OMAHA, Neb. – There was more late-inning magic for the Tar Heels.
Gavin Gallaher snapped a 2-2 tie with an RBI single to cap a two-run seventh and Colin Hynek put the game away with a three-run homer in the eighth as No. 5 North Carolina rallied past Ole Miss 6-2 in front of 24,883 fans on Friday evening in Game 2 of the 2026 College World Series at Charles Schwab Field.
The Tar Heels (51-12-1) will face West Virginia on Sunday, June 14, at 6 p.m. The Rebels (41-22) will meet Troy on Sunday at 1 p.m. in an elimination contest.
Both starting pitchers dominated early. Ole Miss got on the board first in the top of the third. Brayden Randle had a leadoff double and came home on a double by Dom Decker.
UNC eventually tied it in the sixth as Owen Hull hammered a homer to left, his eighth of the season.
“I was sitting on the heater,” Hull said. “I got one up in the zone, so I put a good swing on it.”
Ole Miss recaptured the lead in the seventh. Decker had a two-out double that ended the day for Tar Heel starter Jason DeCaro, who went 6.2 innings with five hits, two runs, three walks and nine strikeouts.
“I thought he was in complete control,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said of DeCaro. “Had four pitches. It was a tough decision to take him out. I just felt like his delivery’s been really good. So really I felt like from the first pitch he threw until we took him out he was in complete control.”
Caden Glauber took over for UNC and fell behind 3-0 to Judd Utermark, who lined a single to left to knock in Decker as the Rebels went up 2-1.
The Tar Heels would respond in the seventh. Reliever Hudson Calhoun walked Tyler Howe and Colin Hynek, so Ole Miss summoned Walker Hooks from the bullpen. Carter French laid down a sacrifice bunt to push both runners into scoring position. Jake Schaffner smacked a sacrifice fly to right to bring in Howe and level the score at 2-2.
Gallaher delivered a single to center to knock in Hynek and give UNC a 3-2 edge.
Glauber rolled a pair of groundouts before surrendering a base hit to Owen Paino in the top of the eighth. Glauber struck out Austin Fawley to keep the Heels up 3-2.
With two away in the bottom of the eighth, Cooper Nicholson was plunked and went to third on a double by Howe. Hynek homered to left, his 10th of the season, to extend the lead to 6-2.
“The guy has a change-up that he likes to throw,” Hynek said. “It’s a pretty good pitch. So couldn’t play with him down at the bottom of the zone, so I was trying to see him up. And when I saw the change-up start up just got a swing off. Seeing it go over is a pretty cool feeling to homer here.”
Glauber gave up a pinch-hit single to Luke Romine to start the ninth but got a double play and a flyout to secure the win. Glauber raised his record to 11-0, going 2.1 innings with three hits, no runs, no walks and two strikeouts.
Taylor Rabe was the starter for Ole Miss and went 5.2 innings with two hits, one run, four walks and seven strikeouts.
“It’s disappointing we weren’t able to finish,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “That doesn’t happen much to us. But credit a really good North Carolina team. I thought DeCaro was tremendous tonight, and Glauber, the reliever, just as good. We knew that going in. We knew that obviously DeCaro was a true ace and an All-American closer. But we had the lead, and we couldn’t finish. But I thought Taylor pitched his guts off today.”
Notes
- UNC and Ole Miss met for the fifth time, all coming in the NCAA Tournament, and for the first time since 1969. It was the first win for the Tar Heels.
- This was UNC’s 12th come-from-behind win this season.
- Owen Hull extended his hit streak to 10 games and his on-base streak to 18 straight contests.
- Jason DeCaro tied his season high with nine strikeouts.
- UNC is 26-0 when Caden Glauber pitches this season.
- Ole Miss recorded nine strikeouts to raise its total to 697, the second-highest total in the nation behind 699 by Oregon State.
- Prior to tonight’s game, Ole Miss had been 31-2 when leading after six innings.
- Austin Fawley walked in the fifth to extend his on-base streak to 17 straight games.