East Carolina University
North Carolina
ECU Falls In Bottom Of Ninth To UNC, 11-10
June 02, 2007 | Baseball
June 2, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Dustin Ackley lined a one-out single to centerfield off Pirate closer Shane Mathews to score Reid Fronk from second base and cap a dramatic three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift North Carolina to an 11-10 victory over East Carolina during a pivotal winner's bracket contest at the Chapel Hill Regional Saturday night at Boshamer Stadium.
Pinch hitter Mike Cavasinni and Seth Williams drew walks against Mathews and both were moved up a base on Garrett Gore's sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch plated Cavasinni to cut the deficit to 10-9 before Fronk delivered a single off ECU second baseman Ryan Wood's glove to tie the contest. Tim Fedroff added a base hit to advance Fronk to second before Ackley delivered the game-winner and complete UNC's comeback.
In a game which featured six lead changes and two ties, the Pirates and Tar Heels combined for 21 runs and 31 hits, along with a total of five errors. ECU's 16-hit total marked the most by a UNC opponent all season.
North Carolina's rally made a winner of reliever Rob Wooten (4-1), who pitched the top of the ninth and allowed one hit while striking out two. Mathews (4-4) suffered the loss and his third blown save of the season after surrendering three runs on three hits and a pair of walks in just one-third of an inning.
The Tar Heels (50-12) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, using a Tim Federowicz sacrifice flyout to open the scoring against East Carolina starter Dustin Sasser. After starting the frame with a single, Fronk moved over to third on Ackley's infield hit and scored on Federowicz's long drive that Pirate righfielder Ryan Tousley flagged down for the second out.
The Pirates, who scored just once in two previous meetings against North Carolina this season, used five hits and a bases-loaded walk to explode for five runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-1 lead against Tar Heel starter Alex White. Tousley got ECU on the scoreboard when he coaxed a one-out walk from White that scored Corey Kemp before Stephen Batts drilled a three-run double to left-centerfield to give the Pirates a 4-1 edge. Jamie Ray capped the scoring with a run-producing single that extended his hitting streak to 14 games and scored Batts to hand UNC a 5-1 deficit.
With his sharp single past UNC third baseman Chad Flack in the second inning and his double in the third, Batts extended his hitting streak to a school record-tying 28 games. Batts' streak, which currently ranks as the nation's second-longest active string behind Oklahoma State's Ty Wright, equaled an ECU mark set by Steve Sides in 1987.
Some sloppy Pirate defense and wildness allowed North Carolina to quickly tie the game as the Tar Heels used a pair of ECU errors and a bases-loaded walk on their own to pull even at 5-5. A lead-off walk and back-to-back errors by Ryan Wood and Jake Dean allowed the Tar Heels load the bases without an out. Sasser then surrendered a two-run double to Josh Horton and followed with consecutive walks, the last coming to Kyle Seager with the bases full to pull the Tar Heels to 5-4 before Gore closed out the scoring with a run-producing fielder's choice.
Batts and Ray each laced doubles to open the top of the sixth to end White's evening. Ray's two-bagger, a liner down the leftfield line that scored Batts, was followed by a Kyle Roller single to rightfield and Drew Schieber's RBI fielder's choice to push the Pirates' lead to 7-5. White, who prepped at Greenville's D.H. Conley High School, lasted just five innings and surrendered career-highs in hits (nine) and runs (seven) during his 64-pitch effort.
The Tar Heels bounced back to take an 8-7 lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning, using a two-out RBI triple down the rightfield line from Fedroff and a throwing error by newly-inserted shortstop Dale Mollenhauer to spark the rally. Fedroff's shot chased Sasser, who surrendered just three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings of work, before reliever Jason Neitz induced a pair of groundballs that Mollenhauer couldn't handle. Horton followed by giving UNC a brief edge by lining a Neitz pitch for a single to score Federowicz.
Kemp helped the Pirates answer in the seventh, leading off with a double down the leftfield line against Matt Danford before scoring on Harrison Eldridge's single into centerfield to draw even.
Roller and Kemp followed by sparking a two-run eighth inning that enabled East Carolina to enjoy a 10-8 cushion against UNC's Andrew Carignan. Roller opened the inning by blasting his 11th home run of the season, a solo, opposite-field shot over the leftfield wall on a 0-2 pitch. Schieber added a single, was moved over to second base on a Mollenhauer sacrifice bunt and scored on Kemp's second double of the game which rattled off the base of the left-centerfield fence.
Batts and Wood each matched career-highs with three hits to pace the ECU hitting attack, while Eldridge, Ray, Roller and Kemp all contributed two hits.
The Pirates will return to action in an elimination game Sunday, facing Western Carolina at 1:00 p.m., weather permitting. The Catamounts, who fell to the Pirates 9-8 Friday afternoon, stayed alive after handing Jacksonville a 7-0 setback earlier Saturday. The winner of the ECU-WCU contest will play UNC beginning at 5 p.m.
