What went wrong for UNC baseball in loss to Oklahoma in College World Series finals Game 1?

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OMAHA, Neb. — UNC baseball‘s fielding has been superb throughout the season as a key factor during the Tar Heels’ run to the 2026 College World Series finals against Oklahoma.

Dasan Harris hit a shallow fly ball to center field and four Tar Heels (53-13-1) started to converge toward the ball to make a play. Jake Schaffner and Gavin Gallaher collided, with Owen Hull and Carter French standing nearby on a play that resulted in a double for the Sooners (42-22).

“I feel like that was old Bermuda triangle right there. The ball just dropped. Everybody is going as hard as they can at it. I think three people called it at the same time. I’m just very thankful that everybody got up from it because it was a pretty good collision, knocked the breath out of Jake,” UNC coach Scott Forbes said.

“I asked them when they came in. It was definitely not nerves with our guys. They were getting after it. I was impressed, honestly, how they jumped on us like that and we came right back. Obviously we gave up that four-run inning, but that was just a tough play to make. And they all caught it at the same time.”

Surprisingly, that play didn’t come back to bite UNC, but Oklahoma pounced in the fourth inning and the Heels couldn’t recover.

Here’s what went wrong for UNC in its loss to Oklahoma in Game 1 of the 2026 College World Series finals.

Deiten LaChance headlined the Sooners’ surging offense with two home runs and three RBIs, but the Sooners scored five of their nine runs with two outs, including each of their four runs that broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth inning.

“In their big inning, they did it all with two outs and, again, they got some big hits,” Forbes said.

Three of Oklahoma’s four hits in the fourth came with two strikes and UNC pitcher Jason DeCaro allowed seven runs on seven hits after not allowing more than three runs in 19 appearances this season.

“Yeah, I think they just really punished the mistakes,” DeCaro said. “I feel like, for the most part, made some pitches, and then whenever I did leave a ball over the place, especially with two strikes, they capitalized. And credit to them for that.”

The Tar Heels scored three runs on four hits in the first inning to take a 3-2 lead, but UNC had just three hits across the final eight innings. Schaffner, UNC’s leadoff hitter, had three of the Tar Heels’ seven hits.

“Credit to their pitchers. They pitched a pretty good game. But, again, I thought we put some good swings on balls,” Schaffner said. “It just didn’t fall, didn’t go our way today. But we’ll be ready to go (Sunday).”

UNC was 4-for-19 with runners on, 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-10 with two outs, unable to string together quality at-bats to maximize scoring opportunities. The three runs were the fewest for UNC since a 7-2 loss to N.C. State in the regular-season finale.

“We weren’t able to get those big hits,” Forbes said.

Right fielder Carter French made a leaping catch at the wall and center fielder Owen Hull made a diving catch, but the Sooners consistently put pressure on the Tar Heels with hard contact throughout the game. In the four-run fourth frame, UNC had its first error of the College World Series, allowed two steals, had a wild pitch and dropped a foul tip that contributed to the crooked-number inning.

Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them to rbaxley@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Takeaways from UNC loss to Oklahoma in College World Series Game 1