Golden Eagles Eliminated by North Carolina, 12-4
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The victory moves North Carolina (38-21) into the regional championship round against Oklahoma, beginning 7 p.m., Sunday. The Tar Heels need two wins over the Sooners to win the regional. ORU concludes its season with a 36-27 record.
Playing as the visiting team, North Carolina took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Jesse Wierzbicki and Mike Cavasinni each had RBI singles.
ORU tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single by
Chris Elder, but North Carolina quickly broke the tie in the top of the fifth when Levi Michael belted a lead-off home run against ORU reliever Dan Martony (1-2). Seth Baldwin connected for a three-run homer five batters as the Tar Heels took a 6-2 lead.The Golden Eagles cut the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Nick Baligod, but got no closer.
North Carolina extended its lead to 8-3 in the sixth, and tacked on four runs in the top of the eighth for a 12-3 lead. ORU scored its final run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly byBrett Burch.
The Golden Eagles left nine runners on base and squandered identical opportunities to get back in the game in the sixth and seventh innings. In each case, the first two batters reached but ORU failed to score.
P.J. Sequeira led ORU with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate. Elder finished 2-for-4 and his two RBI gave him eight in three regional games. ORU, which finished the season with a school-record 105 home runs, failed to homer for the first time in six games
Martony took the loss in relief of starter Jeff Burleson, allowing four runs on six hits in 1.2 innings. Chris Munnelly (3-2) picked up the win for UNC, surrendering three runs on eight hits in five innings.
Updated 06-07-2010
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