North Carolina first to move on at super regional

North Carolina became the first team to advance to the College World Series, completing a sweep of its best-of-3 NCAA Tournament super regional against Stetson on Saturday.

The No. 6 national seed Tar Heels scored four runs in the first inning and hung on to win 7-5 over the No. 11 Hatters. Carolina will make its first trip to the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska, since 2013.

Cal State Fullerton beat Washington 5-2 to even its series at a game apiece, and Vanderbilt topped Mississippi State 4-3 on J.J. Bleday’s walk-off home run in the ninth inning to square that series at one win each.

No. 14 Minnesota played at No. 3 Oregon State in a late Game 2.

In super regional openers, defending national champion and No. 1 overall seed Florida beat Auburn and top draft pick Casey Mize 8-2; Tennessee Tech closer Ethan Roberts held No. 13 Texas to one run over four innings in a 5-4 win; Big 12 freshman of the year Gabe Holt drove in the goahead run in the eighth to lead No. 9 Texas Tech past Duke 8-4; and Carson Shaddy drove in four runs in No. 5 Arkansas’ 9-3 win over South Carolina.

North Carolina, playing at home in Chapel Hill, survived ninth-inning drama for the second straight day to secure its seventh CWS berth and 11th overall.

With runners on first and third and two outs and the go-ahead run at the plate, Stetson’s Brooks Wilson sent a high fly to center field that Brandon Riley caught at the warning track for the final out. On Friday, with Stetson down three runs, the game ended when Wilson flied out to the wall in left with the bases loaded.