UNC, ASU, Virginia, Southern Miss gain CWS berths
Chapel Hill, NC (Sports Network) - North Carolina, Arizona State, Virginia and Southern Mississippi all clinched spots in the College World Series after winning their respective super regional matchups Sunday.
The Tar Heels beat East Carolina, 9-3, to take the Chapel Hill super regional in a two-game sweep. Dustin Ackley belted a three-run homer, while Garrett Gore went 4-for-5 with a solo homer and four runs scored for UNC, which became the first Atlantic Coast Conference team to reach the CWS four straight years and the 10th different program to make four consecutive trips to Omaha.
"I try to enjoy this win today more than I ever had here just to kind of let loose," said North Carolina coach Mike Fox.
"I want to be respectful to the other teams and not act like a kid, but I felt like a kid today when it was over. You can't ever take this for granted. I said it after the first, second, and third year: we may never go back.
And we might not. The journey we have been on is pretty amazing. We'll go out there and we'll do everything we can to soak it all in and play as hard as we can." With Sunday's victory, Carolina improved to 18-1 at home in the postseason over the past four years. The Tar Heels will open against Arizona State in the CWS.
Adam Warren had eight strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings to get the win for North Carolina.
Ackley's homer in the sixth extended his hitting streak to 19 games in NCAA tourney play, dating to UNC's final four games of the 2007 College World Series.
Virginia is headed to the CWS for the first time in school history following a 5-1 win over Ole Miss.
The Cavaliers broke a school record with their 48th victory to win the Oxford super regional in the deciding third game.
Steven Proscia had three hits and drove in a run for Virginia.
Joey Archer knocked in three runs and Southern Miss advanced to its first CWS with a 7-6 comeback win over Florida to win the Gainesville super regional. The Golden Eagles scored three times in the bottom of the eighth inning, with the winning run coming across when Gators first baseman Preston Tucker couldn't dig the ball out of the dirt on a relay throw of a potential inning- ending double play.
Arizona State swept the Tempe super regional with an 8-2 win over Clemson. Josh Spence threw a four-hit complete game, striking out 10 along the way for the Sun Devils.
There is one deciding Game 3 from the super regionals set for Monday and it involves the nation's top seed - the Texas Longhorns.
TCU staved off elimination on Sunday with a 3-2 victory over Texas to set up a deciding game in the Austin super regional.
Paul Gerrish threw seven solid innings for the Horned Frogs. Matt Vern had a two-run homer, while Matt Carpenter added another round-tripper for TCU.
06/08 01:22:05 ET
