Henry Godbout hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and 12th-seeded Virginia came from behind to beat Kansas State 7-4 in the opener of the Charlottesville Super Regional on Friday night at Disharoon Park.
UVA (45-15) can advance to its seventh College World Series with a win Saturday. Kansas State (35-25), which has never won a super regional or played in the CWS, must win the next two games to advance.
Kaelen Culpepper’s two-run double in the third gave the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
Virginia used a sacrifice fly and a groundout to score twice in the fifth and get within a run. The Cavaliers took a 4-3 lead the next inning on Griff O’Ferrall’s two-out two-run double.
K-State tied the game in the top of the seventh on David Bishop’s one-out solo homer.
Godbout’s go-ahead shot to left field on a 1-0 pitch was his ninth home run of the season, and it was UVA’s only hit of the inning.
Evan Blanco (8-3) got the start and the win. He allowed four runs on five hits and a walk in seven innings, striking out nine. Matt Augustin got the final two outs for his first save.
North Carolina 8, West Virginia 6: Luke Stevenson homered leading off the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game, Vance Honeycutt followed with a two-out, two-run shot, and No. 4 national seed UNC rallied behind three no-hit innings from reliever Matt Poston to win the opener of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
UNC (46-14) can wrap up the best-of-three series and earn a spot in its 12th College World Series with a victory on Saturday. West Virginia (36-23), playing this far in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, must win twice to advance to its first CWS.
Florida State 24, Connecticut 4: Jaime Ferrer hit two of Florida State’s five home runs, James Tibbs III and Marco Dinges each added four RBIs and the Seminoles cruised in the opening game of the Tallahassee Super Regional.
Florida State set NCAA super-regional records for the most runs in a game and largest margin of victory. It was FSU’s most runs in an NCAA Tournament game since a 37-6 rout of Ohio State in a 2008 regional.
Florida State (46-15), which hosted its first super regional since 2017, is one win away from a 24th College World Series appearance. The Seminoles hadn’t faced UConn since the 1957 CWS.
The Seminoles drew 15 walks and struck out just once. Five of their 18 hits were homers, including two-out shots by Dinges and Max Williams. Cam Smith and Tibbs each drew two-out, bases-loaded walks in the third inning for an 8-0 lead.
Ferrer hit a two-run homer in the sixth, and Smith and Tibbs added RBI singles for a six-run inning. The Seminoles added nine runs in the seventh, started by McGwire Holbrook’s bases-clearing double.
Florida State starter Carson Dorsey (7-4) allowed just one earned run and struck out six over 5 1/3 innings.
Tennessee 11, Evansville 6: Hunter Ensley went 3 for 4, including a three-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning, and No. 1 national seed Tennessee beat Evansville to begin the Knoxville Super Regional.
Tennessee (54-11), playing in its fourth consecutive super regional, can advance to the College World Series with a victory over Evansville (38-25) on Saturday.
Christian Moore became the first Tennessee player ever to hit 30 home runs in a season when he blasted a shot in the third for a 3-2 lead. His error on a routine play at second hurt the Vols in the fifth as Evansville had a two-run double off the wall and an RBI single to center to tie it at 5.
Tennessee answered Evansville’s three runs in the top of the fifth with three runs in the bottom half.
Glance
Friday’s games
Florida State 24, UConn 4
Tennessee 11, Evansville 6
North Carolina 8, West Virginia 6
Virginia 7, Kansas State 4
Saturday’s games
UConn at Florida State, 11 a.m.
Evansville at Tennessee, 11 a.m.
N.C. State at Georgia, noon
Oregon at Texas A&M, 2 p.m.
Florida at Clemson, 2 p.m.
Kansas State at Virginia, 3 p.m.
Oregon State at Kentucky, 6 p.m.
West Virginia at North Carolina, 8 p.m.
