No. 5 North Carolina advances to Super Regionals with win over Oklahoma
Baseball season at Oklahoma is over.
The Sooners saw their season come to an end Monday evening in a winner-take-all game against national No. 5 seed North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, 14-4. OU had beaten the Tar Heels on Sunday to force one of the favorites for the national championship to Monday's brink.
But UNC showed why it earned that fifth seed when it had to.
North Carolina scored those 14 runs by pounding out 17 hits and drawing six walks against a depleted Oklahoma pitching staff. Coach Skip Johnson used seven pitchers Monday as he couldn't to go any of his usual weekend starters nor closer Dylan Crooks as the weekend's previous four games had left them exhausted.
Reid Hensley, OU's starter, gave up the first five runs of the game, three of which came in the first inning. All three were unearned as a throwing on error on Kyle Branch extended North Carolina's initial time at the plate. Cleanup hitter Gavin Gallher reached and Luke Stevenson, who walked in the plate appearance before, advanced to second. The next two Tar Heels batters hit a double and a single to bring them home.
OU responded with two runs in the second inning, but North Carolina tacked on four in the third and another in the fifth to take a commanding lead into the late innings.
Easton Carmichael was the only Oklahoma player to collect two hits. His ninth-inning single provided an RBI and Jason Walk's seventh-inning home run scored OU's third run. Every OU pitcher but one allowed at least one run.
North Carolina advanced to the Super Regionals for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons. The Sooners finished the season with a record of 38-22 overall, having made the NCAA Tournament for a fourth year in a row.
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