Ole Miss falls to North Carolina in CWS opening round, faces elimination
By Andrew Olson
Published:
The season is now on the line for Ole Miss. The Rebels came up short against No. 5 national seed North Carolina on Friday night in the opening round of the College World Series, falling 3-2.
Both teams got solid outings from their starters. Taylor Rabe went 5.2 innings for Ole Miss. He dealt with some baserunners, walking 4 and giving up 2 hits. He struck out 7, though, and limited the UNC damage to just 1 run before exiting after 108 pitches.
Carolina’s Jason DeCaro wasn’t the winning pitcher, but he was key to the UNC victory. DeCaro gave the Tar Heels 6.2 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 9. He logged 106 pitches, while winning pitcher Caden Glauber needed just 33 pitches for 2.1 shutout innings in relief.
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It was a 1-1 ballgame when Judd Utermark’s RBI single in the top of the 7th put the Rebels up 2-1. The Tar Heels, however, weren’t done scoring.
Facing Walker Hooks, UNC answered with 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th to go up 3-2, its first lead of the night. The Rebels put up zeros over their final two at-bats as a team.
Carolina entered the game 46-0 when leading after the 7th inning, and the Tar Heels made it 47-0 on Friday. Colin Hynek delivered the dagger with a 3-run homer to give UNC some insurance and extend the lead to 6-2.
COLIN HYNEK HITS A 3-RUN BOMB.
— College Baseball News (@CollegeBSBNews) June 13, 2026
NORTH CAROLINA LEADS 6-2. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/MztuWZ5FAw
The loss puts Mike Bianco’s team in the loser’s bracket. Ole Miss will next play Sunday in an elimination game against Troy, which lost Friday’s opener against West Virginia, at 2 p.m. ET.
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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.
