OMAHA, Neb. – The Tar Heel offense struck early and often.
No. 5 North Carolina scored multiple runs in five of its first seven innings in downing No. 16 West Virginia 12-7 in front of 23,572 fans on Wednesday afternoon in Game 11 of the 2026 College World Series at Charles Schwab Field.
The Tar Heels (53-12-1) advance to the CWS Championship Series for the third time in program history. UNC will face either Oklahoma or No. 3 Georgia in a best-of-three series beginning on Saturday, June 20. The Mountaineers end their season with a 47-17 record.
The top four hitters in the Tar Heel lineup combined to go 12 for 18 (.667) with nine runs and eight RBI. The Tar Heels went 8 for 10 with runners in scoring position.
UNC got the offense going in the top of the first. Jake Schaffner drew a leadoff walk, stole second and came home on a double to right center by Owen Hull to make it 1-0. With one away, Hull stole third and scored on the errant to third as the Tar Heels took a 2-0 advantage.
WVU got one back in the bottom of the frame. Armani Guzman walked, went to second on a base hit by Gavin Kelly, took third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a two-out single by Matthew Graveline to make it 2-1.
The Tar Heels put up another crooked number in the third. Schaffner walked and went to second on a base hit by Hull. Gavin Gallaher singled to knock in Schaffner and Hull was thrown out at third on the play. That ended the day for WVU starter Chansen Cole (10-2, 2.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 K).
Erik Paulsen dumped a base hit into left field, while he and Gallaher both scored on a triple by Cooper Nicholson to push the lead to 5-1.
Hull had a run-scoring double and Gallaher added a two-run single in the fourth as UNC went up 8-1.
Hull tripled in the sixth and scored on a single by Gallaher, and Gallaher came in on a base hit by Paulsen as UNC took a 10-1 lead.
The Mountaineers tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with one away. Matthew Matthijs came in from the bullpen for UNC. On his first pitch, Brock Wills lined into a 4-6 double play to end the threat.
In the seventh, Carter French had an RBI double and scored on a base hit by Schaffner to make it 12-1.
WVU had a huge two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. Guzman had an infield hit and scored on a triple by Kelly. A base hit by Schoenfeld plated Kelly. Sean Smith walked and Graveline singled to knock in Schoenfield. Matt Ineich singled to drive in Smith and Graveline scored on a passed ball to cap a five-run inning as the Mountaineers made it 12-6.
Kelly blasted a long home run to left in the eighth, his 19th of the season, as the score moved to 12-7.
Gallaher went 4 for 5 with two runs and four RBI, while Hull was 4 for 5 with two doubles, a triple, three runs and two RBI to lead the Tar Heels.
“The first thing that coach told us in our pregame meeting out in the outfield was that we want our compete factor at the top,” Hull said.” And that’s what we focused on and being default aggressive. So those were the two things that we really focused on today, and I think it worked out pretty well.”
Jackson Rose (5-0) earned the win in relief, going 4.1 scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
“I thought Jackson Rose came in, silenced them pretty quick,” UNC head coach Scott Forbes said. “I thought he was outstanding. We were joking before the game today, like, man, we need to have one of those games where we get 15 hits and score some runs. So thankfully that happened.”
Caden Glauber finished the game on the mound for the Tar Heels, going 2.1 innings with three hits, one run, one walk and three strikeouts.
Graveline was 4 for 4 with one run and two RBI for the Mountaineers. Kelly went 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI, while Guzman had two hits and scored twice for WVU.
“You never want to go down,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “If you’re going to go down, for me, being down 12-1 and scratching and clawing and fighting and running out of gas and giving literally everything that you have left in the tank to compete is poetic for me. We talk about things that represent this state and this university, and that’s what we’re all about. That’s what we’ve always been all about. So for the kids to embody those things and to fight back in that situation, I wouldn’t want to have it any other way, if you’re going to go down.
“Couldn’t be more proud of this group of kids. What they were able to do and what they were able to accomplish is nothing short of miraculous. So thankful for these players, thankful for the seniors. We have kids in this group that have been part of the best season in program history twice. This is the best season in Mountaineer baseball history. They’ve been playing baseball for 135 years. So this group of kids get to say that after 135 teams, that they were the first team to make it to Omaha, to play and be one of the last four teams standing. It’s certainly tremendous.”
Notes
- This will be North Carolina’s third trip to the Championship Series of the College World Series. The Tar Heels lost in three games to Oregon State in 2006 and lost twice to the Beavers in 2007.
- UNC is looking to become the third national champion from the ACC. Wake Forest won in 1955 and Virginia won in 2015.
- The Tar Heels are 31-2 when scoring in the first inning this season. UNC is 43-0 when leading after six innings and 48-0 when leading after eight innings.
- UNC is 28-0 when Caden Glauber pitches this season.
- Jake Schaffner extended his on-base streak to 27 games.
- Gavin Gallaher extended his hitting streak to 13 games and his on-base streak to 25 games.
- West Virginia went 2-2 in its first trip to the College World Series.
- Gavin Kelly tied the program record with 19 home runs this season.
- Armani Guzman extended his hitting streak to 11 games and on-base streak to 14 games.