St. John’s claims Chapel Hill Regional by beating the Tar Heels twice

When North Carolina’s baseball team took the field for its opening game of the NCAA regionals, it was business as usual.

The No. 1 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, the Tar Heels took care of No. 4 seed in the regional, Cornell, 7-4 and advanced on their usual track on the winner’s bracket.

But a feisty No.3 seeded St. John’s team coming off a blowout victory against No. 2 seed East Carolina was waiting, and the Red Storm would be the team to deliver the finishing blow to UNC’s season Sunday night.

But Saturday, St. John’s struck first, scoring off catcher Danny Bethea’s ground out in the second inning. After scoring one more in the third inning, the Red Storm quieted until the final inning.

Shell McCain hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to give UNC a 3-2 lead. Parks Jordan added another run for the Tar Heels with an RBI double in the top of the ninth, giving UNC a 4-2 lead going into the last three outs.

Without hesitation, UNC coach Mike Fox put All-American closer Michael Morin on the mound to finish the game.

After giving up hits to the first two batters, Morin struck out Zach Lauricella. Morin then faced Bethea. After throwing one strike, Morin left a fastball up in the zone and Bethea connected. The ball sailed over the left field wall and brought all three runners home. With the walk-off home run, Bethea sent the Tar Heels into unfamiliar territory — the loser’s bracket.

“I just left the ball up, and now we’re here,” Morin said. “I wasn’t overwhelmed at the situation or anything like that. I was calm and I just wasn’t throwing strikes. I just didn’t feel comfortable.”

In order to advance, the Tar Heels needed to win three straight games including two rematches against the Red Storm.

UNC began the uphill battle Sunday afternoon while facing ECU. The Tar Heels returned to their original recipe for success and used strong defense and a solid performance on the mound to win the game 5-3 and eliminate the Pirates.

Michael Russell anchored the Tar Heel defense, snagging some touch balls and turning a pair of crucial double plays.

“I thought obviously our pitching did the job, and Michael Russell was really good at short and made a couple big plays,” Fox said.

The win meant that UNC had to take the field for a second time Sunday to face St. John’s in a rematch of Saturday night’s game.

Once again St. John’s put a run on the board first in the second inning, but this time, UNC responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame.

But UNC’s momentum quickly slowed down as the Red Storm added three runs in the third. UNC didn’t have an answer for St. John’s and allowed the Red Storm to score five runs off six hits in the last six innings, including two runs in the both seventh and ninth innings.

“The kids played their guts out,” St. John’s coach Ed Blankmeyer said. “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. “

The 9-5 loss ended UNC’s season at 46-16 and eliminated hopes of returning to Omaha and the elusive College World Series.

“Obviously we didn’t get where we wanted to go, but we had a great year,” Jacob Stallings said. “It’s just disappointing the way it ended.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.