Lucas: A Series

By Adam Lucas

OMAHA—Hot doesn't exist.

That's what the scientists will tell you. They will say that there's no such thing as any sports team getting hot, that hitting isn't contagious and base hits don't cause more base hits.

Those scientists have not seen the 2026 Oklahoma baseball team.

Oklahoma pounded out 14 hits on Saturday afternoon and defeated Carolina 9-3 in the first game of the CWS championship series. The Sooners have now had 35 offensive innings in Omaha and have been retired 1-2-3 only six times. Carolina was unable to retire the side in order a single time on Saturday, which explains why it felt like there were almost as many Sooners on the bases as there were shouting, "Boomer!" in the concourse.

No one typifies that relentless big swinging approach more than Deiten LaChance. The Canadian had zero home runs in his first 107 at bats of the season. After popping two out of Charles Schwab Field in his first two at bats today, he had 18 home runs in his next 129 at bats.

That's more than just hot. That's making some fundamental changes that have led to dramatic results.

There will be those who want the Tar Heels to make similarly drastic adjustments before Sunday's game at 2:30 Eastern. But you don't get to 53-13-1—53 wins!—by panicking.

Each of these teams has now played four games in Omaha. Baseball can change quickly, but based on what we've seen so far, Carolina is probably not going to defeat Oklahoma in a home run derby. There were still two very specific ways the Tar Heels could have changed Saturday's outcome.

First, they needed a bigger number in the first inning. The Heels had a very promising inning brewing when they got hits from the first four batters in the order, as Jake Schaffner singled, Owen Hull doubled, Gavin Gallaher singled home a pair, and Erik Paulsen doubled.

That's runners on second and third with nobody out, and Oklahoma pitcher Cord Rager was reeling. But when the Heels managed just one more run—on a Tyler Howe sacrifice fly—the game had markedly changed.

Getting into the OU bullpen in the very first inning of the very first game would have changed not just today, but potentially tomorrow also. Instead, Rager managed to find a rhythm. After getting four hits in the first four batters, Carolina managed just three hits in the final 35 plate appearances of the game.

Those offensive struggles meant there was very little room for error on the mound. Starter Jason DeCaro and the UNC pitchers probably would have liked to execute a little more crisply on a couple key sequences.

On the way to building a 7-3 lead in the fourth inning, Oklahoma had five hits with two strikes, including an important sequence in the fourth when Brendan Brock worked a walk after being down 1-2, Dasan Harris ripped a double after being down 0-2, Kyle Branch hit a two-run single after being down 1-2, and Jason Walk hit a 2-2 RBI single that chased DeCaro from the game.

The inning also included a pair of stolen bases and a rare UNC error. In other words, it was an extremely uncharacteristic inning. Scott Forbes eventually had to make a mound visit just to remind everyone to relax. It was a frustrating beginning. If the Heels had hit, pitched and fielded all year the way they did in the early innings, they would have been watching this game on television.

But that early performance was not indicative of this team, and Forbes' visit seemed to settle his squad. The Heels looked much more like themselves over the balance of the game, at least in the field and on the mound. But in postseason baseball, one inning is often enough to determine the outcome.

In some other sports, that type of breakdown would be enough to end a season. But baseball is a sport of series, an area where Carolina has been very good this year. Players and coaches tend to handle one bad outcome much better than fans do. They're well aware of the degree of difficulty involved, and that the other team in a national championship series is allowed to be good also. That's why they take three games to decide this thing. It's not which team is better today. It's which team is better over an entire series.

Once the first pitch is thrown on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Eastern, nothing from Saturday carries over. Carolina has to hope we've only seen a third of the innings of this series, and that some storylines that seem insignificant now--could Tom Chmielewski's solid relief outing have been a bullpen saver and a scouting report booster?--become more important over the next 48 hours. The Heels can't win two games on Sunday. But they can win one—must win one—and then see what happens in a decisive third game. There's very recent history to suggest that it's doable.

"It's a weekend series," Forbes said after the game. "We were in a tough spot against a really good Southern Cal team and we found a way."

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Tom Chmielewski

Jason DeCaro

Gavin Gallaher

Tyler Howe

Owen Hull

Erik Paulsen

Jake Schaffner

Related Videos