Troy Sends Ole Miss Home While North Carolina Remains Hot on Day Three of the College World Series
Day three of the College World Series has come and gone which means the first elimination game has come and gone. With that being said, the field has been cut down to seven teams, with the Ole Miss Rebels being the first to pack their bags. Meanwhile, we now also have a team just one win away from the final after North Carolina defeated West Virginia in the winner’s bracket to advance to 2-0 in Omaha.
Troy wins their fifth elimination game of the tournament
If you date back to two weeks ago, you would find Troy facing elimination before they even picked up their first win in the NCAA Baseball tournament. Since then, they have now picked up five wins while facing elimination, with four of those wins coming in the Gainesville Regional, and the fifth coming against Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon. As for Ole Miss, it was their first time throughout the tournament facing elimination after they swept both the Lincoln Regional and the Auburn Super Regional before falling to North Carolina in the opening round on Friday night.
The pitching match-up on Sunday featured right-handed senior Tommy Egan for Troy, and left-handed senior Hunter Elliot for Ole Miss. Neither starter came out on the other side of this one with a particularly good line as it was all about the bats in this one. Ole Miss jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first on two unearned runs driven in on a Judd Utermark single and a Hayen Federico double. Brayden Randle added a two-run home run in the bottom of the second as Tommy Egan’s day was done after two innings with just two of his four runs being earned on four hits and two walks.
Troy did battle back early, tying the game in the second on a Sean Darnell two-run home run before Randle’s big fly in the bottom half. The long ball continued to be a theme in this one as Colin Reuter added another two-run shot of his own in the bottom of the fourth to extend the Rebels lead to 6-2 as it looked like Ole Miss might pull away from the Trojans. However, this Troy team wasn’t going to go down that easy. With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, a rare balk from Hunter Elliot brought in a run to make it 6-3 before Sean Darnell logged two more runs batted in on a single through the left side to bring the score within one.
Sophomore right-hander Noah Thigpen was in the game for Troy at this point, and he couldn’t have done a better job of keeping Troy in this game. He finished with five innings out of relief, the first time in which he threw at least five innings in an outing since February 28th, and only allowed two runs on six hits, one walk, and five strikeouts. It was his effort that allowed the Trojans to tie the game and then take the lead in the top half of the seventh.
Star sophomore catcher Jimmy Janicki, who had already made his mark in Omaha to this point, hit his second home run of the World Series to tie the game to lead off the seventh. A hit and a walk followed before Jabe Boroff, the hottest hitter in Troy’s lineup throughout the tournament, shot a double down the left field line that scored two to put the Trojans up 8-6. That was a lead that Troy would not give back to Ole Miss. The Rebels did add one more run in each of the seventh and eighth inning, but a Houston Markham RBI-single in the seventh, a Blake Cavill solo home run, and a dropped pop fly in the eighth brought four more runs around as Troy finished this one victorious by a score of 12-8. Senior left-hander Zach Crotchfelt finished the game after throwing 4.1 innings on 60 pitches two days prior against West Virginia. Speaking of the Mountaineers, Troy will get their rematch against them on Tuesday as West Virginia fell to North Carolina on Sunday evening.
The Tar Heels find themselves one win away from the final
After North Carolina defeated Ole Miss and West Virginia defeated Troy on Friday, these two surging teams faced off on Sunday evening. This was an intriguing match-up given both programs have a similar identity - they pitch well and play excellent defense, and while they may not possess the biggest sluggers, they consistently put the ball in play and come through with big hits at the right time. With that being said, it was easy to see this one being a low-scoring affair, which it ended up being for most of the night.
Both aces were on the mound on Sunday, with junior left-hander Maxx Yehl going for West Virginia and sophomore right-hander Ryan Lynch going for North Carolina. It was a rough start for Yehl as he loaded the bases with one out in the first inning before walking in a run and allowing another to score on a groundout as the Tar Heels jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Mountaineers however wouldn’t take too long to climb right back in this one as Armani Guzman drove in the first run of the game for West Virginia in the third before a Matt Ineich RBI-groundout tied the game at two in the fourth.
Both starters threw pretty well in this one, although it felt like UNC’s Ryan Lynch was pulled a little prematurely. However, the Tar Heels were more than ready to go to their A-bullpen at a moment’s notice, starting with sophomore right-hander Walk McDuffie whom they would go to with two outs in the fifth. Lynch’s day finished after 4.2 innings with two earned runs on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts.
As for Maxx Yehl, the lefty really settled in after his shaky first inning and got into the seventh before the Tar Heels would score again. Unfortunately for Yehl, the defense behind him that had been so strong to this point made some untimely mistakes as North Carolina’s lineup capitalized, putting three across home plate in the inning. Gavin Gallaher, who has come through in multiple big moments for the Tar Heels, delivered a two-run triple before Owen Hull, another UNC bat that has been as clutch as anyone, drove in one more on a single. Yehl would complete the seventh and would finish with just two earned runs on his line on eight hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts.
Walker McDuffie got into the ninth for the Tar Heels, but was replaced with one out and two on in the ninth for freshman right-hander Caden Glauber. McDuffie was excellent down the stretch, putting up zeroes through 3.2 innings while allowing just three hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Glauber had been the closer all year for UNC, so it was only right that they would go to him with West Virginia threatening in the ninth. Glauber didn’t skip a beat, retiring both hitters he faced via strikeout to extend the Tar Heels win streak in games in which Glauber pitches to 27 games. He also only needed to throw nine pitches to do it, so he is certainly in play for their next game which isn’t until Wednesday in potentially a starter’s role. North Carolina will await the winner of West Virginia and Troy as they will meet with one of the two with a shot in the final on the line at 1 PM on Wednesday. Whoever emerges from the loser’s bracket will have to defeat North Carolina twice to advance to the final.
