North Carolina baseball defeated Tennessee, 5-2, in the final game of the Chapel Hill regional on Sunday night, sending UNC back to the super regional round for the second year in a row.
What happened?
Carrying over the team’s hot hitting streak from Saturday night, North Carolina scored four runs in the first inning after Ashton McGee hit a 2 RBI single to bat in Aaron Sabato and Danny Serretti, and Dylan Harris singled up the middle, letting Ike Freeman round the plate.
McGee would manage to steal home after Zach Linginfelter threw a wild pitch several feet over the head of Caleb Roberts in the plate. It would be Linginfelter’s last pitch of the game, just .2 innings in, after allowing four hits and two walks to go along with the four runs.
Tennessee cut into the score in the bottom of the second with their own score after a wild pitch, Alerick Soularie sprinting home. Tennessee’s left fielder scored without a ball being hit, walking during his at bat and advancing to third on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
The Vols sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth inning after Jay Charleston singled up the middle, and put himself in scoring position, getting called safe on review after stealing second. All it took from there was a single from Soularie to send the center fielder home. The steal was Charleston’s 41st of the game, a stat he leads the SEC in.
UNC showed the same patience it has at the box all season, getting both Caleb Roberts and Michael Busch on base with walks, before Sabato singled down the third baseline with a short drive to load the bases. When Serretti took his at bat, he drew yet another walk to let Roberts trot home and push the lead back up to three, UNC 5-2.
Who stood out?
While the Tar Heel’s high powered offense put them in front early, it was the pitching of Austin Bergner that kept that lead safe. Through 7.0 innings, Bergner threw for eight strikeouts, and only allowed four hits the entire game.
