Diamond Heels Ready For Third Trip To MCWS Finals

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Diamond Heels have claimed their spot in the 2026 Men's College World Series Championship Series after sweeping through their half of the bracket with three decisive wins.

It is the third time in program history UNC has made the MCWS Final alongside the 2006 and 2007 teams, who both fell short in losses to Oregon State. Carolina is 3-0 in Omaha for just the second time (2006) and is 1-1 in their previous opening games of the champ series. In '06 it was a tight 4-3 win over the Beavers whereas '07 saw n 11-4 defeat.

UNC is looking to become 32nd different program to win a D1 baseball national championship. Since 1977, every four-year student enrolled at North Carolina has been on campus for at least one national title. With a win, this would be the 64th UNC team championship from the 10th different program.

SCHEDULE
Game 1: Saturday, June 20 – 3 PM ET - ESPN – Live Stats
Team Sendoff: 12PM ET - Hilton Omaha
Game 2: Sunday, June 21 – 2:30 PM ET - ABC – Live Stats
Game 3 (if necessary): Monday, June 22 - 7 PM ET - ESPN - Live Stats

No. 5 North Carolina Tar Heels (53-12-1)(22-8 ACC)
Head Coach: Scott Forbes
Record at UNC: 253-116-1
Record vs. OU: 2-1

Oklahoma Sooners (41-22)(14-16 SEC)
Head Coach: Skip Johnson
Record at OU: 309-197
Record vs. UNC: 1-2

PROJECTED STARTERS
Saturday: RHP Jason DeCaro vs. LHP Cord Rager

SERIES HISTORY
All-Time: OU 3-2
Current Streak: W1
Chapel Hill: 2-1
Away: 0-2
Neutral Site: 0-0
First Meeting: June 5, 2010

OMAHA: WHERE THE HEELS PLAY
➤ UNC is tied for the most MCWS berths since 2006 with nine, square with only Florida in that span. The tie in third is between four teams at seven appearances.
➤ It is a second trip in three years for head coach Scott Forbes, who is the first coach in the program's history to earn a MCWS berth twice in his first six seasons. In total, the Heels have gone nine times with him on staff.
➤ A testament to both the parity of college baseball and the consistency of this program, Carolina is the only
team to have made it to Omaha twice in the last three years. And it was one win away from going in 2025.
➤ All-time the Heels hold a 22-25 record in Omaha and are 5-5 against members of the Southeastern Conference in their 13 MCWS appearances.
➤ The Heels are led by four veterans who played in the 2024 trip to the CWS in Gavin Gallaher, Jason DeCaro, Matthew Matthijs, and Cam Padgett. Five more were on the roster, but did not take the field.

OMAHA RECAP: HOW UNC GOT TO THE FINAL
RAN OFF THE REBELS
W, 6-2 | W: Caden Glauber (11-0), L: Hudson Calhoun (5-4) | Tyler Howe: 2 H, 2 R, 1 2B
➤ Colin Hynek hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead North Carolina to a 6-2 win over Ole Miss in the team's opening game of the 2026 Men's College World Series.
➤ The Rebels led, 1-0, before UNC tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth through an Owen Hull solo shot.
➤ The Heels poured in five more in the seventh and eighth, with three coming on Hynek's homer to earn the come-from-behind win.
➤ Jason DeCaro started on the mound and allowed five hits and two earned runs in 6.2 innings for Carolina, striking out nine to tie his career high before leaving the game in the top of the seventh.
➤ Caden Glauber pitched the final 2.1 innings, blanking the Rebels while fanning two to pick up the win, improving to 11-0 in his rookie campaign.

HANDLED RED-HOT WEST VIRGINIA
W, 5-2 | W: Walker McDuffie (9-3), L: Maxx Yehl (9-3), SV: Caden Glauber (5) | Gavin Gallaher: 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 3B
➤ Carolina scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to break open a pitcher's duel and top #16 seed West Virginia, 5-2.
➤ The Tar Heels manufactured two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a quick, 2-0 lead. WVU tied it with single runs in the third and fourth, then the game was a scoreless pitcher's duel until UNC took the lead in the bottom of the seventh by scoring three, taking advantage of two Mountaineer errors.
➤ Gavin Gallaher's two-run triple was the key blow and provided the game-winning RBI for the second straight game.
➤ Walker McDuffie pitched 3.2 scoreless, hitless innings and picked up the win for Carolina, striking out four.
➤ Caden Glauber pitched the final 0.2 frames to pick up his fifth save of the season, blowing away both batters he faced with strikeouts.

