It was the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday night in a winner's bracket battle between UNC and WVU at the College World Series. The Tar Heels had taken an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the Mountaineers bounced back to tie the contest at 2-2 after four innings. Since then, no team had been able to find an edge.
Ace pitcher Maxx Yehl was on the mound, and had been since the beginning of the game – he was approaching 100 pitches on the evening, but was still taking down batters with ease. The Mountaineers needed just nine more outs and one more run to put themselves in perfect position to advance to the College World Series Finals. That's when the first batter on the inning stepped up to the plate for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia Mountaineers falter late against UNC in College World Series loss
Colin Hynek was at the plate, and Yehl forced a 1-2 count before Hynek caught hold of a pitch from Yehl, sending it down the third base line. Everything was in position for an easy first out, when third baseman Tyrus Hall struggled to field the ball, allowing Hynek to reach first on an error.
From there, Carter French reached on a bunt, and would advance to second on a Brodie Kresser error during the next at-bat. The next two at-bats would see Tar Heels batters triple and single, respectively, driving home three runs in total to allow UNC to take a 5-2 lead.
The Mountaineers were unable to respond, and two errors leading to two unearned runs would end up being the downfall for West Virginia as they dropped their first game at the College World Series. The loss moves WVU to the loser's bracket in their four-team section, where they face Troy in a rematch from the first game of the weekend on Tuesday, June 16.
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