USC Baseball’s College World Series Dream Ends on UNC Walk-Off

USC baseball was two outs away from making it back to the Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2001. But a walk off double by North Carolina ended those dreams for the Trojans.

Entering the bottom of the ninth inning, USC held a one run lead over North Carolina and had yet to trail the Tar Heels. With one out on the board, North Carolina shortstop Jake Schaffner hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Then, center fielder Owen Hull hit a walk off double to clinch a MCWS berth for the Tar Heels.

USC junior center fielder Kevin Takeuchi made an attempt to catch Hull’s hit but was ultimately unable to reach the ball.

𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐔𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐇𝐀 🤯 Carolina walks it off!! pic.twitter.com/epObEkIi1u

Now, USC’s season is over, and North Carolina will compete for its program’s first national championship.

North Carolina joins West Virginia, Troy, Ole Miss and Georgia as teams that have clinched a MCWS berth. Three more teams will earn spots in the tournament. The last three super regionals are between Kansas and Oklahoma, Alabama and St. John and Texas and Oregon.

Although USC did not reach the MCWS, this season was still one for the Trojan history books.

USC made it to the super regionals for the first time since 2005 . The Trojans have won an NCAA-record 12 national championships but the last one was in 1998. And so, making the super regionals proves that USC baseball is heading in the right direction to be one of the nation’s top programs again.