The Oklahoma Sooners' magical run has reached the finish line of the Men's College World Series final, and although you could argue Skip Johnson's team is lucky, nobody can say they had it easy. And that makes these Sooners more ready than anyone to compete for a national title.
The Sooners are the hottest team in college baseball on an eight-game winning streak that includes two victories apiece over the conference champions out of the ACC, Big 12 and SEC. And of course to win it all, Oklahoma will have to take down No. 5 national seed North Carolina, which Vegas has deemed the national title favorite since the MCWS started last week.
Oklahoma is battle-tested going into CWS final vs. North Carolina
Before the Sooners dominated through the NCAA Baseball Championship, they were the ones beat down by an SEC gauntlet. The best conference in college baseball, which produced five of eight MCWS teams, got the best of OU as it lost its final four SEC series and was bounced in the first round of the SEC Tournament as the 11-seed. However, it was as if finally escaping SEC play gave the Sooners a chance to catch their breath, and after that, the battle-tested team wasn't scared of anyone after already facing its nightmares.
ACC champion and No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech got the best of the Sooners once in the Atlanta Regional, but then they mounted a pair of comebacks and used Dayton Tockey's walk-off home run to take down their first giant. Then against the best from their old conference in the Lawrence Super Regional, the Sooners made easy work of Big 12 champion Kansas in a sweep to get to Omaha.
The Sooners were then plopped in an all-SEC bracket at the MCWS, but by then, they had caught fire and couldn't be extinguished. They got revenge over No. 7 Alabama with a 9-0 beatdown in their first MCWS game. The Crimson Tide took two of three from OU in a conference series during the regular season.
Read more: Oklahoma couldn't be set up any prettier to finish CWS with a national title
No. 3 Georgia hammering Texas, which swept OU during the regular season, set up a matchup for the Sooners against the champion from their own conference and the only team in college baseball with a longer winning streak after the Bulldogs got through the SEC Tournament, and to that point, the NCAA Tournament unscathed. But it was Oklahoma that looked like the best team out of the SEC in a 4-3 win, then proved it really is, at least right now, with another 11-4 beating of the Bulldogs on Wednesday to get to the finals.
To be the best, you gotta beat the best. And the Sooners certainly have with just one more favorite to take down.
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