West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey exchanges thoughts with a referee during Friday's NCAA Super Regional game against North Carolina State in Chapel Hill, N.C. (Photo by Kevin Kinder, BlueGoldNews.com)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Vance Honeycutt homered on the first pitch of the game after a walk-off, two-run homer ended the opener of a best-of-three series and helped North Carolina edge West Virginia, 2-1, on Saturday night to win the best-of-three Chapel Hill Super Regional and secure a spot in the College World Series. North Carolina (47-14) is looking for its first championship in its 12th CWS. The Tar Heels finished second in consecutive years, losing both times to the Oregon State Beavers in 2006-07. North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia all qualify for the series, with five spots remaining. Honeycutt's homer in the ninth inning of the Tar Heels' 8-6 opener came off West Virginia starter Tyler Switalski, who was the leadoff hitter in the game.Honeycutt's home run was his school-record 26th of the season, one better than the single-season record he set two seasons ago, and his 63rd overall. The Tar Heels scored their final runs with three singles in the third inning. Honeycutt bunted with two outs to take the lead. Casey Cook then singled to center field to put runners on each corner, and Parks Harbour singled through the left side of the infield to drive Honeycutt in for the winning run. The Mountaineers' only runs came in the bottom of the seventh. Reed Chumley singled with one out, advanced to second on a walk by Spencer Barnett with two outs, and drove in on a single by Kyle West through the left side of the infield.West Virginia (36-24), which is making its first ever Super Regional appearance, loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth against Tar Heels relief pitcher Dalton Pence, but Ben Ramsden grounded out to end the game, earning Pence his eighth save of the season. Jason DeCaro (6-1) started for North Carolina and earned the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out five. Pence allowed two hits and three walks over the final 2 2/3 innings. Switalski (5-3) was the losing pitcher for the Mountaineers, pitching 6 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four. Mazey was the head coach at Charleston Southern (1994-96) and East Carolina (2003-05), where he retired with a record of 541 wins, 424 losses and two ties before taking over as head coach with the Mountaineers in 2013. Mazey was the Conference Player of the Year in the Big South and Conference USA and won the Big 12 award in 2019 and last season.