Oklahoma beat North Carolina 13-2 on Monday to win the NCAA Division I baseball championship, a turnaround described as remarkable in a column by Rick Cleveland.
Cleveland wrote that the Sooners followed a pedestrian regular season, finishing 14-16 in conference play and tied for 11th in the 16-team Southeastern Conference. He said Oklahoma ranked 136th of 308 Division I teams in batting average, 143rd in runs per game, 94th in homers and 91st in earned run average during the regular season.
The column noted several surprising setbacks, including a March 17 loss at Southeastern Louisiana in which the Southland Conference team used five pitchers to throw a four-hit shutout. Cleveland added that Oklahoma was mercy-ruled five times during the regular season, losing games by scores such as 15-3, 14-0, 14-4, 13-2 and 12-2.
Cleveland compared the Sooners’ run to Ole Miss’ 2022 title and said Oklahoma entered the NCAA tournament with long odds. He wrote that Oklahoma rallied in a regional in Atlanta to beat No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech, won a Super Regional at Kansas and then outscored College World Series opponents by a collective 48-16 to claim the championship.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
