Owen Hull’s fourth double of the game scored Carter French from second base as North Carolina rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to eliminate USC in an NCAA Baseball Tournament Super Regional on Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Hull, a junior outfielder, went 4 for 5 with two RBIs, as the Tar Heels scored three runs in the final two innings to rally from a 3-1 deficit to advance to the College World Series.
Kevin Takeuchi went 2 for 4 with a home run, and Andrew Lamb went 2 for 3 and also hit a solo home run for the Trojans.
USC (48-16) won four consecutive games by a composite score of 55-14 to advance out of the first round into its first super regional in 21 years.
The Trojans won Friday night’s opener in the best-of-three series against the Tar Heels and were one win away from their first College World Series berth since 2001.
USC took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Adrian Lopez singled, went to third on a triple by Augie Lopez, and scored on a balk.
UNC tied it in the bottom of the third when Jake Schaffner singled and scored from first on Hull’s first double.
Takeuchi’s one-out home run in the fourth, his 10th of the year, gave USC a 2-1 lead. Lamb’s 14th homer of the season leading off the fifth gave the Trojans a 3-1 lead.
USC starter Andrew Johnson kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard until he ran into trouble in the eighth.
With two outs, Hull doubled and Macon Winslow followed with a run-scoring double to cut the USC lead to 3-2.
Johnson scattered seven hits over 7⅔ innings before he was pulled for Sax Matson, who promptly hit the first batter he faced.
Adam Troy came on to replace Matson with runners on first and second. He threw a wild pitch that moved up both runners before striking out Colin Hynex to escape the inning. In the bottom of the ninth, Troy got the first out but walked Cooper Nicholson and was replaced by Chase Herrell.
French greeted him with a single, moving Nicholson to third. Schaffner hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Nicholson and tie the score, 3-3.
Gavin Gallaher walked, with French advancing to second, setting the stage for Hull, who drove a 2-1 pitch deep to left field for the game-winner.