OU Baseball: Oklahoma Takes Down North Carolina, Forces Game 7

Oklahoma found a new pitching hero, went back to an old one — and of course got some magic out of the bats.

The Sooners live to fight another day because they held off No. 5 national seed and host North Carolina 9-5 on Sunday night in their NCAA Tournament rematch at the Chapel Hill Regional.

With his three weekend starters essentially used up in OU’s first three games, Sooners coach Skip Johnson turned to little used freshman Jaden Barfield for the start and handed it over to closer Dylan Crooks for a six-out save.

Meanwhile, OU hitters tormented the North Carolina assembly at UNC’s Boshamer Stadium with nine runs on 11 hits, including five extra-base hits, highlighted by home runs from 7-8-9 hitters Dasan Harris, Drew Dickerson and Dawson Willis.

The Tar Heels fell to 44-13 on the season while Oklahoma improved to 38-21.

Monday, the teams meet again in a winner-take-all rubber match (time TBA). UNC drubbed OU 11-5 on Saturday after jumping to a 6-0 lead in the first inning. Whoever wins will advance to the best-of-3 Super Regional round against the winner of the Eugene Regional, which has come down to a late Sunday night contest between Arizona and Cal Poly.

Monday’s game between OU and UNC will come down to which team has the most pitching available.

Because of Barfield, that could end up being Oklahoma.

Johnson turned to his freshman left hander, who turned in his best outing of the season in just his third start.

Barfield matched his season-long with four innings pitched — he went four innings in his last appearance, a start in the SEC Tournament — and gave up just two hits and one run (a solo home run) among the 17 batters he faced. Barfield looked to be in control when he finished the fourth inning at just 70 pitches (41 strikes), but Johnson declared Barfield’s day was done.

Before his two recent starts, Barfield’s longest outing of the season had been just two innings.

That opened the door for Jamie Hitt, another lefty, who made his 31st relief appearance of the season and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks.

Oklahoma struck first when Dawson Willis mashed a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the third inning. OU put two more runners on behind Willis’ round-tripper, but couldn’t get them home.

North Carolina tied it immediately when Gavin Gallaher led off the fourth with a solo blast.

But OU re-took the lead when Kyle Branch drew a leadoff walk and came home on Easton Carmichael’s ground ball to third that Gallaher couldn’t handle.

The Tar Heels scored twice in the fifth to jump back in front. Kane Kepley’s single preceded Luke Stevenson’s walk, and Gallaher sent a double into the left-center gap that scored both Stevenson and Kepley for a 3-2 lead.

The Sooners got it all back and more in the bottom of the sixth. 

Dasan Harris led off with a single to left, and Drew Dickerson hammered his fourth home run of the season and his second of the tournament — a 417-foot bomb to center field — to put OU back in front 4-3.

After Carmichael reached on an error and Sam Christiansen beat out an infield single, Jaxon Willits came through big-time with a two-run double into the left field corner that extended Oklahoma’s lead to 6-3. 

As he ran to first base, Willits put his finger to his lips to hush the partisan crowd, who had been riding him since the third inning, when he faked reaching for a ground ball while running from first to second. Tar Heel fans poured it on in the fifth inning when Willits made the third out trying to steal second base, giving him a standing ovation as he came off the field.

Trey Gambill walked, and Branch finished the inning with an RBI single to center that scored Willits for a 7-3 lead. Gambill, however, was thrown out at home trying to score from first.

Hitt plunked French with his first pitch of the seventh, and Kepley followed that with a double into the right field corner, ending Hitt’s day and bringing on right hander Jason Bodin. An RBI groundout made it 7-4, and an RBI double by Gallaher cut it to 7-5 before Bodin struck out Hunter Stokely to end the rally.

Harris walked and Dickerson was hit by pitch to start the bottom of the seventh, forcing UNC into a pitching change. Both runners advanced on a passed ball, and Cale Bolton came in and walked Willis to load the bases with nobody out. Bolton then struck out Jason Walk before Carmichael came through again with an RBI single to right field that scored Harris and put the Sooners up 8-5. But the Sooners still left the bases loaded as Sam Christiansen struck out and Willits grounded out to first.

North Carolina’s eighth inning couldn’t have started better. Bodin walked Alex Madera on a full count, and Tyson Bass singled up the middle. That forced Johnson to bring in Crooks with nobody out in the eighth inning.

Crooks walked Sam Angelo on a full count to load the bases, then struck out Carter French, got Kepley to pop up to short left field and quelled the rally when Jackson Van De Brake flied out to right.

Harris added a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 9-5.

Crooks then pitched a perfect ninth to earn his 15th save of the season.