Lachance homers twice as Oklahoma moves a win away from College World Series

Deitien Lachance (Sherbooke, Que.) went deep twice as Oklahoma inched a game away from the College Wold Series in Omaha.

By John Rohde

OMAHA, Neb. – Using a familiar recipe of superb pitching with some heavy-handed hitting, Oklahoma (42-22) is now one victory away from the program’s third national title thanks to a 9-3 win against No. 5 North Carolina (53-13-1) in game one of the best-of-three championship series at the College World Series on Saturday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field.

A sellout crowd of 24,707 watched the Sooners stretch their season-long winning streak to nine games while collecting 14 hits against a heralded Tar Heels staff.

Sooners junior catcher Deiten Lachance blasted two home runs, giving him 18 in the last 32, accounting for his entire total for the 2026 season.

Afterward, OU coach Skip Johnson said Lachance (Sherbrooke, Que.) has been “hitting balls as hard as anybody I’ve seen hit them in a long time.”

Lachance (3-for-5, 3 RBIs) and junior centre fielder Dasan Harris (3-for-4) led the attack at the plate, while junior third baseman Camden Johnson (2-for-4), junior Jason Walk (2-for-5, 2 RBI) and junior shortstop Jaxon Willits (2-for-5) added two hits each. Sophomore second baseman Kyle Branch (1-for-3) added a double for two RBIs.

OU has hit 28 home runs in 11 NCAA Tournament games. Harris has reached base in 21 straight games and Willits now has nine hits in four CWS games, tying Rick Gutierrez’ record for an OU player at the series that was set during the Sooners’ last national title season of 1994.

On the mound, OU freshman lefthanded starter Cord Rager (7-3) overcame a tough first inning, settling in and earning the victory before being relieved with a 7-3 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

Junior lefty Gavyn Jones came on in relief and allowed two hits and struck out four in 2.1 scoreless innings while making his first CWS appearance.

After Camden Johnson singled to right with one out in the top of the first, Lachance drilled an 84-mph changeup 402 feet over the wall in right-center to give OU a 2-0 lead.

The Tar Heels took a 3-2 lead in the bottom half of the inning, putting up four straight hits and sending eight batters to the plate. Rager would close out throwing four scoreless innings with five strikeouts and two walks on a season-high 100 pitches.

“What the game will tell you to do is back away,” Johnson said. “(It will) make you feel sorry for yourself at times, get away from throwing the ball to the target at times. Just got to stay with your routines. That’s what I kept explaining to him (Rager). Use visualization to help you get through your innings. … That’s a sign of a really good pitcher. That’s the sign of somebody that’s got a lot of grit, a lot of guts. That helped us a ton.”

On the opening pitch of the third inning, Walk ripped a 107.1-mph line drive that was snared at the top of the right-field fence, one foot shy of becoming his third home run in the last two games and fourth in 11 NCAA Tournament games.

Two batters later, on an 0-2 count with two outs, Lachance tomahawked a high-and-tight, 94-mph fastball over the left-field wall to tie the score at 3-3.

Pitchers of Record

Win: Cord Rager (7-3)

Loss: Jason DeCaro (11-3)

Statistical Snapshot

Deiten Lachance | 3-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Dasan Harris | 3-for-4, 2 2B

Jason Walk | 2-for-5, 2 RBI

Camden Johnson | 2-for-4, BB, RBI

Jaxon Willits | 2-for-5, 2B

Cord Rager | 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Gavyn Jones | 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K

LJ Mercurius | 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K

Notes

Oklahoma is making its fourth appearance in the College World Series finals and second in the era of three-game series. OU is now 3-2 in CWS finals. The Sooners won single games in 1951 (3-2 over Tennessee) and 1994 (13-5 over Georgia Tech) and lost both games of the 2022 finals (10-3 and 4-2 to Ole Miss).

OU won its ninth game in a row and moved to 42-22 on the year.

During its nine-game winning streak, OU has won eight games against top-20 teams and six against top-10 teams.

Junior Deiten Lachance registered his second multi-home run game of the season. His other was against Tennessee on May 16 (three home runs).

Six Sooners have games this season with multiple home runs (Lachance has two, Dasan Harris has two, Jason Walk has one, Camden Johnson has one, Brendan Brock has one and Drew Dickerson has one).

Lachance, Walk and Harris each have multiple home run games in the College World Series, all in the last two games (Walk and Harris on June 17 vs. Georgia and Lachance today).

Lachance is the fifth player to hit two home runs in a CWS Finals game, joining Florida’s Ty Evans and Jac Caglianone (2023), Texas’ Russell Modlenhauer (2009) and Fresno State’s Steve Detwiler (2008).

Lachance leads the team with his 18 home runs and 68 RBI this season. All 18 of his home runs have come in the last 32 games since April 9, and 14 have come in 20 games since May 2. He has hit six home runs in 11 NCAA Tournament games and three in the CWS.

Lachance and right fielder Dasan Harris lead the Sooners with 17 RBIs in the NCAA Tournament.