North Carolina kept its championship hopes alive with a 6-2 win over Oklahoma in Game 2 of the College World Series final on Sunday, forcing a decisive Game 3 on Monday night. The Tar Heels got dominant pitching from starter Caden Glauber and key production throughout the lineup to even the best-of-three series.
Glauber delivered five shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out eight to quiet the Sooners’ bats. At the plate, first baseman Erik Paulsen went 3-for-5, while third baseman Cooper Nicholson provided a pivotal two-run home run in the seventh inning to extend North Carolina’s lead.
The winner-take-all Game 3 is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. After Sunday’s win, head coach Scott Forbes, along with Glauber, Nicholson and Paulsen, met with reporters to discuss the performance and look ahead to the championship showdown.
Here’s what Nicholson had to say.
Cooper, could you walk us through the home run there? Did you think it was out? What the pitch was, what you were looking for and the swing?
Coach Forbes gave me the light on 3-0. And I swung at a bad pitch. I should not have swung at that. I was just sticking through the at-bat, looking for something over the play. Got a breaking ball and swung at it.
Cooper, some of the guys are saying there wasn’t any panic in the dugout after Oklahoma went ahead 2-0. Where does that resilience and mental toughness come from with this group?
I think we’re a tough group offensively. We put together some gritty at-bats, as you saw. We got on base a ton. French, he went, I think, 0-for-0 with four walks. That’s just showing what our offense is like.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Baseball: Cooper Nicholson after UNC win over Oklahoma
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