CHAPEL HILL | The never say die Tigers did it again.

Trailing 5-2 in the eighth, Auburn struck for five runs including a bases-clearing double by Rankin Woley and added four more in the ninth to beat No. 14 national seed North Carolina 11-7 in game one of the Chapel Hill Super Regional Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium.

Auburn is one win away from its first College World Series appearance in 22 years.

"We finished strong," Auburn coach Butch Thompson said. "I thought offensively we hit and that got contagious up and down the lineup. Steven Williams continues to be the hot bat for us. Kind of drew us back within striking distance so we could make a game of it. I thought Rankin’s hit kind of woke something up, and (Edouard) Julien when we needed it.

"We know that we have much, much work left to do. North Carolina reminded us of that today, from the standpoint of scoring two and leaving the bases loaded to finish the ballgame."

Kason Howell led off the eighth with a double, but was thrown out at third base on a ground ball to shortstop by Judd Ward. Ryan Bliss singled on the next pitch and Conor Davis doubled down the left field line to score Ward and cut UNC’s lead to 5-3.

Bliss scored on a wild pitch, followed by walks to Will Holland and Julien to set up Woley. The junior drove a two-strike pitch off the top of the left-centerfield wall to drive in three runs.

"Well I know that guy's got, his curveball is his pitch, and he's thrown it 1-0, 92 percent of the time, it beat me a little bit," Woley explained. "So I fought a couple off and almost swung at that high pitch, but I knew he was gonna come back to it, especially with runners on. It was down, that's where I like it, got a bat to it, and you know, a pretty fun swing."

Auburn added some much needed insurance in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Holland and a three-run home run by Julien well over the right field wall. It was Julien’s ninth home run of the season but first since April 18.

Cody Greenhill allowed two runs over the final 2.0 innings to earn his 12th save of the season. Auburn led 11-5 going into the ninth but UNC scored two runs and had the bases loaded with two outs before Greenhill retired the final batter on a fly out to centerfield.

Elliott Anderson (7-2) earned the win allowing a run on two hits in 2.0 innings out of the bullpen.

Williams continued his postseason tear hitting a two-run home run in the fifth. The sophomore has three home runs and 12 RBI in four NCAA games this season and has 19 RBI in 10 career NCAA tournament games.

The comeback comes one week after Auburn rallied from a 5-2 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the ninth including a walk-off, three-run home run by Williams to beat No. 3 national seed Georgia Tech 6-5.

"The biggest thing for us is just not panicking," Davis said. "We believe we can hang into every game. We could be down five or six runs in the ninth and still think we're right there, a hit or two away. So I just think not panicking, staying focused is the biggest thing for our success right now."

Bliss, Davis, Julien and Woley had two hits apiece. Julien and Woley had three RBI apiece.

North Carolina jumped on Auburn starter Jack Owen for three runs in the first but the sophomore settled down to hold the Tar Heels to one run over the next four innings.

Sunday’s game two is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on ESPN. If necessary, the two teams will play Monday at noon on ESPN2.