Oma-Heels: UNC Sweeps Super Regional to Reach College World Series

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina couldn’t bid adieu to the ninth-inning dramatics, but was able to endure again and say hello to Omaha on Saturday night.

The Tar Heels held off West Virginia 2-1 here at Boshamer Stadium to sweep through this NCAA Tournament super regional series and unlock their first trip to the College World Series since 2018.

The freshman Jason DeCaro worked into the seventh inning and allowed just two hits during the course of his sparkling starting assignment, before UNC called on the lefty stopper Pence, who finished off the game’s final 2⅔ innings. It became a shaky ending in the bottom of the ninth, as the Mountaineers loaded the bases with two outs but Pence got Ben Lumsden on a grounder to first baseman Parks Harber, and hustled to cover the bag in time and beat Lumsden’s headfirst slide.

After West Virginia pushed across its only run on Kyle West’s two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning, Pence fanned Ben Lumsden and pumped his fist. Pence mowed down JJ Wetherholt and Logan Sauve to end the bottom of the eighth inning, and walked off the mound motioning for more noise from the approving home crowd. Carolina had trailed in the ninth inning in three of its four NCAA Tournament victories prior to Saturday night, and needed to mount last-gasp comebacks. But not this time in the super regional clincher.

Meanwhile, Vance Honeycutt starred again, doing a little bit of everything on this night, after mashing the game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night, his walk-off bomb slapping an explosive ending on the opening game in the best-of-3 series.

On the first pitch of Saturday night’s game, Honeycutt greeted West Virginia starter Tyler Switalski by cranking a home run out to left field. That gave Honeycutt, UNC’s all-time home run king, homers on consecutive swings — the gigantic 425-foot no-doubter that delivered victory the night before, and then the 338-foot shot pulled just over the left-field wall on the first pitch Switalski threw Saturday night.

The latest drive marked Honeycutt’s 63rd career home run and 26th blast of the season, surpassing his own UNC school record set during the 2022 season, when he was a freshman.

Carolina (47-14), the No. 4 national seed in this NCAA Tournament, has earned its 12th appearance in the College World Series, and will join ACC league cohorts Florida State and Virginia — and perhaps Clemson and NC State, too — in Omaha, Neb., among the eight-team field out there. Florida State and Virginia finished off super regional sweeps of their own earlier Saturday. The Tar Heels will meet Virginia in their CWS opener at the end of next week.

Honeycutt dropped down and poked a two-out bunt single in the top of the third inning on Saturday night, and showed off his elite speed as he bolted to first base safely. Casey Cook followed with a single through West Virginia’s infield shift, and Parks Harber’s ensuing run-scoring single put UNC ahead 2-0.

The Mountaineers (36-24) of the Big 12 Conference, making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA super regionals, saw their season come to an end. Switalski went 6⅓ innings and struck out the Tar Heels four times, while scattering five hits.