OMAHA, Neb. -- The way its regular season unfolded, a national championship for Oklahoma seemed impossible.
The way the postseason unfolded, well, there was no stopping the Sooners.
OU completed the improbable run to its first national championship since 1994 with a 13-2 victory over North Carolina in the winner-take-all Game 3 of the Men's College World Series finals Monday night, a performance that featured the prodigious offensive production and clutch pitching the Sooners rode through the NCAA tournament.
"I think we knew the talent was always in the room," said Jaxon Willits, named the MCWS most outstanding player. "We got hot at the right time, and now we're national champions."
The Sooners (43-23) won the Southeastern Conference's seventh straight title, quite an accomplishment for a team that was picked 14th in the 16-team conference in the preseason, finished 11th and entered the postseason having lost seven of nine games.
To get to Omaha, the Sooners beat No. 2 national seed Georgia Tech twice on the road in regionals and swept upstart Kansas on the road in super regionals. To get to the finals, they beat No. 3 Georgia twice in bracket play.
"They got really confident the last month," OU coach Skip Johnson said. "They care about each other. They didn't want to give in. They were selfless."
North Carolina (54-14-1) was runner-up for the third time since 2006 and now has 13 MCWS appearances without a title. Only Florida State, with 24, has more without winning it all.
The Sooners were back in top form offensively after managing only four singles in a 6-2 loss in Game 2 and handed the Tar Heels their most lopsided loss of the season.
"We ran out of gas when all is said and done," Carolina coach Scott Forbes said.
When Jackson Cleveland struck out Jake Schaffner to end the game, he and catcher Deiten Lachance embraced and then headed to the dogpile that formed near third base. Players waving national championship towels rushed back toward their dugout to salute the celebrating Sooner faithful on the first-base line, football greats Barry Switzer and Brian Bosworth among them.
Kyle Branch, the No. 9 batter who came into the game 1-of-16 (.063) in the MCWS, drove in six runs with a pair of singles and a home run. His homer came on his last at-bat, just as brother Kolby's did for Georgia last Wednesday.
"Pure joy. Pure joy for our team," Kyle Branch said. "I had a teammate tell me I was going to do something special, and for him to tell me that with the way things have been going, it has to be a God thing."
He joined Dayton Tockey as the seventh and eighth OU players to homer in Omaha. Willits had three hits, reached base five times and finished the MCWS 13-for-25 (.520).
The pitching matchup of Carolina's Jackson Rose (5-1) and Oklahoma's Nick Wesloski was the first between freshmen in an MCWS winner-take-all game since 1993. Neither got out of the third inning.
LJ Mercurius (7-7) turned in another strong performance out of the bullpen, shutting down a threat when OU led 3-1 in the third and holding the Tar Heels to one run in 5⅔ innings. He allowed just two runs in 12⅓ over four CWS appearances.
The Tar Heels' pitching staff, which had the best ERA in the Atlantic Coast Conference, had been good and occasionally great in the MCWS. It was neither Monday, with eight pitchers combining to allow 14 hits, issue eight walks, throw three wild pitches and hit a batter.
ACC freshman of the year Caden Glauber, who had given up just one run in 10⅓ innings in four MCWS appearances, was called on for a fifth one day after he threw 65 pitches in five shutout innings. It was apparent that Forbes went to the well one time too many.
Glauber was called for a clock violation before he threw his first pitch. He issued a four-pitch bases-loaded walk, and Willits followed with a two-run single to make it 6-1 in the fourth. That was all for Glauber, who threw seven pitches, five of them balls. The Tar Heels had won all 29 games in which Glauber had pitched before Monday.
"This group loved each other all season and took us on a ride and came up just short," Forbes said. "I'd take that ride every day of the year. While we're sad, the sadness will go away. We talk about joy. Joy doesn't go away. These guys have given me, our coaching staff, our fans, administration, everybody, a ton of joy and a ton to be proud of."