The Red Storm bats were too hot for UNC pitchers

The North Carolina baseball team was hosting a regional for the sixth time in seven years, but 2012 marks the first time in that stretch that a hosting Tar Heel team failed to advance to the Super Regional.

All season long, the Tar Heels’ pitching depth was touted as among the best in the country. The staff as a whole posted the fourth best ERA in the nation and boasted two All-Americans.

But the Red Storm is red hot right now — especially at the plate.

“We had that storybook ending yesterday and I think that took a little wind out of their sails,” St. John’s head coach Ed Blankmeyer said Sunday night after the game.

“Sometimes it’s destiny. I thought we played our ‘A’ game, I thought we were playing our best baseball coming in to this and I thought (UNC coach) Mike (Fox)’s club wasn’t at their best.”

After dropping the regular season ending series against Seton Hall, St. John’s tore through the Big East tournament starting with a 12-2 demolition of Notre Dame and took their second Big East crown in three seasons.

Continuing that momentum, in three games in the Chapel Hill regional St. John’s racked up 38 hits. Including some in the most timely manners.

Take Danny Bethea’s walk-off home run Saturday night for example.

“They swung it well … we’re running freshman after freshman out there and they haven’t been in this situation for us,” Fox said. “Did they not quite make the pitch we wanted to? Yeah, occasionally, but you have give St. John’s credit.

“They swung it well and got the big hits when they needed to and that separates the regional champions from everyone else.”

In contrast, the Tar Heels weren’t swinging the bats that well and certainly not when they needed it the most.

Much of the Tar Heels’ offensive struggles can be attributed to the strong showing from St. John’s pitching staff.

What turned out to be the clinching game was just St. John’s third game of the regional, while it was UNC’s fourth.

As a result the Tar Heels had already used each of their usual weekend starters — Kent Emanuel, Benton Moss and Hobbs Johnson.

So Sunday night Fox started Shane Taylor who had started just three games this season before starting in an elimination game at the regional.

Matt Carasiti who started Sunday’s game is a junior with 13 starts already this season. Carasiti earned the win as he pitched into the sixth inning.

Taylor, a sophomore, was hit with the loss as he was pulled in the third for freshman Luis Paula.

“We just never could sustain consistency, to get a couple of hits back-to-back in an inning,” Fox said. “It’s hard to win at this level on this stage if that doesn’t happen. You’ve have to have one good at bat followed by another one. You can’t rely on the other team to make a mistake.”

If nothing else, the early postseason exit puts all of Fox’s trips to Omaha in perspective.

“Maybe now people will realize how hard it is to get to Omaha,” senior Jacob Stallings said. “And realize what coach and the program have done over the past seven years.

“I guess the other teams have made it look easy, but its not easy.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.