Start to finish, North Carolina’s 5-4 loss to St. John’s Saturday night was all about pitching.
St. John’s left handed starter Sean Hagan continued his hot streak with 8.1 innings of work in which he gave up eight hits and four runs. He struck out three and walked just two Tar Heels.
Those numbers aren’t necessarily eyebrow raisers, but they were just enough.
“He knows how to pitch,” St. John’s head coach Ed Blankmeyer said.
“What Sean does, he pitches to contact and he keeps us involved in the game. The guys are confident behind him. Whatever the situation he’s in, he seems to get out of and it’s great playing behind a guy like that.”
North Carolina did put balls in play and the Red Storm defense came up with them most of the night. But for the Tar Heels left handed bats, it was difficult to find holes to hit into.
“Part of what made him effective was that most of lineup was lefties,” Shell McCain said about Hagan’s performance. “So lefty on lefty he has a little bit of an advantage, and with his slider.”
On the other side of the ledger, Tar Heel ace Kent Emanuel was his impressive – as expected.
He pitched eight innings, getting more consistent along the way. He struck out just one but he scattered five hits and gave up two runs (one earned).
“I thought he was throwing his best at the end,” UNC Coach Mike Fox said. “I think he got stronger as the game went along…I thought both pitchers were sensational.”
But instead of bringing Emanuel back out to finish off the complete game, Fox went to his All-American closer Michael Morin.
“I’d make that move every time,” Fox said. “Without question we’ll put Michael in the game in the ninth inning. We wouldn’t be playing in this regional without him.”
Had Morin finished off the win, he would have broken the school record for most saves in single season. But it didn’t turn out that way.
Morin came up with just one out, a strikeout, after giving up two hits and had runners on the corners. Trying to waste a pitch up 0-1 in the count, Morin left a fastball up in the zone and Danny Bethea sent it for a ride over the left field fence.
“I thought you just witnessed a great college baseball game,” Blankmeyer said. “I thought two lefthanders pitched extremely well. The opportunities to score runs were not that many…. We got a key hit at the end, a story book ending for a game like that.”
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
