CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina couldn't bid adieu to the ninth-inning dramatics, but endured and overcame them once more, and now can say hello again to the College World Series.
The Tar Heels held off West Virginia 2-1 on Saturday night at Boshamer Stadium to sweep through this NCAA Tournament super regional series, and unlock their first trip to Omaha, Neb., the home of college baseball's main event, since 2018.
Jason DeCaro carried a shutout into the seventh inning and allowed just two hits across the course of a stellar start, before UNC called on Dalton Pence, who finished off the game's final 2⅔ innings. It became an anxious ending in the bottom of the ninth inning — which invariably has proven to be the case for these Tar Heels in this postseason — as the Mountaineers loaded the bases with two outs. But Pence got West Virginia's Ben Lumsden to bounce a grounder to first baseman Parks Harber, and he hustled to cover the bag in time to beat Lumsden's headfirst slide and secure another tense NCAA Tournament victory.
"I don't know if y'all know this, but I'm not a runner," Pence said, smiling and drawing laughter afterward during the postgame. "So I had to dig it pretty good to get over there. And then after I caught the ball and hit the bag, just an unbelievable feeling. We're going to Omaha."
Pence went airborne into a sea of converging UNC teammates, and the celebrating Tar Heels dogpiled behind the mound where the freshman right-hander DeCaro and the lefty stopper Pence supplied a combined 11 strikeouts. They gave up just four hits to the Mountaineers on the night, all singles. Vance Honeycutt homered and delivered another starring performance to add to his vapor trail of heroics from Friday night's opener in the best-of-3 super regional series.
Carolina (47-14), the No. 4 national seed in this NCAA Tournament, has earned its 12th appearance in the College World Series, and will join ACC league cohorts Florida State and Virginia — and perhaps Clemson and NC State, too — in Omaha among the eight-team field out there. Florida State and Virginia finished off super regional sweeps of their own earlier Saturday.
The Tar Heels will meet Virginia, the No. 12 national seed, in their College World Series opener at the end of next week. It marks UNC's eighth trip to Omaha since 2006, and the first time that the program has reached the CWS under head coach Scott Forbes, formerly a longtime Carolina assistant coach, who's in his 19th straight season on the staff.
"I've been fortunate to be in Omaha, and these guys haven't," Forbes said Saturday night. "And my whole goal — I was talking to Mandy, my wife, quite a bit — I just want to get these guys there. Because they deserve to be there. So I'm really excited for our team."
After West Virginia (36-24) pushed across its only run on Kyle West's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning, Pence fanned Lumsden and pumped his fist. Then, Pence mowed down JJ Wetherholt and Logan Sauve to end the bottom of the eighth inning, and he walked off the mound with his left arm raised and motioning for more noise from the approving sellout crowd, a packed house of 4,491.
The Tar Heels had trailed in the ninth inning in three of their four NCAA Tournament victories prior to Saturday night, and answered the bell in those must-have moments by mounting a string of magical comebacks. Another stirring rally, like what Luke Stevenson and Honeycutt ignited with their clutch ninth-inning home runs in Friday night's first game of the super regional series, wasn't a requirement this time around. Instead, UNC had to hold on and make do on just one hit and no runs across Saturday night's final six innings.
"The look on everybody's faces and on Coach's face after that last out, it was priceless," Honeycutt said. "So just excited to have gotten it done, and just looking forward to getting out there."
The junior Honeycutt was everywhere on this night, after crushing the game-winning homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday night, his walk-off bomb stamping an exclamation-point ending on the super regional opener. On the first pitch of Saturday night's game, in what likely will be remembered as the Boshamer Stadium farewell for the coveted MLB Draft prospect Honeycutt, he greeted West Virginia starter Tyler Switalski by cranking a home run out to left field.
That gave Honeycutt, UNC's all-time home run king, homers on consecutive swings — the gigantic 425-foot no-doubter that produced the thrilling victory the night before, and then the 338-foot shot pulled just over the left-field wall on the first pitch Switalski threw Saturday night. The latest drive became Honeycutt's 63rd career home run and 26th blast of the season, surpassing his own UNC school record set during the 2022 season, when he was a freshman.
Honeycutt dropped down and poked a two-out bunt single in the top of the third inning, and showed off his elite speed as he bolted to first base safely. Casey Cook followed with a single through West Virginia's infield shift, and Harber's ensuing run-scoring single moved UNC ahead 2-0.
"It worked out, and then Casey and Parks just kept it going," Honeycutt said, referring to his surprise bunt decision there. "That's just kind of the depth of our lineup. It doesn't matter if it's no outs or two outs, two strikes, we can get it done."
Honeycutt also had his extensive defensive tools on display. After DeCaro walked West Virginia's Sam White in the bottom of the fourth inning, Honeycutt snagged Reed Chumley's liner in center field for an out, and fired a dart from the outfield to first base to double up White, who had strayed too far on the fly ball there. Meanwhile, Carolina pitcher Shea Sprague, wearing a headset in the dugout and visiting with the ESPN2 crew, erupted in appreciation.
"How about that kid?!" Sprague said on the broadcast, praising Honeycutt's gem. "That's insane, that's insane. He's nothing short of incredible."
Later, he left West Virginia's Skylar King in frustrated disbelief in the bottom of the eighth, as the Tar Heels protected their 2-1 lead. King belted a deep drive to gap in right-center field, and Honeycutt initially had been shaded on the left field side of center field. But the blazing Honeycutt raced and reeled in that fly ball on the warning track for another highlight-worthy moment, robbing King of extra bases.
"If this is the last one, then this was an awesome game," Honeycutt said, on the subject of Saturday night signifying his farewell game here. "So many guys in this locker room and beside me have just put us in a good spot so far this season. And to see the look on everybody's faces was priceless. That's what you work for since August. It's very rewarding to see all those faces."
UNC finished 37-3 at Boshamer Stadium this season, posting the best home winning percentage in program history (92.5 percent). After Harber's run-scoring single in the top of the third inning, only Alberto Osuna managed a hit for Carolina the rest of the way.
The Mountaineers, who are under retiring coach Randy Mazey, made their first-ever appearance in the NCAA super regionals. Switalski went 6⅓ innings and struck out the Tar Heels four times, while scattering five hits. Then, reliever Carson Estridge struck out six of the 10 UNC batters he faced in 2⅔ innings out of the West Virginia bullpen.
