CHAPEL HILL – UNC rallied with a three-run sixth inning Tuesday to edge South Carolina, 5-4, and earn a trip to the College World Series for the sixth time in the last eight years. By surviving the Super Regional, the top-seeded Tar Heels will travel halfway across the country to face rival N.C. State this Sunday at 3 p.m. in Omaha.
“I just can’t remember some of the other ways we got there [to the College World Series]. This one is sweet. This one is very special,” UNC Head Coach Mike Fox said. “It doesn’t really matter how you get there. Baseball is a tough game and you never know how it will go. At the end of that day, we are going. That is the most important thing.”
It was Colin Moran’s RBI triple that sparked the comeback to give the Heels the victory, scoring Landon Lassiter to cut the South Carolina lead to 4-3.
A throwing error by Gamecock pitcher Adam Westmoreland allowed Moran to score the tying run.
Westmoreland, who had hit Skye Bolt with a pitch, then walked catcher Brian Holberton and second baseman Mike Zolk to load the bases. He was replaced by lefty Tyler Webb, who took left fielder Parks Jordan to a full count before walking him on an inside pitch to force in Bolt with what proved to be the winning run.
The Tar Heels shut out the Gamecocks in their last three at bats, with lefty ace Kent Emanuel coming in to nail down the save by getting the last two outs in the ninth on just two pitches.
“It didn’t matter if I would have given up 20 runs or thrown a perfect game. It’s always going to be the same. I’m there to compete against the batter and get him out,” Emanuel said. “It really doesn’t factor in to how I pitch, what happens before.”
Trent Thornton (11-1) notched the win, allowing one earned run over 4 2/3 innings after relieving starter Benton Moss in the third. None of UNC’s three starters over the weekend made it through three full innings.
UNC faced freshman lefty Jack Wynkoop, who entered the game with a 7-3 record and 2.92 ERA in 61.2 innings for the Gamecocks. Westmoreland went 3 1/3 innings but sealed his own fate as the loser with his errant throw and by hitting Bolt in the sixth.
South Carolina took an early lead with a run in the second, but Holberton blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence in the bottom of the second.
The Gamecocks regained the lead in the fifth when Tar Heel centerfielder Chaz Frank dropped a fly ball, allowing two runs to score.
“I just told them to relax. It’s not a big deal,” Thornton said about how how he maintained his composure following the error. “We knew we would comeback. Everybody wanted to win it for Chaz, especially after that play.”
The visitors from the Southeastern Conference added a single run in the top half of the sixth, setting up the dramatic rally to follow.
After throwing 88 pitches, Thornton was relieved by Chris McCue in the eighth.
In the top of the ninth, after McCue walked the potential tying run, Emanuel got DH LB Dantzler to fly out to left on the first pitch and catcher Grayson Greiner to force the runner at second on his next pitch. Emanuel, who has now thrown 240 pitches in the NCAA tournament, has at least four days rest before his first start in the 2013 College World Series.
Carolina improved to 57-10 while the Gamecocks finish the season at 43-20. The Tar Heels are expected to face N.C. State ace lefthander Carlos Rodon in their CWS opener Sunday at 3 p.m.
CHAPEL HILL -UNC Baseball earned a No. 1 national seed in the 2013 NCAA tournament. The Heels will host Florida Atlantic, Towson and Canisius in the Chapel Hill Regional.
It’s the first time in program history UNC is the top overall seed in the tournament.
The 64-team tournament field was announced Monday on ESPNU.
The ACC regular season and tournament champion Heels (52-8) will meet the No. 4 seed Canisius (41-15), the Metro Atlantic Athletic champions, at 6 p.m. Friday at Boshamer Stadium.
The tournament opener will take place at 1 p.m. with No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic (39-20), the Sun Belt champions, meeting No. 3 seed Towson (29-28), champions of the Colonial Athletic Conference.
The Chapel Hill Regional champion will advance to face the winner of the Columbia Regional in the Super Regional round for the right to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The Heels are 52-27 in NCAA play under Mike Fox and are 17-2 at home in regional play since 2006.
Carolina is 1-0 all-time against Canisius with the only meeting a 10-5 Carolina win during the 1958 season.
UNC is 3-0 against Florida Atlantic after a series-opening sweep in Boca Raton during the 2008 season. Carolina owns a 25-2 all-time advantage over Towson since the series began in 1969. The Heels have won 12 straight against the Tigers with the last meeting coming in 2007.
2013 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional Schedule
Friday, May 31 Game 1: #2 Florida Atlantic (39-20) vs. #3 Towson (29-28), 1 p.m. Game 2: #1 North Carolina (52-8) vs. #4 Canisius (41-15), 6 p.m. Saturday, June 1 Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 1 p.m. Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m. Sunday, June 2 Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m. Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m. Monday, June 3 Game 7: 6 p.m. – If necessary
KANSAS CITY – The NCAA Tournament begins for Carolina on Friday night, when the eighth-seeded Tar Heels take on ninth-seeded Villanova at 7:20 in Kansas City.
