By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — More Bosh Magic has No. 4 North Carolina back in the College World Series for the second time in three seasons, and it came with thrilling, heart-pounding drama.
The Tar Heels’ 13th trip to Omaha looked in doubt when they trailed by a run with one out in the ninth inning. But Owen Hull smashed his fourth double to drive in the game-ending run and lift UNC to a 4-3 victory Sunday over USC in the deciding Game 3 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
Hull struggled to put into words the moment that made 3,913 fans at Boshamer Stadium roar.
“I have no words to describe it,” Hull said. “I’m out here having as much fun as I can, and there’s no other group of boys or coach I’d rather play for. I love this team so much.”
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Carolina (50-12-1) faces No. 18 Ole Miss (41-21) in its Omaha opener either Friday or Saturday after the first 50-win season for the program since 2013. (Read more about UNC’s Omaha path here.)
Coach Scott Forbes, who called it “one of the most special games I’ve been a part of at Boshamer Stadium,” said the Tar Heels’ toughness had been building all season.
“They’ve been like that all year,” Forbes said. “These guys, they’re a tough group, a resilient group. They play 27 outs, they bought in completely to the next-play mentality and being process-oriented that we talk about every day.”
Cooper Nicholson got the rally started in the ninth inning with a one-out walk. Carter French worked a 3–1 count before USC reliever Adam Troy came out in favor of Chase Herrell, who had thrown 42 pitches Friday.
French singled on a 3-2 pitch to right field, and Jake Schaffner followed with a sacrifice fly to right-center field to tie it. After Gavin Gallaher drew a walk, Hull won it with his double after Trojans third baseman Maddox Riske couldn’t snag a foul ball that could have ended the inning. The game-winner bounced on the warning track as center fielder Kevin Takeuchi, who began the game at third base, couldn’t get to the ball.
French said the mid-at-bat pitching change gave him a chance to reset.
“I just had some time to hang out,” French said. “I knew I was going to take, regardless, whoever was coming in, first pitch for sure. Coach Forbes came over and told me to take till two [strikes], so I did. He told me if you get to that point, if you get a heater, and I got a heater and just swung and found a hole through the infield.”
Forbes said he was “just praying that Cooper Nicholson was going to beat the throw,” then watched Hull finish it off.
“Just slowing the game down a little bit,” Forbes said of the brief conversation with Hull before the winning swing. “[I told him], ‘If you get something close, just put a good swing on it, slow the game down.’ Obviously, he did that, and he got the barrel to it. I think they were trying to just throw an extra fastball away, and he was aggressive. That was an unbelievable moment for me to watch that ball fall and watch Dr. French cross that plate.”
UNC got just the outstanding start it needed from right-hander Caden Glauber. The ACC Freshman of the Year put up season highs of 11 strikeouts, the most by a Tar Heel in the NCAA tournament in 15 years, 7⅓ innings and 95 pitches, giving up six hits, three runs and one walk.
“Obviously a little nervous coming into it, but good nerves,” Glauber said. “I was super- excited. I get to play for this great team, and a super, super important game for us. This team has your back and it’s awesome.”
Glauber’s only stumble in the first three innings cost him a run. After giving up a single and a double in the first inning, he lost his balance as he was about to deliver a pitch, balking in a run. He retired the next eight, striking out six, four on off-speed pitches in the mid-80s.
Forbes said the freshman never let the moment get too big.
“He’s an absolute stud,” Forbes said. “He gave up those home runs because he was going after them every single pitch. That’s what makes him so good. I’m just thankful that he’s here wearing our uniform.”
Carolina tied it against USC starter Andrew Johnson when Schaffner singled to right and scored on Hull’s two-out double down the right-field line. Johnson retired the next eight batters.
USC (48–18) took a two-run lead on a pair of solo home runs. In the fourth inning, Takeuchi hit a hanging Glauber slider 362 feet to left field, and Andrew Lamb launched a 406-foot drive to right field in the fifth inning.
Trojans coach Andy Stankiewicz said the Trojans’ plan against Glauber was to try to get underneath pitches and create lift.
“We were trying to get inside the baseball and get some ball flight,” Stankiewicz said. “I think that’s what our guys did well [Sunday]. He’s got a good slider to go with it, so we were just trying to stay on it and hope he missed some over the plate, and our guys took some pretty good swings.”
Fellow freshman Jackson Rose relieved Glauber after he struck out Adrian Lopez to start the eighth inning and got two quick outs, including a strikeout of Augie Lopez.
