OMAHA, Neb — The Sooners had another good outing from a freshman pitcher Sunday but fell short in a 6-2 loss to No. 5 overall seed North Carolina in Game 2 of the College World Series finals.
Freshman Xander Mercurius had eight strikeouts and threw 92 pitches in four innings of work for OU (42-23). But North Carolina (54-13-1) had its own talented freshman pitcher in Caden Glauber, who ultimately came away with the win to prevent the Sooners from walking out of Sunday with their first College World Series title since 1994.
“(Mercurius) threw four innings and punched out eight, and he walked three. And I thought he was really good starting out,” OU head coach Skip Johnson said.
Mercurius started the game hot; he struck out the side in the first. He went on to strike out six of the Tar Heels’ first seven batters.
The right-hander faced heat in the third, however, with UNC scoring three runs just in that inning. He could have given up more, though, with the Tar Heels having the bases loaded with one out.
Johnson said that Mercurius let his focus slip due to concentrating on his effort too much.
“When you start punching guys out, you start trying to punch guys out, strike them out, that's what I mean by punch, but you start trying to do that,” Johnson said. “When you try in this game, (you) get away from the fabric or the very essence of what baseball's about. The only thing you can control is throwing the ball to the target. You get out of your plan, and you start trying. You try to get back in your plan; it's a struggle.”
Johnson turned to the bullpen after four innings of Mercurius, throwing in another six pitchers on the day. Junior Jason Bodin, redshirt junior Nate Smithburg, junior Mason Bixby, sophomore Jaden Barfield, graduate student Reid Hensley and sophomore Trent Collier combined for seven strikeouts in five innings of work but could not prevent the Tar Heels from adding another two runs.
OU head coach Skip Johnson and shortstop Jaxon Willits on recovering from the #Sooners’ College World Series finals Game 2 loss.
Johnson feels glad that they got College World Series reps out of the bullpen, though.
"It's good they got experience; it's No. 1,” Johnson said. “No. 2, I'm not afraid to throw those guys back out there. … They've got their feet wet.”
Eight strikeouts from a freshman and quality time on the mound for six pitchers out of the bullpen but the story of Game 2 means a loss for the Sooners. After OU had nothing but brilliant showings from freshman pitchers in previous College World Series games, Glauber drove the narrative of the game. The ACC freshman of the year threw eight strikeouts in five innings of work and prevented the Sooners from scoring a single run while he was on the mound.
UNC sophomore pitcher Ryan Lynch — who started Game 2 — exited after two pitches in the bottom of the fifth inning due to injury, entering Glauber, who the Tar Heels are now 29-0 with on the mound, whether starting or in relief.
“He was really attacking, getting ahead early and I feel like when you're ahead a lot, … you have your full arsenal at your disposal,” OU senior outfielder Trey Gambill said, “and he was able to just get guys swinging at his pitches because he was ahead on counts so much.”
Freshman pitcher Nick Wesloski is expected to start on the mound for the Sooners in Game 3, according to Johnson, with the winner-take-all series finale starting at 6 p.m. Monday at Charles Schwab Field on ESPN.
This story was edited by Josh Franklin.