SURMOUNTED THE MOUNTAINEERS
W, 12-7 | W: Jackson Rose (5-0), L: Chansen Cole (10-2) | Owen Hull: 4 H, 3 R, 2 RBI, 3 XBH, Gavin Gallaher: 4 H, 4 RBI, 2 R
➤ The Diamond Heels exploded for 12 runs, jumping out to a 12-1 lead and holding off 16th-seeded West Virginia, 12-7, to advance to the championship series of the College World Series.
➤ With the victory, their fifth in a row, UNC advanced to the MCWS champ series for the third time and the first time in 19 seasons, joining the 2006 and 2007 squads. They improved to 3-0 in games to send themselves to the championship finals.
➤ Owen Hull went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles, a triple and two RBI to set the tone while Gavin Gallaher also went 4-for-5 and became the second Tar Heel with four hits and four RBI in a CWS game, joining Tim Federowicz (2006).
➤ Erik Paulsen added three hits, while Jake Schaffner went 1-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored in the leadoff spot.
➤ Jackson Rose was masterful in relief in picking up his fifth win, throwing 4.1 scoreless frames with a pair of strikeouts.
➤ Caden Glauber pitched for his third straight game, ending a WVU run and finishing the game with 2.1 IP and 3 K.

BACK SO SOON(ER)?
➤ The Heels face a familiar postseason foe in the MCWS Champ Series in Oklahoma, a team they hosted in the 2025 Chapel Hill Regional last year.
➤ Forbes' unit took two of three against the No. 2 seed Sooners to advance to the Super Regional round.
➤ UNC won the first contest 11-5 in Saturday winner's bracket game to move on to the regional final. Sam Angelo was the offensive star with a pair of home runs as Jason DeCaro out dueled eventual top-10 pick Kyson Witherspoon with eight Ks in 6.0 IP.
➤ Oklahoma won 9-5 on Sunday to force the if necessary game three where Carolina came back with a dominant 14-4 outing to win it.
➤ Gavin Gallaher, who was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player, finished off his red-hot weekend with four hits, four runs, and four RBIs featuring a pair of home runs that put the final nail in the coffin.
➤ In the three games against OU, he was 11-16 (.688) with three doubles, six runs scored, and nine RBIs.
➤ True freshmen on the mound shutdown the OU offense. Ryan Lynch got his second career start and went 5.0 with six strikeouts before Walker McDuffie came in for the final 4.0 and recorded seven punchouts.

THAT DUDE DECARO
➤ Carolina's superstar junior has carried the weight of high expectations since the then 17-year-old made his first start in the first midweek of 2024 before moving into the weekend rotation by week three. Eventually elevating himself to be the Friday guy.
➤ Named Freshman All-America with a 3.81 ERA and a 6-1 record as he helped the team to Omaha. He got the start for UNC's College World Series opener against Virginia, striking out six and giving up just one run as the Heels took a 3-2 victory.
➤ He was just as dominant in 2025, earning second team All-ACC honors for the second straight year.
➤ The Northport, N.Y. native really turned it on down the stretch. He was sensational, going 6.0 IP with just one run allowed, in an 11-1 run-rule win at No. 2 Florida State. Then, two weeks later, he would out duel eventual top-10 pick Kyson Witherspoon to lead Carolina to a pivotal 11-5 win over Oklahoma in the regional.
➤ To start 2026, he became just the sixth Tar Heel to start back-to-back Opening Day games since 1999.
➤ In week two against ECU, he tossed a complete game, eight-inning shutout with seven strikeouts while only allowing five hits and one walk. Only two ECU runners even managed to reach third.
➤ It was the team's first eight-inning complete game win since Kent Emmanuel against Miami in 2013 and only the second time over the last 12 seasons a Carolina pitcher has thrown eight or more shutout innings on the road (Austin Bergner, 2019).
➤ DeCaro set a new career high in strikeouts when he took out nine on the road at No. 23 Notre Dame earlier this season.
➤ In the home game against Duke, he recorded his 200th career strikeout. He is the first Tar Heel to surpass that milestone since Austin Bergner in 2019.
➤ Continually performing on the biggest stages, he threw 6.2 commanding innings in the Heels' 2026 College World Series opener. He tied his career high with nine strikeouts, the second most by a Tar Heel in a MCWS game all-time.
➤ He is just the second Carolina pitcher to start two Omaha openers, joining Alex White in '08 and '09.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sam Angelo

Jason DeCaro

Gavin Gallaher

Caden Glauber

Tyler Howe

Owen Hull

Colin Hynek

Ryan Lynch

Matthew Matthijs

Walker McDuffie

Erik Paulsen

Jackson Rose

Jake Schaffner

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics