CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — For eight innings Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium, North Carolina’s season crept toward the same ruinous ledge it had fallen from a year before. Southern California held a 3-2 lead, its starter had been dominant through seven and a half innings, and the Tar Heels — silent, struggling, staring at elimination — looked every bit like a team about to be sent home again.
Then Boshamer stirred. And Owen Hull delivered.
Hull’s fourth double of the game, a line drive into left-center field in the bottom of the ninth inning, scored Carter French from second base and lifted North Carolina to a 4-3 walk-off victory over USC in the deciding game of the Chapel Hill Super Regional. The win punched the Tar Heels’ ticket to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha — the 13th appearance in program history and the second in the last three seasons.
“I’ve been part of a lot of great games,” head coach Scott Forbes said afterward. “That’s one of the most special games I’ve been a part of at Boshamer Stadium.”
The Rally That Rewrote the Season
The loss came despite a stellar outing from USC starter Andrew Johnson, who held the Tar Heels largely in check through seven and two-thirds innings. The Trojans had scored in the first, retaken the lead on Kevin Takeuchi’s solo home run in the fourth, and extended it on Andrew Lamb’s solo shot in the fifth — holding a 3-1 advantage that seemed to be growing more suffocating with each passing inning.
UNC finally got to Johnson in the eighth, when back-to-back doubles cut the deficit to 3-2. It was a foothold. Nothing more.
In the ninth, Tyler Howe grounded out on the first pitch, bringing Carolina within two outs of elimination. Cooper Nicholson drew a hard-earned walk, and Carter French — who had entered the game just an inning earlier as a defensive replacement and was taking his first at-bat — singled to move Nicholson to third. Jake Schaffner then drove Nicholson home on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Gavin Gallaher drew a walk to push the winning run into scoring position, and with two outs and the season on the line, Owen Hull stepped to the plate. He ripped a 2-1 pitch by USC reliever Chase Herrell into left-center field. The ball bounced off the dirt of the warning track, French scored, and the celebration erupted.
364 Days, One Ending Rewritten
The symmetry of what French accomplished was not lost on anyone inside Boshamer Stadium. Exactly 364 days after North Carolina’s 2025 season ended with French at the plate as the final out, he stepped into the left-handed batter’s box once more with the same stakes — and rewrote the outcome entirely.
Protecting a one-run lead in the ninth, USC head coach Andy Stankiewicz pulled starter Adam Troy in the middle of a plate appearance and summoned Chase Herrell from the bullpen with a 3-0 count already in French’s favor — a maneuver rarely seen at any level of baseball.
“Coach Forbes came over, told me to take till two, so I did,” French said. “And he told me that if you get to that point, you’re going to get a heater. I got a heater, and just swung and found a hole through the infield.”
“We’re not done yet,” he added. “We got a lot more baseball left to play.”
Hull’s Day for the Ages
Hull, who leads UNC with a .381 average and 79 RBIs on the season, had already doubled three times before stepping to the plate for the decisive at-bat. The center fielder had accounted for most of Carolina’s offense against a Trojan staff that kept the Tar Heel lineup largely at bay for seven innings.
Hull described himself as being in what his family calls “The O Zone” — a state of total focus and presence — when he settled into the box. “Count was 2-1,” he said. “If he made another mistake, I was gonna punish it. And I did that.”
USC center fielder Kevin Takeuchi slid in vain to catch Hull’s liner as it found dirt and gave North Carolina’s baseball program one of the most memorable moments in its proud history.
A Series Built on Resilience
The Tar Heels had to dig out of a hole across the entire series. USC won Game 1 on Friday, 9-5, before UNC answered with a Jason DeCaro shutout — the right-hander allowing just two hits — to force the decisive third game.
Sunday’s victory sends Carolina back to the College World Series for the 13th time in program history, the ninth since 2006, and caps a season in which the Tar Heels have now won 50 games. The road to Omaha opens next weekend.
