Dasan Harris smacked two homers and drove in five runs and Oklahoma advanced to the Men’s College World Series championship round with an 11-4 victory over No. 3 Georgia on Wednesday night at Omaha, Neb.
Jason Walk added two solo homers and Trey Gambill had a two-run shot as part of his four-hit, three-RBI game for Oklahoma (41-22), which won national championships in 1951 and 1994 and was a runner-up in 2022.
The Sooners will face No. 5 North Carolina (53-12-1) in the best-of-three championship, which begins Saturday.
Kolby Branch homered and doubled, Daniel Jackson also had two hits and Ryan Black drove in two runs for the Bulldogs (53-14), who lost to the Sooners for the second time in the MCWS.
Brendan Brock had three hits for Oklahoma, which had five homers and three doubles among 15 hits.
Oklahoma’s Nick Wesloski (2-1) gave up three runs (one earned) and four hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.
LJ Mercurius gave up one run and two hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief.
The second homers by Harris and Walk came in the eighth and turned the game into a blowout.
Brock singled to start the eighth and stole second. Harris came up and ripped a two-run blast off Matt Scott to right to give the Sooners an 8-3 lead.
Three batters later, Walk slammed a homer to right against Justin Byrd to make it a six-run margin.
Gambill added a two-run double in the ninth to increase the lead to 11-3.
Branch homered in his final college at-bat in the ninth for Georgia. As he approached second base, his younger brother, Oklahoma second baseman Kyle Branch, congratulated him as the two slapped hands.
Walk homered to center with one out in the third off Paul Farley (8-2) to break the scoreless tie.
The Sooners added three runs in the fourth. Gambill homered to right with one out to make it 2-0. Brock followed with a single and moved to second on a balk before Harris slammed a two-run blast to right-center.
Georgia pushed across a run in the fifth when Kolby Branch doubled with one out and scored on a single by Black.
Oklahoma answered in the sixth when Gambill singled, stole second, moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Harris’ chopper to second to make it 5-1.
Brennan Hudson singled with one out in the Georgia sixth and Ryan Wynn walked with two outs to end Wesloski’s night. Mercurius entered and Jack Arcamone reached on an error to load the bases.
Mercurius then walked Branch and Black to force in two runs as the Bulldogs crept within 5-3. Mercurius then retired Tre Phelps on a grounder to end the inning.
In the seventh, Jaxon Willits hit a run-scoring double to right to give Oklahoma a 6-3 lead.
Farley allowed four runs and six hits over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked none.
–Field Level Media
