OMAHA, Neb. — OU did the unthinkable at the College World Series on Monday: it claimed its first national title in a major men’s sport — football, basketball and baseball — in 25 years with a team that entered the postseason unranked.
Few, if any, expected it, but the Sooners (43-23) won the 2026 College World Series 13-2 over No. 5 overall seed North Carolina (54-14-1) and are the first in program history to leave Omaha as national champions since 1994. OU baseball has made history in 2026, a line that could have been written after the Sooners won regionals for the first time since 2022 but holds more value after Monday because, as they said all postseason, ‘Yesterday is dead.’
“It's a powerful thing when you might not have the most talented team in the world,” head coach Skip Johnson said, “but you have the most competitive team in the world, good teammates with the right attitude.
“You can go a long way.”
OU baseball wins College World Series championship
Selfless is another word the Sooners repeated throughout the postseason. Johnson took pride in how his players saw no one person as greater than the team and were happy to see each other shine in different moments.
“They're really selfless, and it was amazing how they came together, started caring a lot about each other,” Johnson said. “A lot of times, we, as coaches, sit there and talk about, ‘Hey, you don't know who's going to get the biggest hit; you (don’t) know who's going to make the biggest play for the last pitch of the game,’ or whatever. But it's just about being selfless. … They didn't want to give in, and that was what was incredible.”
The pass-the-baton mentality was on full display in the College World Series finale. Junior infielder Jaxon Willits hit a two-run single to take the Sooners to a 6-1 lead in the fourth inning. Senior infielder Dayton Tockey followed with a solo homer in the fifth. Then it was sophomore infielder Kyle Branch’s turn, who hit a two-run single in the sixth. The Tar Heels tried to punch back with a run to make it 9-2 in the seventh inning, but Branch delivered the knockout punch with a three-run homer in the eighth.
“He shined on the biggest stage in the world,” Tockey said of Branch. “I’m so happy for him.”
Branch had only three home runs on the season before he blasted the three-run bomb that served as an exclamation mark on the win. He may have been an unlikely hero, but his performance in the national title game is a testament to his work ethic, according to Johnson.
“He's an unbelievable kid,” Johnson said. “He works extremely hard. And he scuffled a little bit this year, but guys with the right attitude come up in the best moments of the game.”
Sooners' senior infielder Dayton Tockey praises sophomore infielder Kyle Branch's performance in the College World Series winner-takes-all finale.
Willits also came through in his best form when the Sooners needed him most. The 2026 College World Series most outstanding player batted in two runs for the Sooners and recorded three hits in the finale. He also recorded a combined three hits in Game 1 and 2 of the finals to help him set a new OU record with 13 hits in the men’s College World Series. He finished the College World Series batting .500 (13 of 26) with seven runs batted in and six runs scored.
And Willits did it all with his father, Reggie, an OU assistant coach, right by his side — including playing one finals game on Father’s Day.
“I can’t even put it into words, but to have him in my corner and have all the coaches and everybody behind us, it’s great,” Willits said to D1 Baseball.
Tockey, Branch and Willits guided the Sooners to a dominant showing at the plate. Junior catcher Deiten Lachance was also instrumental in the Sooners’ offense en route to winning a national title, despite not registering a hit in the finale. He blasted two homers in the Sooners’ Game 1 win, taking his season total to 18 even though he did not register a single one before April.
But he was just passing the baton.
“I'm just trying to catch the barrel to play right now and just help the team just pass the baton,” Lachance said after Game 1. “That's a big thing for us.”
And the Sooners played with selflessness on the mound too. Switching between freshmen Cord Rager, Xander Mercurius and Nick Wesloski in starting spots, they became the second team (Texas Tech, 2016) since 1999 to start three freshman pitchers in Omaha. And when they were not sharp, it was because they lost the team’s core attitude.
Rager struggled at the start of Game 1 of the finals, giving up three runs in the first inning, but went on to not allow the Tar Heels to score for the remainder of the game, while he struck them out five times.
“After the first inning, I just stopped playing for myself,” Rager said after Game 1. “I just started playing for the guys around me.”
The Sooners won a national championship behind resiliency and care for one another despite being unseeded going into the NCAA Tournament, falling out of the Southeastern Conference Tournament in one game and having lost their last four regular season series.
They won the school’s first major men’s sport title with the same score of the last one; OU football defeated Florida State 13-2 in the 2001 Orange Bowl. It may sound poetic, but it is reality.
And it is a reality Willits will never lose touch of, he said with a national champion towel comforting his shoulder while at the podium.
“It’s something I'll never forget for the rest of my life,” Willits said, “and I'm (going to) look back on the last couple weeks and just remember those memories forever.”
This story was edited by Josh Franklin.
