Oklahoma to get another shot at North Carolina ace in Game 1 of CWS Finals
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Oklahoma doesn’t play in the same conference as fellow college baseball powerhouse North Carolina, but the Sooners of the SEC and the Tar Heels of the ACC have crossed paths fairly recently as they get ready for their College World Series Finals series that starts on Saturday night.
And that fairly recent meeting at the Chapel Hill Regional during the 2025 NCAA Tournament featured UNC ace Jason DeCaro going up against Oklahoma. As fate would have it, the Sooners and Tar Heels have found each other in the 2026 tournament, as the last 2 teams standing, and DeCaro will be the one on the mound in Omaha for Game 1 that’ll start at about 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
DeCaro had pretty good success against OU in that 2025 tournament game, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits while striking out 8 in 6 innings in an 11-5 victory. He earned the win that day, but on Saturday night he’ll be facing a whole different animal in the powerhouse team from Norman.
This Oklahoma edition that’s just 2 victories from a national title carries an 8-game winning streak into this weekend’s championship series. The Sooners have smacked 26 home runs in 10 NCAA Tournament games, and these Sooners feature 2 standout players in senior outfielder Trey Gambill and junior infielder Jaxon Willits who got to face DeCaro in last season’s regional game.
Gambill and Willits went a combined 4 for 10 with 2 RBIs in that 2025 regional showdown, with obviously some of those at-bats coming against DeCaro, who carries an 11-2 record and a 2.31 ERA into Saturday night’s Game 1.
Who will Oklahoma send out to oppose DeCaro? That is projected to be fellow ace Cord Rager, a left-handed freshman who has made quite a name for himself in the tournament this spring. Rager hasn’t allowed a run in 13 innings, so the Rager-DeCaro matchup on the mound has the potential to be a memorable one.
Oklahoma and North Carolina will soon begin their final battle to be the last team standing in Omaha, and here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the odds for both teams to be the one holding the big trophy at the end:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
