North Carolina outlasts West Virginia, will face SEC team in CWS Finals
By Andrew Olson
Published:
North Carolina will play for a national championship. The No. 5 national seed Tar Heels advanced to the College World Series Finals on Wednesday with a 12-7 win over No. 16 overall seed West Virginia.
UNC scored in 5 of the first 7 innings, jumping out to a 12-1 lead at the 7th inning stretch. The Mountaineers, however, didn’t roll over.
WVU made things interesting with a 5-run 7th inning, cutting the lead to 12-6. The Mountaineers added another run in the 8th inning, getting it down to 12-7. West Virginia, however, was unable to score in the 9th inning after having 2 runners reach base.
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Carolina coach Scott Forbes didn’t feel like taking any chances on Wednesday. One of the stories of the game is that Forbes used star pitcher Caden Glauber out of the bullpen despite Carolina’s big lead.
It was 12-5 when Forbes decided to bring in Glauber. WVU actually managed to score another run with Glauber on the mound, as a passed ball made it 12-6. Glauber then walked the next batter, but settled in and recorded a strikeout to end the 5-run frame.
Glauber finished with a line of 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 K, 1 BB. He threw 45 pitches.
Signed, sealed, delivered 📩 pic.twitter.com/bTWBZOU2gB
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) June 17, 2026
Carolina’s hit parade was led by Gavin Gallaher, who continues to be a production machine in Omaha. Gallaher went 4-for-5 on Wednesday, leading the team with 4 RBIs.
Just doing him 🤷♂️
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 17, 2026
Gavin Gallaher picks up a 2-RBI single to extend the lead, 8-1!
📺 ESPN#MCWS x @DiamondHeels pic.twitter.com/5WAK9qNomp
UNC now gets 2 days of rest before taking the field again on Saturday in Game 1 of the CWS Finals. The Tar Heels will play either Georgia or Oklahoma in a best-of-3 series for the national championship. Oklahoma can advance with a win on Wednesday, while Georgia needs to defeat OU twice to make the championship series.
Who will win the College World Series? Predict the new national champion today on Kalshi!
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
