UNC baseball blasts Oklahoma in regional final, will host Arizona in next round
North Carolina third baseman Gavin Gallaher showed out again Monday afternoon, hitting a pair of home runs on the biggest stage for the Tar Heels to ice an NCAA Tournament regional victory.
Gallaher launched home runs in the eighth and ninth innings to put the deciding game of the Chapel Hill region to rest as UNC beat Oklahoma, 14-4, to avoid elimination and advance to its third Super Regional appearance in four seasons. The Tar Heels lost back-to-back games once in 2025, but have not fallen in consecutive contests at Boshamer Stadium this season.
“You guys have a team here that can win the national championship. I can tell you that,” OU coach Skip Johnson said. “They’re good. They’re really good. They can run, they can do a lot of things. You guys should be proud of that.”
After struggling in its previous outing, UNC returned to its typical form with an impressive rebound.
Carolina (45-13) jumped out to a 3-0 lead over OU (38-22) after the top of the first looked more like the Saturday semifinal. Catcher Luke Stevenson and Gallaher started the offensive rally when the duo reached base on a walk and error.
First baseman Hunter Stokely drove in both runners with a double and scored a run of his own on shortstop Alex Madera’s single.
Gallaher added a one-out single in the third and, after his two late home runs, finished the weekend 13-for-18 at the plate, including 4-for-6 on Monday, with 10 RBI, three doubles, one triple, three homers and seven runs scored.
The sophomore entered the game leading the NCAA Tournament field in hits per game (3), No. 2 for batting average (.750) and No. 3 in hits (9). His batting average remains above .700 after the weekend.
Gallaher earned Most Outstanding Player for the regional.
“I’m afraid to talk about Gavin. It’s like a no-hitter,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “I mean, that’s just as good of a performance in a regional that I’ve seen.”
Oklahoma’s 7-8-9 hitters continued their strong regional performance, quickly ending the shutout in the second and cutting into Carolina’s lead. Right fielder Dasan Harris lined a base hit to second base. He entered the regional hitting 7-for-9 on the weekend to lead the NCAA Tournament field with a .778 batting average. Harris also ranked No. 3 in on-base percentage (.818) coming into the final contest of the weekend.
Harris came home on designated hitter Drew Dickerson’s two-run home run.
Carolina extended its lead with a four-spot in the top of the third, and added three more in each the eighth and ninth innings.
Twenty of UNC’s 30 runs in the three games against Oklahoma came with two outs. Monday, the Tar Heels scored nine of their 14 runs with two outs. The 20 runs were more than OU’s total run production in the three games.
UNC’s success didn’t stop at the plate. Its bounceback extended to its pitching and defense, as well.
Righty Ryan Lynch made his second career start for the Tar Heels. His only other start came in the ACC Championship game, when North Carolina defeated Clemson, 14-4, to win the title. Lynch threw one inning on Saturday and did not allow OU to score.
The freshman continued his recent success — UNC is 11-2 since April 1 when Lynch appears — against the Sooners. He finished with five hits, two runs, three walks and six strikeouts after throwing a career-high five innings. Lynch kept the Sooners off balance with a mix of pitch locations and velocities; one strikeout came on an 84 mph change-up in the dirt, and another was on a 94 mph fastball.
Oklahoma’s offense found the most success with the bottom of its lineup. Entering the game, the Sooners’ 7-8-9 hitters were 20-for-44 on the weekend and 11-of-22 in their two games on Sunday. They contributed 12 of the Sooners’ 29 runs on Sunday and Monday.
Lynch retired the trio during the fourth inning. It was the first time in the regional that the three batters went down in order.
“A lot of things I learned from this year helped me with the mindset of never trying to cruise and always just being aggressive,” Lynch said. “I picture the same situation as if I was coming into a jam, or I was only throwing for an inning in a mid-week. … never changing my mindset and trying to continue with the same concepts I’ve been trying to use the whole year.”
When asked if he has a “big game” mentality now, Lynch answered humbly.
“I threw probably most majority of my innings this year [in] midweeks and other games like that, but I think it’s just a pretty big coincidence,” Lynch said. “I’m grateful that I was able to pitch as best I could in these situations.”
Walker McDuffie entered the game in the sixth and quelled Oklahoma’s hot bats, too. The rookie matched his career-high with seven strikeouts and allowed two runs. He also pitched a career-high five innings.
“These two guys, I tell them all the time, ‘You’re no longer freshmen. You’ve pitched in big situations the entire year,’” Forbes said. “I’ve told them both, too, they’re both starters. Just for us to have success this season, we needed them to pitch out of the bullpen and buy into that, and they both obviously did.”
Oklahoma started right-handed pitcher Reid Hensley, but the senior did not last long. He departed the game after 2 1/3 innings, in which he allowed five hits and five runs; two were earned.
Dylan Tate, in just his second appearance of the season, had the best performance of the seven OU pitchers. Tate threw four frames and allowed one run. His five strikeouts were a season high. Unfortunately, the junior did not receive enough help from the batters or bullpen to upset the regional host.
UNC hosts Arizona this weekend in a best two-of-three Super Regional series. The Wildcats upset No. 12 national seed Oregon to reach the next round.
This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 6:39 PM.