Many Carolina fans are already looking ahead to the round of 32—when the Heels would likely take on Kansas—but Andrew Jones of FoxSportsCarolinas.com says the Wildcats present a major challenge of their own.
“Carolina’s won 24 games without notching a really good win,” he says. “If they win this game, (it) might be their best win of the year up to that point.”
Still, Carolina enters the tourney riding high: since switching to its smaller lineup in February, the Heels have lost only three games—all to Duke and Miami, both of which are ranked in the top 10.
That late-season run had many observers projecting UNC as a six- or seven-seed in the tournament. Receiving a no. 8 seed was something of a disappointment—especially with the prospect of a matchup with Kansas, Roy Williams’ former team, in Kansas City on Sunday.
Jones says the Heels deserved better.
“To be an 8 (seed), and then to put them in that situation (having to face the Jayhawks in Kansas), I think is just wrong,” he says. “I think UNC got screwed–I think all four ACC teams (in the tournament) got screwed.”
Nevertheless, Jones says he’s picking Carolina to win narrowly on Friday. The Tar Heels enter the game with three players scoring more than 14 points a game—James Michael McAdoo, P.J. Hairston, and Reggie Bullock. Villanova’s leading scorer is sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkston, with 13.1 points per game—and Villanova’s three leading scorers are all freshmen and sophomores, so Carolina may have a rare edge in experience as well.
And while Kansas still looms large as a possible opponent on Sunday, Jones says even that’s not a done deal: the Jayhawks have to get past sixteenth-seeded Western Kentucky first, and Jones says that’s a taller order than it may appear.
“If there ever was a 16 seed that’s going to beat a 1, this would be the kind of game where it could happen,” he says. “Kansas lost to TCU earlier, and I’d be willing to bet that Western Kentucky’s better than TCU.”
UNC tips off against Villanova Friday at 7:20 in Kansas City. Coverage on WCHL begins at 5:00 with Countdown to Tipoff, presented by Harrington Bank.
Roy Williams has never lost as a head coach in the round of 64—he’s 22-0 in more than two decades with Kansas and UNC—and if he can keep that streak going this year, it could bode well for Carolina’s long-term chances. UNC and Villanova have met five times in the NCAA tournament—and all five times, the victor has gone on to the Final Four, winning the national championship all but once.
KANSAS CITY – The NCAA Tournament begins for Carolina on Friday night, when the eighth-seeded Tar Heels take on ninth-seeded Villanova at 7:20 in Kansas City.
Many Carolina fans are already looking ahead to the round of 32—when the Heels would likely take on Kansas—but Andrew Jones of FoxSportsCarolinas.com says the Wildcats present a major challenge of their own.
“Carolina’s won 24 games without notching a really good win,” he says. “If they win this game, (it) might be their best win of the year up to that point.”
Still, Carolina enters the tourney riding high: since switching to its smaller lineup in February, the Heels have lost only three games—all to Duke and Miami, both of which are ranked in the top 10.
That late-season run had many observers projecting UNC as a six- or seven-seed in the tournament. Receiving a no. 8 seed was something of a disappointment—especially with the prospect of a matchup with Kansas, Roy Williams’ former team, in Kansas City on Sunday.
Jones says the Heels deserved better.
“To be an 8 (seed), and then to put them in that situation (having to face the Jayhawks in Kansas), I think is just wrong,” he says. “I think UNC got screwed–I think all four ACC teams (in the tournament) got screwed.”
Nevertheless, Jones says he’s picking Carolina to win narrowly on Friday. The Tar Heels enter the game with three players scoring more than 14 points a game—James Michael McAdoo, P.J. Hairston, and Reggie Bullock. Villanova’s leading scorer is sophomore forward JayVaughn Pinkston, with 13.1 points per game—and Villanova’s three leading scorers are all freshmen and sophomores, so Carolina may have a rare edge in experience as well.
And while Kansas still looms large as a possible opponent on Sunday, Jones says even that’s not a done deal: the Jayhawks have to get past sixteenth-seeded Western Kentucky first, and Jones says that’s a taller order than it may appear.
“If there ever was a 16 seed that’s going to beat a 1, this would be the kind of game where it could happen,” he says. “Kansas lost to TCU earlier, and I’d be willing to bet that Western Kentucky’s better than TCU.”
UNC tips off against Villanova Friday at 7:20 in Kansas City. Coverage on WCHL begins at 5:00 with Countdown to Tipoff, presented by Harrington Bank.
Roy Williams has never lost as a head coach in the round of 64—he’s 22-0 in more than two decades with Kansas and UNC—and if he can keep that streak going this year, it could bode well for Carolina’s long-term chances. UNC and Villanova have met five times in the NCAA tournament—and all five times, the victor has gone on to the Final Four, winning the national championship all but once.
The Chapelboro Top 100 is a list of the most recently tagged people on the entire site! Just click any name to find out what YOUR community has been up to! Scroll down to see the Top 100 list or click here for the full page!
