North Carolina walks off USC in dramatic fashion to clinch College World Series berth
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North Carolina has never won a national title in baseball, but the Tar Heels made sure on a thrilling Sunday afternoon in Chapel Hill that they’d have another shot at the ultimate crown in the sport.
With North Carolina trailing USC, 3-1, going into the bottom of the eighth inning of the winner-take-all Game 3 of its home Super Regional, the Tar Heels reached down deep and pushed across 1 run in the eighth and 2 in the ninth to walk off and punch their ticket to the College World Series. The 4-3 victory sent UNC to the CWS for the second time in three years, the ninth time since 2006 and the 13th time overall.
The Tar Heels were the runners-up in Omaha in 2006 and 2007, and that’s as close as they’ve ever come to winning it all. But down to their final 3 outs on Sunday and trailing 3-2, it looked like they might not get another shot in 2026 before a 1-out walk by Cooper Nicholson started the dramatics in Chapel Hill.
Carter French followed with a single to right field that put runners on the corners, and the rally was officially set in motion. Jake Schaffner then came through with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Nicholson with the tying run, and when Gavin Gallaher walked to push the winning run into scoring position, UNC was just a 2-out hit away from giving its home fans the ultimate moment.
Enter Owen Hull, who ripped a 2-1 pitch by USC righty Chase Herrell into left-center field. The ball bounced off the dirt of the warning track, French scored, and the celebration was on as North Carolina turned agony into ecstasy in a matter of minutes. The Tar Heels had to dig out of a hole on Sunday and in the Super Regional, with the Trojans winning 9-5 in Game 1 on Friday before UNC answered with a 4-0 victory in Game 2 on Saturday.
Here is what Sunday’s magical moment looked like and sounded like:
USC center fielder Kevin Takeuchi did his best to catch up to Hull’s liner, sliding in vain to get the shot as it found dirt and gave North Carolina’s baseball program one of the best moments in its proud history.
There was pandemonium at Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium, leading to this social media post declaring it another example of “Bosh Magic”:
Caden Glauber provided a strong start for the Tar Heels, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits in 7.1 innings, striking out 11 against just 1 walk. But he departed in the eighth inning with his team down 3-1, and it didn’t look good until North Carolina’s bats woke up at just the right time to save the Tar Heels’ season.
North Carolina is heading to Omaha, punching its ticket in the most thrilling fashion possible. The Tar Heels will have plenty of stiff competition in the chase to win it all, and here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about the teams it believes have the best shot to be holding the national title trophy:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
