Oklahoma baseball ends in regional final

Oklahoma baseball season came to a close in the NCAA Chapel Hill regional final as the Sooners fell to the Tar Heels, 14-4.

OU finished the 2025 season with a 38-22 record and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight season and 42nd time in school history. The Sooners won five of 10 series in the program’s inaugural season in the SEC and made an NCAA regional final for the third time in the last four years under head coach Skip Johnson.  

“I thought we had a good year, all year long,” said Johnson. “We fought through some adversity, fought through some injuries, we had three frontline starters, I’m proud of that. A lot of guys grew up, I’m just thankful to have these young men in my life.”

UNC jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the top of the first on Monday, all three runs being unearned. Following a walk and error with two outs, a two-run double from Hunter Stokely and RBI single from Alex Madera pushed the Tar Heels in front early. 

Oklahoma responded in the second off the hot bat of freshman Drew Dickerson. With one out and one on, Dickerson sent his third home run of the weekend over the right field wall. The frosh entered the NCAA tournament with two long balls and hit three on the weekend. 

Carolina pushed its lead to six runs across the third fourth. Madera started the scoring with his second RBI single of the game. A fielder’s choice plated the next run before consecutive run-scoring singles from Sam Angelo and Carter French. A sacrifice fly from Stokely in the fourth ballooned the lead to six runs at 8-2. 

OU right-handed reliever Dylan Tate was impressive in the middle innings, hurling four innings of one-run baseball in just his second appearance of the season. The junior transfer struck out five and surrendered one run on one hit and walked none. 

Sooner center fielder Jason Walk hit a solo shot in the seventh for his ninth home run of the season, pulling the deficit to five. 

Carolina got the run back plus two more in the eighth on a two-run home run from Jackson Van De Brake and solo shot from Gavin Gallaher. 

At the top of the ninth, the Tar Heels pushed three more home on a three-run shot from Gallaher to make it 14-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, on potentially his final at-bat as a Sooner, All-SEC junior Easton Carmichael laced an RBI single to center field to bring the final to 14-4. 

OU used seven arms on the day, paced by Tate’s five strikeouts. Senior starting right-handed pitcher Reid Hensley (L, 4-2) took the loss, surrendering five runs (2 ER) on five hits with one strikeout and one walk. 

OU had six hits on the day from six different Sooners. Dickerson paced OU with two RBIs on his two-run home run in the second. 

Sam Christiansen (1B), Easton Carmichael (C), Trey Gambill (LF), Dasan Harris (RF) and Malachi Witherspoon (P) were named to the all-tournament team. 

Season ticket deposits for 2026 are available now via SoonerSports.com/tickets as the team looks to return over 15 Sooners with starting experience. 

Get more local, state and national news, sports and more with our free daily newsletter. Subscribe and never miss one of our stories.