press conference preceding the finals. “Played really good early in our year. And then we went through the SEC, and I think the SEC really molded us to be prepared to where we’re at.”
An 11-day layoff preceded the Sooners’ first game at the Atlanta Regional, which took them five games to win, and they had to beat the No. 2 national seed in Georgia Tech to do it. Closer to home, they defeated Kansas in two games at the Lawrence Super Regional. Then it was on to Omaha, where they beat Alabama in their opener and then knocked off the Georgia Bulldogs, which had one of the most powerful lineups in college baseball, twice in three days to advance to the series against North Carolina.
Suffice to say, this is a team that got hot at the right time.
“I think the SEC just offers a great preparation, period, for this type of tournament. There’s no breaks. Just like in this tournament, you’re not playing any bad teams. You’re not playing any mediocre teams. You’re playing the best of the best,” said Oklahoma junior infielder Jaxon Willits. “So, in the SEC, it’s similar. Every Friday night you’re going to face a guy that’s really good, similar to all the teams here, similar to what North Carolina has. So the SEC just prepared us for always being ready to put our best out there.”
North Carolina will start Jason Decaro on Saturday night, a 6-foot-5 righty from Long Island who is the 125th ranked prospect for the upcoming Majro League Baseball Draft by MLB Pipeline.
“He’s a good pitcher. And North Carolina has a reputation of great pitchers. What I’ve noticed he’s great at pitching at both sides of the plate, up and down, great stuff,” said Oklahoma senior outfielder Trey Gambill. “And similar to many pitchers out there in college baseball, you’re going to have to be ready. You’re going to have to be ready to battle. You’re probably going to get two strikes, you’re going to have to fight off some good pitches.”
But Oklahoma has some formidable pitchers, too, and those pitchers have helped them get to this series. Expect to see Cord Rager, LJ Mercurius, and Nick Wesloski – three pitchers Skip Johnson recruited out of high school – to start for the Sooners should the series go three games. What attracted Johnson to them was their belief in themselves and their ability.
“Guys that believe in themselves, it’s like looking at a 200-inch deer, you are like, ‘Wow, that’s a big deer,'” Johnson said. “Like, “Wow, that guy can really pitch, because he believes in himself.'”
Johnson has been here with the Sooners before in 2002 and three times as an assistant at Texas, and as he and UNC head coach Scott Forbes are well aware, a championship is often won by a player who comes off the bench and makes a big play.
“That’s the [benefit of the] adversity that we went through. There’s a lot of guys that had to pitch. There’s a lot of guys that had to play. There’s some guys that were hurt. There were some guys that we had different lineups as we went through it,” Johnson said. “Everybody is important in that room. Everybody, they’ve had experience. They’ve been on the field. They’ve had an at-bat. They’ve had to come in with men on. They’ve had to throw a breaking ball. Whatever it may be, they’ve experienced it in some form or fashion.”
That shared experience has made the Sooners pull for each other and play as one. When one guy is down, the others pull him up. When some guys aren’t producing, others are. Take, for example, the win that got the Sooners to the championship series, where outfielders Jason Walk and Dasan Harris each homered twice for the Sooners despite having four homers each coming into that game.
“I appreciate the outfielders picking us up because the infielders did not have a very good day at the plate,” said Jaxon Willits, only half jokingly, as the four infielders the Sooners started went a combined 0-for-13, with only second baseman Kyle Branch getting on base – and only once, with a seventh-inning walk.
But perhaps, it’s time to pay less attention to the numbers than the culture of a team that is playing together and playing for each other. They’re two wins away from Oklahoma’s first national championship in baseball in 32 years, and culture is why.
“These guys really have been selfless. And that’s probably one of the most important things, the message that I’ve really tried to display about this team is the selflessness that they’ve had in a world that’s really selfish,” Johnson said. “So I think that’s the biggest difference. Man, if you can teach those young men to be selfless in a selfish world, is really big to me. It’s really big to me. When nobody cares who gets the credit, you can do amazing things. It’s pretty amazing.”
“The only thing you can ask them to do is give you effort. They can’t be somebody they’re not. They can just give us effort. If it’s good that day, then it’s good that day.”
2026 Men’s College World Series Championship Series Schedule
All times Eastern Daylight Time
* – If necessary
Saturday, June 20
8 p.m. – Oklahoma (42-22) vs. North Carolina (53-12-1) – Game 1
Sunday, June 21
2:30 p.m. – North Carolina (53-12-1) vs. Oklahoma (42-22) – Game 2
Monday, June 22
7 p.m. – Oklahoma (42-22) vs. North Carolina (53-12-1) – Game 3*
Photo: Oklahoma outfielder Jason Walk (1) celebrates with teammates after runs were scored 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)
