St. John's claims Chapel Hill Regional

In the ninth inning, North Carolina closer Michael Morin positioned himself under St. John’s Kyle Richardson’s infield pop fly.

It was supposed to be an easy, routine play.

But instead of catching the ball to end the inning, the ball bounced out of Morin’s glove and allowed NCAA regional MVP Jeremy Baltz to score his third run of the day.

But as UNC coach Mike Fox and St. John’s coach Ed Blankmeyer said after UNC’s 9-5 loss, that’s baseball.

“North Carolina has been doing some special things,” Blankmeyer said. “This just wasn’t their weekend. The kids played their guts out. They made some mistakes we took advantage. We played well — we just outplayed them this weekend. They made some mistakes and we got some breaks and that’s baseball. “

In the season-ending defeat, UNC saw the Red Storm capitalize on a variety of scoring opportunities while the Tar Heels were never able to generate consistency at the plate.

“(We’re) somewhat of a work in progress offensively,” Fox said. “We just never could sustain consistency offensively to get a couple hits back to back in an inning. It’s hard to win at this level, on this stage, if that doesn’t happen.”

St. John’s nearly doubled UNC in offensive production, generating nine runs off 14 hits.

Earlier in the day, UNC staved off elimination by handily defeating ECU but in the nightcap rematch against St. John’s, things weren’t clicking for the Tar Heels.

The Red Storm struck first with a run scored in the top of the second inning. UNC took the lead away in the bottom of the frame but a determined St. John’s club quickly fought back.

St. John’s loaded the bases with the first three at bat in the third inning. Starting pitcher Shane Taylor was then replaced with freshman Luis Paula. But even that move couldn’t get the Tar Heels out of the tough situation.

Sean O’Hare was the first St. John’s batter to face Paula and he quickly found a hole in UNC’s defense. O’Hare lifted the ball over Tommy Coyle at second base and forced Chaz Frank to field the ball in center field. The hit pushed Matt Wessinger across the plate and as Frank attempted to throw a streaking Frank Schwindel out at home, he miscalculated.

Instead of a perfectly executed throw to waiting catcher Jacob Stallings, Frank overthrew the ball and watched it arc over Stallings, allowing Schwindel to tag home plate and tie the score.

“Obviously the double that the guy hit was a big hit,” Stallings said. “We did the same things we’ve been doing all year. They just found holes and when they do that, I guess it’s just not meant to be.”

Two batters later, Baltz stole home to permanently regain the lead for St. John’s on yet another miscommunication by UNC’s defense.

Six innings after a series of UNC miscues, the Tar Heels saw consequences of their missed plays as St. John’s dog-piled on the infield of Boshamer Stadium, celebrating their first regional championship win since 1980.

Instead of walking off the field with hopes of advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, UNC exited the regionals on a loss as the host team for the first time since 1983.

“We had other opportunities,” Stallings said. “I had opportunities. Other guys had opportunities. We just couldn’t quite get it done.”