Jun 17, 2026, 06:07 PM ET

OMAHA, Neb. - Owen Hull collected a triple along with two doubles in his four hits, Gavin Gallaher added four hits and four RBIs, and North Carolina defeated West Virginia 12-7 on Wednesday to reach the Men's College World Series finals for the first time since 2007.

The Tar Heels finished 3-0 in bracket play and will compete for their first national title beginning Saturday in a best-of-three series versus Oklahoma, which defeated Georgia 11-4 to advance.

North Carolina seeks its initial baseball national championship, with its 12 prior MCWS appearances entering this season tied for the second most among programs without a crown.

West Virginia finished 2-2 in its debut MCWS appearance, suffering both defeats against the Tar Heels.

After batting .217 with just four extra-base hits across its opening two MCWS contests, the North Carolina offense erupted versus the Mountaineers. The Tar Heels went 8-for-10 with runners in scoring position, recorded five extra-base hits, and tallied their highest run and hit totals (16) across nine NCAA tournament games.

"We joked before today's game about needing one of those outings with 15 hits and plenty of runs," Tar Heels coach Scott Forbes said. "Fortunately it came together."

Hull fell a home run short of the cycle, the second such near-miss in three days after Texas' Adrian Rodriguez achieved it Monday versus Alabama. Hull delivered an RBI double in the first, a single in the third, another RBI double in the fourth, and a triple in the sixth.

"Coach emphasized in our pregame meeting that we needed our compete level at its peak," Hull said. "We focused on that and staying aggressive, and it paid off."

Carolina plated two runs in the first against Chansen Cole (10-2), and Cooper Nicholson's two-run triple built a 5-1 lead in the third. The Tar Heels stretched the advantage to 12-1 before West Virginia mounted a comeback.

Starter Folger Boaz worked through a lengthy 28-pitch first inning with two singles and a walk before exiting. Jackson Rose (5-0) tossed 4 1/3 scoreless relief innings, handing a nine-run lead to Matthew Matthijs.

West Virginia plated five runs on five hits and two walks in the seventh, all after two outs, closing to 12-6 when a pitch from Caden Glauber eluded catcher Colin Hynek. Gavin Kelly homered in the eighth, his second of the MCWS and 19th of the year, trimming the deficit to five runs.

"You never want to trail," Mountaineers coach Steve Sabins said. "But if you must, battling back from 12-1 by giving everything left shows real fight."

In the other semifinal, Jason Walk and Dasan Harris each hit two home runs while Trey Gambill added one to propel Oklahoma (41-22) into the finals for the first time since 2022. The Sooners will vie for a third baseball national title.

Oklahoma's five homers marked a season high, extending a power surge that began in early May. The Sooners have hit 43 of their 91 homers in the past 16 games, including 26 across 10 NCAA tournament contests after managing just 48 in their first 47 games.

"Looking back at our fall and spring work, we kept believing, and the players turned the season around," coach Skip Johnson said after his team endured seven losses in nine games a month earlier and finished 11th in the Southeastern Conference.

Walk and Harris emerged as unexpected power threats, each entering with four homers. Walk launched a wind-aided 417-foot fly to center leading off the third. Gambill and Harris followed in the fourth to chase Georgia starter Paul Farley (8-2) and make it 4-0. Harris and Walk homered again in the eighth for a six-run cushion.

"I aimed to set the tone," Walk said. "We had strong at-bats early, and I knew our lineup could deliver on a good hitting day."

Harris drove in five runs, his career high across 107 games, with three of his six homers arriving in the past four contests.

"I pictured this moment as a kid and wanted to reach it," said Harris, a 2024 walk-on at OU. "Being in these situations feels special."

Freshman Nick Wesloski (2-1) limited the Bulldogs (53-14) to one run over five innings before exiting with two outs and two aboard in the sixth. An error loaded the bases, and reliever LJ Mercurius walked in two runs before earning his fourth save with one earned run allowed over 3 1/3 innings.

"OU is swinging hot right now," Bulldogs coach Wes Johnson said. "They are peaking."

Georgia, boasting one of the nation's top offenses, faltered at spacious Charles Schwab Field. The Bulldogs led the country with a record 174 homers and ranked among the top five in runs per game (9.4) and batting average (.326). They managed just five homers in four CWS games while averaging four runs and hitting .183.

Dick Howser Trophy winner Daniel Jackson batted .157 with one homer Monday that brought his season total to 32.

"The offense struggled at times, which is unlike us," Kolby Branch said. "You can be rolling one stretch and lose momentum the next."

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.