North Carolina forced a winner-take-all Game 3 at the College World Series after taking down Oklahoma 6-2 on Sunday, June 21, after the Sooners took the opening game, 9-3.

Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Hometown/High School: Washington, OK (Washington H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★★ (92 Rivals — No. 123 player overall)
Notable Offers: Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Utah

Not very often Penn State goes into Oklahoma and gets a prospect, let alone one that is a four-star that the Sooners very much wanted. Fortunately for Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions here, the familial relationship paid off, as Case’s brother, Cooper, is a rising redshirt sophomore tight end at Penn State. Doesn’t take a lot of dot connecting to imagine how much that played a part in Case deciding on the Nittany Lions. Still, given the ebbs and flows of the recruiting cycle, not sure you can take any recruitment for granted. So despite the connections Penn State had here, getting a top 10 kid from Oklahoma that the Sooners wanted is a big victory for the new staff in recruiting cycle #1.

Beyond on who his brother is, there’s a reason Case was maybe *the* top linebacker target for Penn State this cycle. This kid is an absolute beast. Tremendous linebacker frame at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds that will allow him to play up to 240 pounds easy, Alexander is what you think of when you imagine the modern day middle linebacker. He has the speed and fluidity to drop back into coverage, but has the physicality and bruteness to win in tight. The first play on his highlight film is his giving a Spinebuster to a poor opponent that rivals that of Arn Anderson’s Spinebuster on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 18.

• Mustang baseball coach Joe Patterson led his team to a Class 6A state championship victory.
• Patterson was named The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year after a 39-6 season.
• The championship win was Patterson’s first after five previous appearances as a player and coach.
• The team’s success followed a significant turnaround from a 19-16 record the previous season.

Joe Patterson was hoping it would be different this time. 

The Mustang baseball coach is no stranger to state championship games.

But as Mustang headed into its Class 6A title matchup against Edmond Santa Fe in May, a state championship victory remained a goal that hadn’t been fulfilled for Patterson as a player or head coach.  

“That was all together — playing and coaching — my (sixth) state championship game, and I was 0-5,” Patterson said.  

Patterson can now revise that record to 1-5 as the Broncos beat defending champion Edmond Santa Fe 5-4 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa. 

An unforgettable day for Patterson. 

An unforgettable season. 

After leading Mustang to its third title and a 39-6 record while playing a brutally difficult schedule, Patterson is The Oklahoman’s 2026 All-State Coach of the Year. 

More: The Oklahoman’s 2026 Big All-City high school baseball roster

“It was one of those years where it felt like I wasn’t working the whole year,” Patterson said. “Just a special group and everybody involved did such an amazing job and the players got along and the senior leadership was just unbelievable.”

A year after going 19-16 and falling at regionals, this season was vastly different for Patterson as Mustang dominated from beginning to end. 

The Broncos won 11 of their first 12 games and ended the season the exact same way, claiming victories in 11 of their last 12 matchups. 

They thrived in tight games, going 12-3 in matchups decided by two or fewer runs. 

“We lost a bunch of close games last year,” Patterson said. “We didn’t have as great a season as we wanted, so we talked about trying to change the team morale and change the culture just a little bit in the fall, and we really focused on that. Just trying to make the place a more positive place for the kids and emphasize them having a little bit more fun but still working.” 

Born and raised in Duncan, Patterson’s love of baseball and sports in general go back to those days. 

His dad, Bill, was Duncan’s head football coach from 1997-2003 before accepting an assistant position at Owasso and serving as the Rams’ head coach from 2007-2016. 

More: The Oklahoman’s 2026 Little All-City high school baseball roster

A standout in football and baseball in high school, Joe Patterson was at Duncan as a freshman and sophomore before spending his final two years at Owasso and then playing college baseball from 2007-2010. He went to Oral Roberts for one year, Seminole State for a season and Texas A&M for his final two. 

Patterson was named the national junior college player of the year at Seminole State and had a successful stint at Texas A&M, hitting .362 with 21 homers and 100 RBIs with the Aggies.