Lachance homers – Deiten Lachance hit two early homers, and Cord Rager steadied after a shaky first inning as Oklahoma beat North Carolina 9-3 in Game 1 of the College World Series finals.
Omaha, Nebraska is known for big moments at Charles Schwab Field, and on Saturday night Oklahoma delivered one quickly.
Canada’s Deiten Lachance opened the damage with a two-run homer in the first inning off North Carolina ace Jason DeCaro. then sent another shot over the fence in the third to tie the game at 3. By the time the Sooners had finished a four-run fourth inning. the series had swung decisively toward the team one win away from the national championship.
Oklahoma won 9-3 in Game 1 of the College World Series finals, pushing the Sooners (42-22) into a ninth straight win. North Carolina (53-12-1) — still hunting its first CWS title — now has to respond, with a deciding Game 3 still possible on Monday.
Oklahoma coach Skip Johnson didn’t dress it up. After Cord Rager looked like he might unravel after a rocky first inning, Johnson kept the message simple: let the offense do its job and make sure the pitching doesn’t compound mistakes.
“I’m just going to stay out of their way,” Johnson said. “I don’t know any other way to do it. You think we’re going to go out and hit tonight and take 100 groundballs somewhere? We’re not going to do that. I can promise you that. Just stay out of their way.”
Rager, along with Gavyn Jones and LJ Mercurius, combined to shut down the rest of the way after North Carolina struck for three runs in the first inning. In the process, the Tar Heels managed only two runners to reach second base after that early burst.
Oklahoma ended DeCaro’s uncharacteristic bad day in the fourth inning, scoring all four runs with two outs. Kyle Branch broke a 3-all tie with a two-run single, then came home on Jason Walk’s base hit. Camden Johnson followed with a single off Walker McDuffie to make it 7-3.
DeCaro entered the game with a 2.31 ERA and was 11-3 for the season, having not allowed more than three runs in any of his previous starts. Against the Sooners, he was charged with all seven runs after starting strong.
“I think they just really punished the mistakes,” DeCaro said. “I feel like for the most part I made some pitches, and then whenever I did leave a ball over the plate, especially with two strikes, they capitalized.”
Lachance carried his own weight early. The 6-foot-5, 231-pound Canadian from Sherbrooke, Que. — known as “Big Maple” — hit all 18 of his homers in the last 32 games, including six in the last eight. After delivering the first two blows, he framed it as one part of a bigger rhythm.
“I’m just trying to catch barrel at the plate right now and just help the team, just pass the baton,” Lachance said. “That’s a big thing for us.”
Oklahoma’s swing was backed by numbers that have defined the postseason push. The Sooners have hit 45 of their 93 home runs in the last 17 games. They’ve connected 28 times in 11 NCAA Tournament games. and their 10 homers in four CWS games are the most by a team since the event moved to Charles Schwab Field in 2011. In this championship series, Oklahoma is batting .331 and averaging better than eight runs per game in the CWS.
Carolina coach Scott Forbes pointed to how Oklahoma has been taking the aggressive path.
“Their approach is to get an ‘A’ swing off. That’s clear,” Forbes said. “They’re not afraid to strike out.”
For Rager, the turning point came after the opening inning. He had thrown 15 2/3 shutout innings over his previous three outings, and in Saturday’s Game 1 he steadied himself in the second and lasted through the fifth.
“After the first inning, I stopped playing for myself,” Rager said. “I just started playing for the guys around me, for the team. I really had to try to really be a pitcher today because I didn’t have my best stuff.”
Even in a game Carolina wanted to move on from, there was a standout defensive moment. In the third inning. when Walk sent a drive to deep right. Carter French made a play that tested the limits of equipment and focus. As French went back to make the catch. his glove got lodged under the padding running across the top of the fence. The glove was crumpled when the ball landed in it. French held onto it and displayed it to the umpire.
The series now turns to what Oklahoma does next. For the Sooners, a national title is within reach on Sunday. Oklahoma has won baseball national titles in 1951 and 1994 and will go for its third. North Carolina, seeking its first, will try to force a deciding Game 3 on Monday.
Johnson made sure the focus stayed where it belonged — on the opponent waiting in the dugout tomorrow.
“North Carolina’s a really good team,” Johnson said, “and we picked a fight today. They’ll be ready for us tomorrow.”
Forbes summed up the swing in the simplest way possible. “The great thing about baseball when you’re playing in a weekend series is you move on quickly,” he said. “That’s what our team will do. They just beat us today.”
College World Series Oklahoma Sooners North Carolina Tar Heels Deiten Lachance Cord Rager Jason DeCaro Game 1 Omaha