North Carolina saw its season come to an end with a 12-5 loss to Long Beach State Monday afternoon at McKethan Stadium. Long Beach scored twice in the seventh after having two on with one out when the game was halted late Sunday due to torrential rain and unplayable field conditions. Tom Zengel had three hits, while Skye Bolt and Tyler Ramirez had two RBIs apiece for the Tar Heels, who finished 2014 with a 35-27 record and a 13th straight NCAA regional appearance.
Long Beach State (34-25) had a 5-4 lead in the seventh when a second rain delay stopped play Sunday evening. After lenghty wait, the game was suspended and rescheduled for a 12:05 resumption Monday afternoon.
The Dirtbags wasted no time against Carolina reliever Spencer Trayner, executing a double steal on the first pitch Monday and loading the bases with an intentional walk to Richard Prigatano. Michael Hill, whose solo home run gave LBSU a 5-4 lead, singled through the right side to push the Long Beach lead to 7-4.
Benton Moss came on for UNC and got out of the inning, and the Tar Heels immediately responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a Ramirez double. But LBSU closer Ty Provencher struck out Adam Pate to strand the tying runs on base before the Dirtbags broke it open in the ninth.
Zengel’s three-hit day in his final game as a Tar Heel led a 13-hit attack, with Bolt, Ramirez, Alex Raburn and Landon Lassiter each chipping in two. Henry Sisson got the final two outs in the ninth for the Carolina bullpen, which figures to return the bulk of its arms – including first-team All-ACC righty Reilly Hovis – in 2014.
Michael Russell, who played despite a nasty cut above the eye from a fastball to the head against Florida, finished his standout junior season with a team-leading .339 batting average as well as four homers and 20 doubles.
Related Stories
‹
Five-Run Inning Helps UNC Baseball Avoid Sweep vs. Long Beach State
Over the first two games of its three-game series with Long Beach State–which both ended in losses–the eighth-ranked UNC baseball team managed to scrape together just five hits in each game. With a chance to avoid being swept by the Dirtbags at Boshamer Stadium on Sunday, the Tar Heel bats woke up and put together […]
Dirtbags Take Series Opener From UNC, Hand Tar Heels Second Straight Loss
After losing its first game of the season earlier this week at the hands of St. Johns, the eighth-ranked UNC baseball team dropped another heartbreaker on Friday at Boshamer Stadium–after freshman closer Josh Hiatt’s first career blown save ended up in a 5-2 loss to the Long Beach State Dirtbags. The Dirtbags (5-4) scored four […]
Recurring Troubles Doom Tar Heels In NCAA Dirtbag Duel
The North Carolina baseball team saw its season come to an end Monday afternoon in a 12-5 loss to Long Beach State in the Gainesville regional.
Tar Heels-Dirtbags Contest To Resume Monday
Game five of the 2014 NCAA Gainesville Regional between North Carolina and Long Beach State was halted due to rain with the Dirtbags leading 5-4 in the top of the seventh and will be resumed Monday at noon at McKethan Stadium.
Tar Heels Fall To LBSU 6-1 In NCAA Opener
Long Beach State had all five of its hits in a six-run fourth and Andrew Rohrbach worked into the ninth for the second-seeded Dirtbags, who defeated No. 3 seed North Carolina 6-1 Friday afternoon at the University of Florida's McKethan Stadium.
Fox, Underdog Tar Heels Prepare For NCAAs
The third-seeded North Carolina baseball team, 34-25 overall, will embark on the Road to Omaha when it faces second-seeded Long Beach State, sporting a 32-24 record, Friday at 1 p.m. at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
Long Beach State Silences Tar Heel Bats, Clinches Series Win in Chapel Hill
If traveling all the way across the country is supposed to have any effect on baseball players, the Long Beach State pitching staff has yet to show it. The Dirtbags clinched a series victory at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday, after limiting the eighth-ranked Tar Heels to just five hits in a 4-1 win. Junior second […]
Former UNC Star Michael Busch Shines at MLB All-Star Futures Game
Former UNC star Michael Busch became just the fourth Tar Heel to ever play in the MLB All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, and made the most of his time on the field. Busch was selected in the first round (31st overall) of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and has been playing […]
No. 2 Seed UCLA Ends Season for No. 3 Seed UNC at NCAA Baseball Tournament
Having used up the arms of many of the team’s top pitchers over the first two days at the NCAA Baseball Tournament Lubbock Regional, No. 3 seed UNC suffered a season-ending loss to No. 2 seed UCLA on Sunday by a score of 12-2. The Tar Heels (28-27) gave reliever Connor Ollio just his third […]
Top-Seeded Texas Tech Powers Past No. 3 Seed UNC, Puts Tar Heels on Brink of Elimination
Saturday night in Lubbock saw the top-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders prove why they earned the right to host an NCAA Regional, as they put No. 3 seed UNC on the brink of tournament elimination with a 7-2 victory in their home stadium. The Tar Heels came into the night riding the high of an […]
›