North Carolina Beats West Virginia 12-7, Advances to MCWS Finals

OMAHA, Neb. -- Owen Hull had a triple and two doubles among his four hits, Gavin Gallaher had four hits and four RBIs and North Carolina rolled past West Virginia 12-7 on Wednesday to advance to the Men's College World Series finals for the first time since 2007.

The Tar Heels went 3-0 in bracket play and will play for the first national championship starting Saturday in the best-of-three finals against Oklahoma, which eliminated Georgia with an 11-4 win .

UNC is seeking its first national championship in baseball; its 12 MCWS appearances entering this year are tied for the second most by a team without a title.

West Virginia was 2-2 in its first MCWS appearance with both losses to the Tar Heels.

A North Carolina offense that batted .217 with only four extra-base hits in its first two MCWS games went into overdrive against the Mountaineers. Carolina was 8-for-10 with runners in scoring position, had five extra-base hits and amassed its most runs and hits (16) in nine NCAA tournament games.

Hull was a home run shy of becoming the second player in three days to hit for the cycle. Texas' Adrian Rodriguez did it Monday against Alabama. Hull had an RBI double in the first inning, a single in the third, an RBI double in the fourth and a triple in the sixth.

Cooper Nicholson's two-run triple put the Tar Heels up 5-1 in the third, and they led 12-1 before the Mountaineers began whittling the lead.

Carolina starter Folger Boaz labored through a 28-pitch first inning, giving up two singles and a walk, and he didn't come out for the second. Jackson Rose (5-0) pitched 4⅓ innings of shutout relief and gave the ball to Matthew Matthijs with a nine-run lead.

West Virginia scored five runs on five hits and two walks in the seventh, all with two outs, and pulled to within 12-6 when catcher Colin Hynek had a pitch by new reliever Caden Glauber get past him. Gavin Kelly homered in the eighth, his second of the MCWS and 19th of the season, to make it a five-run game.

Chansen Cole (10-2) started for the Mountaineers on four days' rest. Cole, who lasted only 2⅔ innings in a 7-5 win over Troy on Friday, made it 2⅓ on Wednesday.

In the other semifinal Wednesday, Jason Walk and Dasan Harris each hit two home runs and Trey Gambill also went deep to lead Oklahoma (41-22) to the finals for the first time since 2022. The Sooners will be playing for a third national title in baseball.

Oklahoma's five homers were a season high and a continuation of the heater the Sooners have been on since the second week of May. OU has hit 43 of its 91 homers in the past 16 games, including 26 in 10 NCAA tournament games. The Sooners had 48 in their first 47 games.

Walk and Harris were improbable power sources. Each entered the game with four homers.

Walk sent a wind-aided fly ball 417 feet over the wall in straightaway center field leading off the third inning. In the fourth, Gambill and Harris went deep to make it 4-0 and chase Georgia starter Paul Farley (8-2). Harris and Walk connected again in the eighth to give the Sooners a six-run lead.

Harris' five RBIs were his most in 107 career games, and three of his six homers have come in the past four games.

OU freshman starter Nick Wesloski (2-1) held the Bulldogs (53-14) to one run in the first five innings but ran into trouble in the sixth and was pulled with two outs and two men on base. An error loaded the bases, and reliever LJ Mercurius walked in two runs. Mercurius got his fourth save after allowing one earned run on two hits in 3⅓ innings.

Georgia had one of the nation's most potent offenses all season but struggled at the cavernous Charles Schwab Field.

The Bulldogs arrived at the CWS leading the nation with a program-record 174 homers and was in the top five with 9.4 runs per game and a .326 batting average. They got a ninth-inning homer from Kolby Branch to finish with five in four MCWS games. They averaged four runs per game and batted .183.

Daniel Jackson, who won the Dick Howser Trophy as the nation's player of the year, batted .157 with a home run Monday that gave him 32 for the year.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

_Originally reported by [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/49100937/unc-ousts-west-virginia-reaches-men-college-world-series-finals)._