North Carolina rolled past West Virginia 12-7 on Wednesday to advance to the College World Series finals for the first time since 2007. The Tar Heels went 3-0 in bracket play and will play for their first national championship in baseball starting Saturday in the best-of-three finals against Oklahoma or Georgia.

Strong Offense

A North Carolina offense that batted .217 with just four extra-base hits in its first two CWS games went into overdrive against the Mountaineers. Carolina was 8 for 10 with runners in scoring position, had five extra-base hits and amassed its most runs and hits (16) in nine NCAA Tournament games.

Owen Hull had a triple and two doubles among his four hits, and Gavin Gallaher had four hits and four RBIs. Hull was a home run shy of becoming the second player in three days to hit for the cycle.

Coach’s Perspective

“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,'” Tar Heels coach Scott Forbes said. “So thankfully that happened.” Forbes was pitching coach on the 2006 and ’07 Carolina teams that went to the finals, and he said experience has taught him there is great value in having two days’ rest instead of one before the finals.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.