Back-to-back, two-out doubles from Hull and Macon Winslow plated an eighth-inning run and ended the day for Johnson. Johnson threw 99 pitches, giving him 133 for the weekend, while giving up seven hits, two runs, two walks and a strikeout.
USC would no thave gotten to Chapel Hill without Johnson’s work in the regional and super regional, Stankiewicz said, calling the right-hander’s postseason “phenomenal.”
“He’s just a fighter,” Stankiewicz said. “He can’t tell you he feels great. He’s pitched a lot, but it didn’t matter to him. Whatever it took, that game was over yesterday. That gives me confidence that the right guy is taking the baseball, and the right guy did it today for us. We just couldn’t close it out.”
Reliever Sax Matson hit the only batter he faced, Erik Paulsen. UNC stranded two when Troy came on to strike out Colin Hynek swinging.
After Rose got the first out in the ninth on a groundout, retiring all three batters he faced, the left-hander gave way to right-hander Walker McDuffie (winner, 8–3) with three right-handed hitters next. McDuffie hit Jack Basseer, got Maddox Riske to ground out and, after intentionally walking Dean Carpentier, induced an inning-ending groundout from Walter Urbon.
The Tar Heels were still trailing when they came up for their final turn, but French said the dugout never lost its calm.
“I was talking to Cam Padgett before the game, just about this is our last game here at the Bosh, no matter what, and this is my last time playing baseball with this group,” French said. “Over the years, I’ve learned from this sport that you can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. In that moment, I felt like we were so even-keeled. We just kept on plugging, and it ended up working in our favor. We’re going to carry that on to Omaha, and we’re not done yet. We’ve got a lot more baseball left to play.”
Hull said he was locked in by the time he came up in the ninth. On the pitch before his winning double, he fouled off a ball down the third-base line. On the next pitch, he delivered.
“I’m in the zone. My family has a funny word for it, called the ozone,” Hull said. “I just tap into it. I’m up there having fun. The count was 2–1, he made another mistake, and I was going to punish it, and I did that.”
Forbes said moments like Sunday are why his players’ resilience matters so much.
“Failure’s the best teacher,” Forbes said. “It can set you up for greater things because you can handle in-game adversity, you can handle punches, you can handle the first loss like that. If you get there enough, you can knock that door down. That’s what these guys did.”
Carolina heads to Omaha again by surviving the kind of game Boshamer Stadium seems to save for June.
“We had that Bosh Magic with us,” Forbes said. “But these guys are the reason we’re going to Omaha.”
Notes
— It was Hull’s second game this season with at least three doubles. He is the first Tar Heel with four doubles in a game since Kyle Seager in 2009 at Georgia Tech.
—The USC team left Los Angeles on May 27 and finally returns on Monday.
— Glauber was the first UNC pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts since Jake Knapp struck out 10 against Miami on March 28, 2025, in a 2–0 victory. It was the most since Aiden Hauhh struck out 11 against Boston College on March 23, 2025, in a 10–0, seven-inning run-rule victory.
— It was the most strikeouts by a Tar Heel in an NCAA tournament game since Patrick Johnson fanned 11 against James Madison in the 2011 Chapel Hill Regional.
—The previous season-high for strikeouts by UNC pitchers was nine by Jason DeCaro at Notre Dame and by Ryan Lynch at Duke.
— Carolina had three hits in 26 at-bats in the series with runners in scoring position, with 24 left stranded. The Heels went 0-for-7 in the series with the bases loaded.
— Carolina is 20–11 in Super Regional play since the format began in 1999.
— USC leads the all-time series with UNC 9–5, but the teams have split eight games in Chapel Hill.
— This was the first time UNC has won a Super Regional title after losing the opener in four tries. Previously, the Tar Heels lost in 2003 (host South Carolina won in a sweep), 2019 (Auburn won series 2–1) and 2022 (Arkansas swept), with the latter two in Chapel Hill.
No. 4 UNC 4, USC
Chapel Hill Super Regional
No. 4-ranked and No. 5-seed North Carolina (50–12–1) vs. Southern Cal (48–18)
Best-of-3 series
Boshamer Stadium
Game 1: USC 9, UNC 5
Game 2: UNC 4, USC 0
Game 3: UNC 4, USC 3; UNC wins series 2-1
UNC opens the College World Series on Friday or Saturday against No. 18 and unseeded Ole Miss (41–21), which swept No. 5 Auburn in the Auburn Super Regional, winning 6–4 on Friday and 5–3 on Saturday. The other two teams in the double-elimination four-team field on the left side of the bracket are Troy (38–30) and No. 16-seed West Virginia (45–15).
