Baseball Super Regional: NC State punches ticket to CWS with 8-5 win over Georgia

Noah Soles had two doubles and five RBIs in N.C. State's 11-run second inning and the Wolfpack routed Georgia 18-1 on Saturday in Game 1 of the best-of-three Athens Super Regional.

Luke Nixon and Matt Heavner had back-to-back bunt singles in the top of the second inning, the former to drive in Brandon Butterworth and open the scoring and the latter to load the bases with nobody out. Soles followed with a three-RBI double down the line in right and Eli Serrano III hit the next pitch over the wall in right center. Butterworth added an RBI single before Nixon and Soles each hit two-RBI doubles to give No. 10 seed N.C. State (37-20) an 11-0 lead.

Sam Highfill (7-2) gave up a run on four hits and three walks over six innings to earn the win for the Wolfpack. Andrew Shaffner pitched three scoreless innings of no-hit relief for his first save of the season.

N.C. State can clinch a berth in the College World Series with a win Sunday in Game 2. The Wolfpack have made three appearances at the CWS, the most recent in 2021.

Corey Collins singled to right in the bottom of the fifth for seventh-seeded Georgia (42-16) to make it 13-1.

Luke Stevenson homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, Vance Honeycutt followed with a two-out, two-run shot and No. 4 national seed North Carolina rallied behind three no-hit innings from reliever Matt Poston to beat West Virginia 8-6 on Friday night in the opener the Chapel Hill Super Regional.

North Carolina (46-14) can wrap up the best-of-three series and earn a spot in its 12th College World Series with a victory on Saturday. West Virginia (36-23), playing this far in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, must win twice to advance to its first CWS.

Kyle West, who homered in the third to drive in West Virginia's first run, added a two-out run-scoring single in the fourth to get the Mountaineers within 4-2.

Reed Chumley homered after Sam White reached on an error leading off the sixth and West followed with a two-run shot to give West Virginia a 6-4 lead. West is the third Mountaineer in school history to hit two home runs in a postseason game. Chumley's homer was his team-high 16th.

Colby Wilkerson, the No. 9 batter in the order, hit a one-out solo shot in the seventh to get the Tar Heels within a run.

Honeycutt's home run was his 25th of the season and the 62nd of his career, a school record.

Derek Clark (8-3) nearly went the distance for West Virginia. He left with one out in the ninth and a runner on first after throwing 144 pitches. Aidan Major surrendered Honeycutt's homer after striking out Wilkerson for the second out.

Poston (5-2) retired all nine batters he faced, striking out four. North Carolina improves to 36-3 at home this season.

North Carolina has made 11 CWS appearances but never won it. The Tar Heels were the runners-up to Oregon State twice, in 2006 and '07.

The Associated Press contributed.

They've done it again.

Trailing going into the ninth inning, UNC stunned West Virginia on Vance Honeycutt's monster walkoff two-run home run to win 8-6.

The deep blast to left field was a no-doubter and scored Alex Madera who got on base earlier with a single to center.

UNC takes Game 1 and now can punch a ticket to the College World Series with a win Saturday.

All tied up!

The Tar Heels, AGAIN with a flair for the dramatic, tie the game at 6-6 in the ninth as Luke Stevenson hits a solo home run to lead off the inning.

Now, with just one swing, UNC can win a game that looked in peril much of the night.