OMAHA, Neb. – The OU bats continued to stay hot.
Deiten LaChance homered twice and Kyle Branch had a key two-run single with two away to spark a four-run fourth as Oklahoma posted a 9-3 win over No. 5 North Carolina in front of 24,707 fans on Saturday afternoon in Game 1 of the 2026 College World Series Championship Series at Charles Schwab Field.
The Sooners (42-22) took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series over the Tar Heels (53-13-1). Game 2 will be played on Sunday, June 21, at 1:30 p.m. CT.
OU got the offense going immediately in the top of the first. Camden Johnson had a one-out single and scored on a homer to right center by LaChance to give the Sooners a 2-0 edge.
UNC answered quickly in the bottom of the first. Jake Schaffner had a leadoff single to left and went to third on a double to left by Owen Hull. Gavin Gallaher ripped a two-run single to center to level the score at 2-2. Gallaher scored on a sacrifice fly by Colin Hynek to give the Tar Heels a 3-2 lead.
LaChance crushed an 0-2 high fastball to left in the third for his second long ball of the game and 18th of the season to tie it at 3-3.
“He came to me with two heaters at the top of the zone and I couldn’t get to them as well,” LaChance said. “I was just always under it and not on time. And the third one I knew he was going to come with a heater, and I told myself I’m going to be on top of it wherever it was in the zone. And it was not in the zone, but I got on top of it. I just told myself that and it worked out well, I guess.”
The Sooners reclaimed the lead in the fourth. Brendan Brock drew a one-out walk and went to third on a double by Dasan Harris. With two away, Branch singled to left center to knock in two as OU went up 5-3.
“He went one or two strikes and then barrelled the ball right back up the middle,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said. “It was really huge for us at the time. It gave us momentum. I thought it was probably one of the biggest hits of all day long.”
Jason Walk and Johnson added RBI singles later in the fourth as the advantage grew to 7-3.
OU added an insurance run in the sixth. Dayton Tockey lined a leadoff double to right, was sacrificed to third by Branch and came home on a base hit by Walk to make it 8-3.
The Sooners tallied their final run in the ninth. Johnson drew a leadoff walk, went to third on a base hit by LaChance and scored on a double play to make the final 9-3.
OU has scored eight or more runs in eight of their past nine games.
LaChance went 3 for 5 with two homers and three RBI. Walk had two hits and two RBI, Harris was 3 for 4 with a run, and Johnson went 2 for 4 with two runs and one RBI for OU.
Cord Rager (7-3) earned the win for OU, going 5.0 innings with five hits, three runs, two walks and five strikeouts.
“I really had to try to really be a pitcher today because I didn’t have my best stuff,” Rager said. “After the first, I put my head down, tried to work the process Skip’s always taught me, and grind. Giving five innings to the team was awesome. I wish I could have stayed out there longer. I just wanted to throw my arm off for the team. Having those four zeros after the first was awesome.”
Gavyn Jones followed Rager and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings with two hits, one walk and four strikeouts. LJ Mercurius worked the final 1.2 innings with no hits, one walk and two punchouts.
UNC got four straight hits to start the game and had only three after that. Schaffner went 3 for 5 with a run.
“The great thing about baseball when you’re playing in a weekend series is you move on quickly,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “That’s what our team will do. They just beat us today.”
Notes
- Since the move to the best-of-three Championship Series in 2003, 14 of the 22 teams to win Game 1 have gone on to win the title.
- Oklahoma extended its season-best win streak to nine games. The past eight wins have come against national seeds, tying 2016 national champ Coastal Carolina and 2008 champion Fresno State for most wins over national seeds.
- The Sooners have averaged 10.2 runs over the past nine games with 24 home runs.
- OU has 45 homers in its 17 games since May 1 after 48 home runs in their first 47 contests.
- The Sooners are 21-0 when scoring nine or more runs this season.
- UNC is now 31-3 when scoring in the first inning this season and 20-1 when scoring multiple runs in the first frame.