Kip Coons
| For The Oklahoman
CHAPEL HILL, NC — When the Oklahoma Sooners woke up Sunday morning, they no doubt embraced the old Ernie Banks line, “Let’s play two!”
That’s because OU baseball team would have to win two elimination games in one day to stay alive in the Chapel Hill Regional of the NCAA Tournament.
Now, having routed Nebraska 17-1 in the afternoon game and rallying past North Carolina 9-5 in the nightcap, maybe their new slogan should be, “Let’s win three!”
The Sooners exploded for five runs in a decisive sixth-inning against UNC, getting a two-run homer from Drew Dickerson and a two-run double from Jaxon Willits, to upend the No. 5 national seed and force a winner-take-all game at 2 p.m. CDT Monday for the regional championship and a berth in a super regional.
The Chapel Hill Regional is paired with the Eugene Regional, where host Oregon, the No. 12 national seed, has already been eliminated. No. 2 regional seed Arizona is in the driver’s seat in Eugene, unbeaten after two games. But if Oklahoma, also a No. 2 regional seed, can pull off one more win, it could earn host privileges over Arizona.
The Sooners (38-21), as they were Sunday night, have been designated the home team Monday.
UNC coach Scott Forbes said he would start freshman right-hander Ryan Lynch (4-1, 2.92 ERA) for UNC, with freshman right-hander Walker McDuffie probably in reserve. Lynch’s most recent start was a four-inning shutout effort with seven strikeouts in the ACC championship win over Clemson on May 25.
OU coach Skip Johnson said he would meet with his staff before determining his pitching plans for Monday.
Bullpen ace Dylan Crooks nailed down the win for OU with two shutout innings of hitless relief for his 15th save.
Willits said the Sooners knew Sunday would be a marathon day, but they were ready for it.
“It was a long day, but I feel we bring that energy and focus every day in practice,” he said. “And when you do that every day in practice in the fall and then all spring leading up to the season, it gets easy to stay locked in.”
The OU offense is certainly locked in. Over the past 22 innings, beginning with the sixth Saturday night of the 11-5 loss to UNC that tumbled them into the losers’ bracket, the Sooners have scored 30 runs.
“I want to give credit to Oklahoma,” Forbes said. “They have a really good team.
“They had traffic (on the bases) the whole night. I don’t think we had a 1-2-3 inning. We didn’t make our usual plays defensively. (When) you don’t pitch at a high level and defend at a high level, it’s hard to win those games against a really good team.”
In fact, two UNC errors paved the way to five unearned runs for the Sooners, who also benefited from nine walks by UNC pitchers to go with three home runs and 11 hits overall.
Dawson Willis and Dasan Harris hit solo homers for OU. Willis belted his sixth in the third for a 1-0 lead, and Harris’ second of the season made it 9-5 in the eighth.
UNC (44-13) had overcome a 2-1 deficit to go up 3-2 on Gavin Gallaher’s two-run double in the fifth. Gallaher was the hitting star for the Tar Heels, blasting his 15th homer in the fourth to momentarily tie the score at 1-1. He added an RBI double in the seventh during a two-run rally that narrowed the OU lead to 7-5 and finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
But the Sooners had turned the tide with their big rally in the sixth.
Harris singled to open the inning against reliever Olin Johnson (2-1), who had come on in the fifth for UNC. Dickerson delivered his second homer of the regional and fourth of the season to put the Sooners on top 4-3.
Folger Boaz relieved Johnson, but OU put together a two-out rally against the left-hander. Carmichael reached on a two-out throwing error, and Sam Christensen hit a hard comebacker that knocked the glove off Boaz and went for a single.
Willits doubled to left center for two runs, and another run would score on a single by Kyle Branch before Trey Gambill was cut down at the plate trying to score on the hit.
Willits celebrated by giving the “shush” sign to the crowd of 4,001 in Boshamer Stadium while standing at second base. The UNC fans had been on him since an incident in the third inning when he waved at a ground ball while running from first in an attempt to obscure the vision of UNC second baseman Jackson Van De Brake, who confronted Willits after the play. Teammates and umpires intervened, and both dugouts got a warning.
The crowd booed Willits at every subsequent appearance and cheered loudly when he was caught stealing in the fifth, the first time he was thrown out in 15 attempts this season.
“We’re just having fun out there playing the game of baseball,” Willits said. “They booed me, and y’all saw what I did.”
He added, “I just want to say I wasn’t trying to be a dirty player. I was just trying to help my team get a run, and he took exception to that. He came at me, and I went back to him, but there was nothing personal. We were just competing out on the baseball field.”
The Sooners added an insurance run in the seventh on Carmichael’s single to right following three walks to load the bases. Carmichael also swung a hot bat against Nebraska earlier Sunday, hitting his 16th and 17th homers while collecting four RBIs.
The win went to Jamie Hitt (3-0), the second of four OU pitchers. He worked two innings behind freshman left-hander Jaden Barfield, who matched his season high with four innings before leaving with a 2-1 lead.
Hitt ran into trouble in the eighth, giving up a leadoff walk and a single to Tyson Bass, and OU coach Skip Johnson called on his closer, Crooks, to face a dangerous hitter in Sam Angelo.
Angelo had homered twice Saturday night off OU All-American Kyson Witherspoon, and he narrowly missed a game-tying homer against Crooks when he hooked a drive just foul down the right-field line.
Angelo ended up walking, but Crooks rallied to strike out Carter French and get Kane Kepley and Van De Brake on shallow fly balls. He retired the side without incident in the ninth.
“When I went out there to visit him, we had bases loaded,” Johnson said he told Crooks. “I reminded him of that, told him to throw the ball to the target, and whatever happens, happens. He’s a tough kid, and he went through a lot, and I’m really proud of him.”
2 p.m. CT Monday at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (ESPNU)