North Carolina’s Gavin Gallaher hit a tiebreaking RBI single, and the fifth-seeded Tar Heels scored six times in the final three innings, winning their opening Men’s College World Series game 6-2 over Ole Miss on Friday night in Omaha, Neb.
Trailing 2-1 in the seventh, the Tar Heels used two walks and a sacrifice bunt to get baserunners into scoring position.
They went ahead after Jake Schaffner managed a sacrifice fly and Gallaher ripped an RBI single to center for the go-ahead tally.
Colin Hynek added a three-run homer in the eighth for insurance to send them to Sunday night’s matchup with West Virginia, a 7-5 winner earlier Friday.
North Carolina improved to 26-0 in games involving winning reliever Caden Glauber.
Starting pitcher Jason DeCaro fired 6 2/3 innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He fanned nine with three walks.
Tyler Howe went 2-for-3 with a double, run and walk. Owen Hull hit a solo homer in the sixth.
The Rebels’ hard-throwing Taylor Rabe surrendered one run on two hits. He struck out seven and walked four in 5 2/3 innings.
Dom Decker went 2-for-5 with two doubles and a run. Owen Paino had two hits, and Judd Utermark had an RBI.
Ole Miss will meet Troy on Sunday afternoon.
The Rebels cashed in on their first chance in the third inning after Brayden Randle’s leadoff bloop double to left put him in position. Decker’s RBI double soon made it 1-0.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Hull led off with an opposite-field shot to left, his eighth homer and 82nd RBI, to lift North Carolina into a tie.
The first batter facing Tar Heels’ relief ace Glauber in the seventh, Utermark put the Southeastern Conference school back on top with a two-out liner to left-center that scored Decker.
–Field Level Media