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times/ scores | Opponent (current rank) | Record/ TV * |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | ||||
| 13–14 | Fri., Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 12–2 (7); W, 4–3 (11) | vs. Indiana | 3–0 |
| 17 | Tuesday | W, 10–0 (7) | vs. Richmond | 4–0 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 5–3 | vs. Longwood | 5–0 |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun | W, 10–0 (8); L, 10–3; T, 3–3 | vs. East Carolina | 6–1–1 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. N.C. A&T | 7–1–1 |
| 25 | Wednesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. VCU | 8–1–1 |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | W, 16–3 (7); W, 12–2 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 10–1–1 |
| March | ||||
| 1 | Sunday | W, 21–1 (7) | vs. Le Moyne | 11–1–1 |
| 3 | Tuesday | W, 5–1 | vs. Elon | 12–1–1 |
| 6–7 | Fri., Sat | L, 13–3 (7); L, 9–2; W, 8–7 (12) | vs. Virginia | 13–3–1, 1–2 ACC |
| 10 | Tuesday | W, 13–3 (7) | vs. Bucknell | 14–3–1 |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 8–1; W, 6–2; W, 10–2 | at California | 17–3–1, 4–2 |
| 18 | Wednesday | W, 8–2 | vs. UNCG | 18–3–1 |
| 20–22 | Fri.–Sun. | W, 11–1 (8); L, 2–0; W, 7–6 | vs. Louisville | 20–4–1, 6–3 |
| 24 | Tuesday | W, 9–1 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte | 21–4–1 |
| 28, 29 | Sat., Sun | W, 6–5; W, 13–7; W, 15–10 | at Notre Dame | 24–4–1, 9–3 |
| 31 | Tuesday | W, 5–4 (14) | vs. Campbell | 25–4–1 |
| April | ||||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | L, 6–1; W, 5–2; W, 8–7 | vs. Boston College | 27–5–1, 11–4 |
| 7 | Tuesday | W, 8–4 | vs. Charlotte | 28–5–1 |
| 10–12 | Fri.–Sun. | L, 9–5; W, 6–4 (14); W, 12–5 | at Clemson | 30–6–1, 13–5 |
| 14 | Tuesday | W, 14–5 | vs. UNCW | 31–6–1 |
| 17–19 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 5–2; W, 14–4 (8); L, 5–2 | vs. No. 2 Georgia Tech | 33–7–1, 15–6 |
| 21 | Tuesday | W, 9–2 | vs. High Point | 34–7–1 |
| 23–25 | Thur.–Sat. | W, 3–1; L, 3–1; W, 22–5 (7) | at Duke | 36–8–1, 17–7 |
| 28 | Tuesday | L, 12–2 | vs. Coastal Carolina | 36–9–1 |
| May | ||||
| 3 | Sunday | W, 13–0 (7) (non-conference game) | vs. Duke | 37–9–1 |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | W, 4–1; W, 12–2 (8); W, 7–3 | vs. Pittsburgh | 40–9–1, 20–7 |
| 12 | Tuesday | W, 13–7 | at UNCW | 41–9–1 |
| 14–16 | Thur.-Sat. | W, 9–4; W, 17–7 (8); L, 7–2 | at N.C. State | 43–10–1, 22–8 |
| ACC tournament | Charlotte | |||
| 22 | Friday | W, 10–4 | Quarterfinal vs. Virginia Tech | 44–10–1 |
| 23 | Saturday | W, 13–5 | Semifinal vs. Pittsburgh | 45–10–1 |
| 24 | Sunday | L, 13–6 | Championship vs. No. 2 Ga. Tech | 45–11–1 |
| NCAA tournament | ||||
| Chapel Hill Regional | ||||
| 29 | Friday | W, 8–0 | VCU | 46–11–1 |
| 30 | Saturday | W, 7–5 | East Carolina | 47–11–1 |
| 31 | Sunday | W, 9–3 | East Carolina | 48–11–1 |
| June | ||||
| Chapel Hill Super Regionals | ||||
| 5 | Friday | L, 9–5 | Southern Cal | 48–12–1 |
| 6 | Saturday | W, 4–0 | Southern Cal | 49–12–1 |
| 7 | Sunday | W, 4–3 | Southern Cal | 50–12–1 |
| College World Series | Omaha, Neb. | |||
| 12 or 13 | Fri. or Sat. | 2 or 7 (Fri.) 3 or 8 (Sat.) | No. 18 Ole Miss | ESPN |
| 14 or 15 | Sun. or Mon. | 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. | Troy or West Virginia | ESPN |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
