OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Deiten Lachance homered twice off North Carolina
ace Jason DeCaro, Oklahoma shut down the Tar Heels after the first
inning and the Sooners won Game 1 of the College World Series finals 9-3
on Saturday to move within a victory of the national championship.
The
Sooners (42-22) used a four-run fourth inning to pull away for their
ninth straight win and Cord Rager and two relievers allowed only two
runners to reach second base after the Tar Heels (53-12-1) struck for
three early runs.
Oklahoma won national titles in baseball in 1951
and 1994 and will go for its third on Sunday. North Carolina, looking
for its first, will try to force a deciding Game 3 on Monday.
OU
ended DeCaro’s uncharacteristic bad day in the fourth inning. The
Sooners scored all four runs that inning with two outs starting when
Kyle Branch broke a 3-all tie with a two-run single. Branch came home on
Jason Walk’s base hit and Camden Johnson singled off Walker McDuffie to
make it 7-3.
DeCaro (11-3), who came in with a 2.31 ERA, was
charged with all seven runs after having not allowed more than three in
any of his previous starts.
Lachance homered for a 2-0 lead in the
first inning and again in the third to tie it at 3. The 6-foot-5,
231-pound Canadian known as “Big Maple” has hit all 18 of his homers in
the last 32 games, including six in the last eight.
Oklahoma has
hit 45 of its 93 home runs in the last 17 games. OU has connected 28
times in 11 NCAA Tournament games, and its 10 homers in four CWS games
are the most by a team since the event moved to Charles Schwab Field in
2011.
Rager (7-3), who threw 15 2/3 shutout innings over his
previous three outings, gave up three runs in the first inning before
settling in. Gavin Jones took over to start the sixth and LJ Mercurius
worked the last 1 2/3 innings.
Carolina’s Carter French made the
defensive play of the CWS in the third when Walk sent a drive to deep
right. As French went back to make the play, his glove got lodged under
the padding running across the top of the fence. His glove was a bit
crumpled as the ball landed in it. He held onto it and displayed it to
the umpire.