I was today days old when I realized the North Carolina Tar Heels are one game away from the first baseball national championship in school history — and that game is tonight, Monday June 22, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN from Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
Personal note: I’m an NC State alum, which means UNC is the enemy by birthright. I want the Wolfpack to win everything, always — except tonight. Tonight I want UNC to win this. Thirteen trips to Omaha, never a title. Let them have it.
Where the series stands:
The College World Series Championship is a best-of-3. Oklahoma won Game 1 on Saturday, 9–3. UNC bounced back Sunday with a 6–2 victory to force tonight’s deciding game. Caden Glauber pitched 5.0 shutout innings in Game 2, allowing just one hit and striking out eight. UNC is 29–0 this season in games he pitches. The Tar Heels have now won 11 consecutive games following a loss — the longest such streak in the country, per goheels.com.
How they got to Omaha:
UNC earned a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament and came close to an early exit. They dropped the Super-Regional opener to USC (Southern California) at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill before rallying to win Games 2 and 3. Owen Hull’s walk-off RBI double in the ninth inning of Game 3 sent the Tar Heels to Omaha for the 13th time in program history. It was also head coach Scott Forbes’s 250th career win.
In Omaha the Tar Heels went 3–0 through the opening bracket:
- June 12: UNC 6, Ole Miss 2 (Colin Hynek hit a 3-run homer in the eighth to break it open)
- June 14: UNC 5, West Virginia 2 (Glauber came on in relief to close it out)
- June 17: UNC 12, West Virginia 7 (Owen Hull went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a triple; Glauber struck out three in the final 2.1 innings to slam the door)
The 12–7 semifinal win over West Virginia advanced UNC to the championship series for the third time in school history.
The ‘never won’ angle:
UNC has made 13 trips to the College World Series. They have won the national championship zero times. The closest they came was back-to-back: runner-up in 2006 and again in 2007, losing the championship series both years. This is the first time since 2007 — 19 years — that UNC has been back in this final. The 2026 squad is the ninth different Tar Heel team to reach Omaha since 2006, tying the most appearances nationally over that span, per goheels.com. Every previous trip ended without a title. Tonight ends the run or ends the drought.
Who to watch:
Caden Glauber is the story of this tournament. The freshman right-hander is 12–0 on the season and UNC is 29–0 when he takes the mound. In Game 2 on Sunday he entered in the fifth inning and shut Oklahoma out while striking out eight of the 15 batters he faced. He is 2–0 with a save in the College World Series. Oklahoma had a nine-game winning streak snapped when UNC beat them Sunday, and Glauber was the difference.
Owen Hull has been the offensive engine. His walk-off double ended the super-regional. He went 4-for-5 with a home run and two doubles in the 12–7 semifinal win. Erik Paulsen went 3-for-5 in Game 2. Jake Schaffner hit the two-run triple that tied Sunday’s game at 2–2 in the third inning, and Cooper Nicholson added a solo homer to cap the scoring.
Head coach Scott Forbes is in his second NCAA Championship Series. His message after Sunday’s win: “This is why you work so hard — to play in a night game, national championship game. It’s an honor and a privilege to be in that moment.”
The local angle:
The super-regional was played at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill, where UNC hosted USC in front of a sold-out home crowd before punching the ticket to Omaha. Chapel Hill is watching tonight. UNC Athletics has been running fan events at Boshamer and in Omaha all week. With the Hurricanes having won the Stanley Cup two days ago (Discovery #071), North Carolina is currently in the middle of a two-sport championship convergence that does not happen often anywhere.
Hype video for tonight’s Game 3 — made by our editor, who would never admit out loud he made it.
How to watch:
Game 3 of the College World Series Championship Series is tonight, Monday, June 22, at 7 p.m. ET, from Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. Broadcast on ESPN. Also available via the ESPN app with a cable login or streaming package (ESPN is included in Disney Bundle, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Sling Orange, and FuboTV). Live stats are available at ncaa.com.
Two games in and it’s 1–1. UNC has Glauber waiting in the bullpen. Oklahoma has won nine straight going back to before UNC snapped it Sunday. Both teams have been here before. Tonight, one of them closes it out. For the Tar Heels, closing it out would mean the first baseball national championship in 135 years of UNC baseball.