Of course, having your season come to an end is always a tough pill to swallow, regardless of how the final game plays out. For the Oklahoma Sooners, the UNC baseball program was too much to handle overall, as a strong offensive performance was complemented by outstanding pitching from two freshman right-handers.
Following their loss to the UNC baseball program in the Chapel Hill Regional Final, Oklahoma manager Skip Johnson met with the media to discuss his team's season-ending defeat. Johnson had quite the high praise for the UNC baseball program, sending a message to Tar Heel faithful about the team that Scott Forbes put together:
"You guys have a team here that can win the national championship, I can tell you that. They're good. They're really good. They can run, they can do a lot of things. You guys should be proud of that."
Sure, the national rankings are telling of just how good the 2025 Tar Heels are, but to hear it from an opposing manager tends to mean a lot more. In theory, this is a very experienced coach who has been around college baseball for quite some time: for him to go out of his way to talk about how good this team is shows how special of a group they currently have on campus in Chapel Hill.
Johnson and the Sooners deserve a lot of respect as well. Oklahoma certainly put the pressure on North Carolina by forcing a winner-take-all game in the Chapel Hill Regional, something that is a difficult task for a team who had to play for their lives in the elimination bracket (while also having to beat the host team not only once, but twice). It's safe to say that the Chapel Hill Regional featured the best two teams in the bracket in the finals, a series that North Carolina was fortunate enough to secure.
Skip Johnson believes the UNC baseball program can win a national championship this year. Based on the turnout this weekend at the Bosh (along with the influx of social media support), the Tar Heel fan base definitely agrees with the Sooners' skipper.