{"id":124120,"date":"2026-06-20T23:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=124120"},"modified":"2026-06-20T23:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T03:09:13","slug":"college-world-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/20\/college-world-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Previewing the College World Series After Game 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
The College World Series Championship series began today. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels are facing off against the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma. It will take place over the next three days in Omaha, Nebraska.<\/span><\/div>\n

UNC\u2019s Road to the College World Series<\/span><\/h2>\n
North Carolina entered the College World Series Championship games with only one loss since regionals, at their home stadium in Chapel Hill. At regionals, they avoided the Regional upset bug<\/a> that bit many of the ranked teams. They went into the championship on a five-game win streak. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Before tonight, their last loss came at the hands of the USC Trojans in Game 1 of the College World Series Super Regionals<\/a>. Headed into the tournament, the Tar Heels finished the regular season with a record of 45-11-1 and were runners-up in the ACC Championship game.<\/span><\/div>\n
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June 20, 2026; Omaha, NE, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels center fielder Owen Hull (8) grounds out against the Oklahoma Sooners during the ninth inning at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Oklahoma\u2019s Path to the College World Series<\/span><\/h2>\n
Oklahoma comes into the College World Series Championship games as the underdog. UNC came in ranked, while the Sooners are not. However, the Sooners have more than held their own so far. They had to escape an Atlanta Regional with No.2 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and then swept Kansas in Super Regionals. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Since reaching Omaha, the Sooners have stayed hot and have continued to do so against steep competition. Oklahoma had to beat the No.3 Georgia Bulldogs twice, and No.7 Alabama to reach the College World Series Championship. After game one, in which Oklahoma handily beat the Tar Heels 9-3, the Sooners are on a nine-game win streak.<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"Oklahoma
Jun 20, 2026; Omaha, NE, USA; Oklahoma Sooners pitcher LJ Mercurius (22) reacts after the win against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Charles Schwab Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Tar Heel Talent<\/span><\/h2>\n
The Tar Heels are considered a deeper team than a star-studded group. Their top draft prospect is shortstop Jake Schaffner<\/a>. Since arriving in Omaha, he is 5-for-15, including three hits in the first game of the College World Series Championship series.<\/span><\/div>\n
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This impact is nothing new for Schaffner, who is batting over .350 on the season. While the left-handed-hitting shortstop may have more gap power than raw power, he has increased his power numbers this season. Teams will have a decision to make on his future on the diamond defensively. He has very good instincts but a fringy arm that could take him off of shortstop. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Schaffner has been red hot through the College World Series and has, more than likely, boosted his draft stock. During regionals, he hit .400 with a couple of doubles. He then went 3-for-11 at Super Regionals with a couple of RBIs in the leadoff spot for the Tar Heels. <\/span><\/div>\n
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In the losing effort in game one vs the Sooners, Schaffner went 3-5 with one run scored. He was the only Tar Heel to record more than one hit. Schaffner can also make an impact on the basepaths due to plus speed and good instincts. This, along with playing a premier position, could see Schaffner climb into the second round of the draft.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Sooner Significance<\/span><\/h2>\n
The Sooners’ top draft prospect at the College World Series is Brendan Brock<\/a>. Brock was also drafted once before in his collegiate career, by the Milwaukee Brewers last season. Since arriving in Omaha, Brock has been a problem. He is 5-for-14 with five runs scored and a homer.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Brock has shown why he could get drafted in July thanks to his ability to mash fastballs. He will need to show the ability to handle breaking balls a bit better if he is going to rise up MLB draft boards<\/a>. He also adds the ability to steal bases. The Sooner catcher has legitimate plus-plus speed and takes full advantage of it. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Brock has been one of Oklahoma\u2019s best hitters during the NCAA tournament. During regionals, he was 9-for-20 with two home runs. This hot streak continued through the Super Regionals, where Brock added four more hits on six at-bats. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Brock will be an interesting case come July. He has performed his best at the highest level of college baseball and has a tool you can\u2019t teach: his speed. The Brewers already tried to take a chance on him last year. The fact that Brock has also seen time at all three outfield positions, including during the College World Series, should only boost his draft stock.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Main Photo Credit: Dylan Widger-Imagn Images<\/div>\n
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The College World Series Championship series began today. The University of North Carolina Tar Heels are facing off against the Sooners of the University of Oklahoma. It will take place over the next three days in Omaha, Nebraska. UNC\u2019s Road to the College World Series North Carolina entered the College World Series Championship games with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5736,"featured_media":124123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,29143,29576,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-mlb-draft","category-ncaa-baseball","category-news"],"modified_by":"Augustus Oswald, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124127,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124120\/revisions\/124127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}