ATHENS, Ga. — Eli Serrano III homered in the sixth inning and made a leaping catch off the center field wall in the seventh, helping North Carolina State beat Georgia 8-5 on Monday night to clinch the fourth trip of the program. to the Men's College World Series.
NC State (38-21) advances to a first-round game against Kentucky on Saturday. The Wolfpack has won 18 of its last 23 games.
They became the fourth ACC team to reach this year's MCWS, joining Florida State, Virginia and UNC, tying 2006 for the most in a single year for the conference.
Georgia (43-17), which forced a winner-take-all game with an 11-2 victory on Sunday, was looking to make its seventh trip to the MCWS.
NC State took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth inning when Matt Heavner scored from third on a wild pitch. Alec Makarewicz made it 4-2 with an RBI single down the third base line.
NC State extended the lead to 6-3 in the seventh on Alex Sosa's third hit of the game.
Georgia had two on with no outs in the seventh before Serrano's highlight catch to maintain a three-run lead. NC State reliever Derrick Smith got Tre Phelps, who had a hit in his first three at-bats, to jump out to end the inning.
Makarewicz followed in the top of the eighth with NC State's 16th home run in six NCAA Tournament games for an 8-4 lead.
Georgia star Charlie Condon hit his nationally-leading 37th home run in the top of the ninth for his 78th RBI. Smith retired Phelps again for his eighth save of the season.
Georgia starter Zach Harris (5-2) allowed three runs in three innings to take the loss.
Serrano went 3-for-4 and Makarewicz finished with three RBIs. Garrett Pennington hit a two-run shot in the second for NC State's sixth straight home run.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
