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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
No. 16 West Virginia’s season ends at 47-17.<\/p>\n
The Mountaineers stayed close throughout in an eventual 5-2 loss to the Tar Heels in Sunday’s second round.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, though, North Carolina took control early, eventually building a 12-1 lead.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Hull then stole third and came around to score on an error on the play.<\/p>\n
West Virginia got a run back in the bottom half on Matthew Graveline’s RBI single.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
They scored three more in the fourth on Hull’s RBI double and Gallagher’s two-run single.<\/p>\n
Hull tripled in the sixth to move to with a home run of the cycle, then came home on Gallaher’s single to left.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
West Virginia finally broke through on North Carolina’s bullpen in the seventh, scoring five with two outs.<\/p>\n
Seven consecutive Mountaineers reached base after the first two hitters of the inning were retired.<\/p>\n
Graveline finished 4 for 4 with two RBIs and a run.<\/p>\n
Gavin Kelly pulled West Virginia within five with a two-out homer in the eighth.<\/p>\n
Chansen Cole (10-2) gave up four runs and four hits over 2 1\/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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