Owen Hull and Gavin Gallaher had four hits each, helping lift North Carolina reach the title round with a 12-7 win over West Virginia in the Men’s College World Series on Wednesday in Omaha, Neb.
The No. 5 Tar Heels will take on Oklahoma in the best-of-three championship series beginning Saturday. The Sooners eliminated No. 3 Georgia 11-4 in the late game on Wednesday.
North Carolina (53-12-1) is in the championship series for the third time in program history. The Tar Heels fell to Oregon State in the 2006 and 2007 championship series.
No. 16 West Virginia’s season ends at 47-17.
The Mountaineers stayed close throughout in an eventual 5-2 loss to the Tar Heels in Sunday’s second round.
Wednesday, though, North Carolina took control early, eventually building a 12-1 lead.
Hull drove in the first run just two batters in the game on a double to right-center after Jake Schaffner drew a leadoff walk and stole second.
Hull then stole third and came around to score on an error on the play.
West Virginia got a run back in the bottom half on Matthew Graveline’s RBI single.
The Tar Heels broke the game open with a three-run third, with Schaffner scoring on Gallaher’s single to left before Cooper Nicholson drove in two with a triple.
They scored three more in the fourth on Hull’s RBI double and Gallagher’s two-run single.
Hull tripled in the sixth to move to with a home run of the cycle, then came home on Gallaher’s single to left.
Hull finished 4-for-5 with three runs and two RBIs, Gallagher finished 4-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs and Erik Paulsen finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run in the win.
Jackson Rose (5-0) allowed just two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win.
West Virginia finally broke through against North Carolina’s bullpen in the seventh, scoring five with two outs.
Seven consecutive Mountaineers reached base after the first two hitters of the inning were retired.
Graveline finished 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.
Gavin Kelly pulled West Virginia within five with a two-out homer in the eighth.
Chansen Cole (10-2) gave up four runs and four hits over 2 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.
–Field Level Media
