By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Baseball can be a crazy game with unexpected twists and turns that are bound to break hearts. That all happened in Monday night’s instant classic in North Carolina’s comeback against reigning national champion LSU.
The Tar Heels (45–14) won the winner-take-all game 4–3 in 10 innings that turned on several plays and a matter of inches, sending the Boshamer Stadium crowd of 4,026 into a frenzy.
Carolina is now two wins away from its first College World Series appearance in six years, opening a best-of-three Super Regional against West Virginia (36–22) at 6 p.m. Friday (ESPN2).
LSU coach Jay Johnson, who obviously had cried before the postgame press conference, lamented that he had “a broken heart just simply because I wanted to go to practice Wednesday, and I love these guys.”
That could have easily been the Tar Heels if not for some Bosh magic.
UNC only had two hits between the first and ninth innings before Gavin Gallaher, the regional’s most outstanding player, doubled to lead off the ninth inning with the Tar Heels trailing by a run.
It looked like it wouldn’t be Carolina’s night when Alex Madera tried to bunt with two strikes. But the ball went foul, inches to the left of the third-base bag for a strikeout and the first out.
Fate betrayed the Tar Heels by inches, but that would soon change.
“For me, in that inning before that, I wasn’t able to get the bunt down,” Madera said, “and I came back in the dugout and all the guys were like ‘[Colby Wilkerson is] gonna pick you up.”
Indeed he did, but only after avoiding striking out by barely checking his swing with two strikes against LSU ace Gage Jump, a likely first-round draft pick.
Inches away from a strikeout, Wilkerson got another chance. He then looped an RBI single to left field to bring in Gallaher with the tying run.
“I stayed down, took a deep breath, and looked around for a little bit before coming up to the plate,” Wilkerson said. “Once I got in the box, I wasn’t worried because Coach [Scott] Forbes always gives me a good little look that says, ‘I got confidence in you.’
“I knew everyone was cheering hard for me, and I just took a deep breath and felt like a little kid in that box,” Wilkerson said. “I was ready to go and wasn’t going to let him beat me with a heater because he was slinging it.”
With two outs in the 10th, Johnny Castagnozzi hit a drive to the right field warning track that should have been an easy ball to catch for Jake Brown, who started at center field but moved to right field in the eighth inning.
But the ball bounced off his head, and Castagnozzi ended up at second base. Brown was inches from making the play that would have been the third out of the 10th inning.
“With Johnny Castagnozzi getting on base, everybody in the dugout was pulling for Johnny,” Alex Madera said. “Everybody’s been pulling for each other all year long. But he got that hit, and everything started turning, and everybody’s like, ‘all right, we’ve got a real chance to score here and let’s put them away.’ “
After LSU intentionally walked Gallaher, Madera delivered the single up the middle on a 3–2 pitch to score the go-ahead run.
“All weekend, I was kind of getting beat with the sliders facing lefties, and I figured that I was going to get a couple,” Madera said. “He couldn’t really land them, and he beat me with a couple of fastballs early in the count. When it got to 3–2, I just kind of sold out for the fastball and told myself, ‘he’s throwing 96, I’m not gonna let myself get beat by a fastball here,’ so I just jumped on it and luckily hit it up the middle.”
Carolina can only hope for more Bosh magic this weekend against the Mountaineers.
Chapel Hill Regional
At Boshamer Stadium
Friday’s results
No. 1 North Carolina 4, Holy Cross 0
No. 2 Oklahoma 7, No. 3 Nebraska 4
Saturday’s results
Nebraska 4, Holy Cross 1; Holy Cross eliminated
North Carolina 11, Oklahoma 5
Sunday’s results
Oklahoma 17, Nebraska 1; Nebraska eliminated
Oklahoma 9, North Carolina 5
Monday’s result
North Carolina 14, Oklahoma 4
UNC (45–13) advances to Super Regional against No. 21-ranked Arizona (42–18), which won the Eugene Regional on Sunday night with a 14–0 win over Cal Poly. Game 1 of the best-of-3 series is Friday at Boshamer Stadium.
Chapel Hill Super Regional
Top-ranked and No. 5-seed North Carolina (46–14) vs. No. 21-ranked Arizona (43–19)
Best-of-3 series
Boshamer Stadium
Game 1 Friday: North Carolina 18, Arizona 2
Game 2 Saturday: Arizona 10, North Carolina 8; series tied at 1
Game 3 Sunday: Arizona 4, North Carolina 3; Arizona wins series 2–1
Arizona meets No. 11-ranked and No. 13-seed Coastal Carolina (53–11), which finished off a sweep of the Auburn Super Regional, beating No. 9-ranked and No. 4-seed Auburn 7–6 in 10 innings on Friday and 4–1 on Saturday.
UNC schedule
| Date(s) | Day/ month | Times | Opponent (current rank) |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | |||
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sat. | 4, noon, 1 | vs. Indiana |
| 17 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Richmond |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Longwood |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 4 (Greenville; ESPN+), 2 (DBAP), 2 (CH) | vs. East Carolina |
| 24 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. N.C. A&T |
| 25 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. VCU |
| 27–28 | Fri., Sat. | 4 p.m., 2 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne |
| March | |||
| 1 | Sunday | 1 p.m. | vs. Le Moyne |
| 3 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Elon |
| 6–8 | Fri.-Sun. | 4, 2, 1 | vs. Virginia |
| 10 | Tuesday | 4 p.m. | vs. Bucknell |
| 13–15 | Fri.-Sun. | 9, 5, 4 | at California |
| 18 | Wednesday | 4 p.m. | vs. UNCG |
| 20–22 | Fri.-Sun. | 8, 2, 1 Friday on ACCN | vs. No. 8 Louisville |
| 24 | Tuesday | 6:30 | vs. South Carolina in Charlotte |
| 27–29 | Fri.-Sun. | 6:30, 3, 1 | at Notre Dame |
| 31 | Tuesday | 8 p.m., ACCN | vs. Campbell |
| April | |||
| 2–4 | Thur.-Sat. | 6, 6, 2 | vs. Boston College |
| 7 | Tuesday | 7 p.m., ACCN | vs. Charlotte |
| 10–12 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, 2, 12:30 (Sunday on ACCN) | at No. 19 Clemson |
| 14 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. UNCW |
| 17–19 | Fri-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 (Saturday, Sunday on ACCN) | vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech |
| 21 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | vs. High Point |
| 23–25 | Thu.-Sat. | 7, 6, 3 (Thursday on ACCN) | at Duke |
| 28 | Tuesday | 7 p.m., ACCN | vs. No. 6 Coastal Carolina |
| 29 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Queens |
| May | |||
| 3 | Sunday | 2 p.m., ACCN (non-conference game) | vs. Duke |
| 6 | Wednesday | 6 p.m. | vs. Winthrop |
| 8–10 | Fri.-Sun. | 6, noon, 1 | vs. Pittsburgh |
| 12 | Tuesday | 6 p.m. | at UNCW |
| 14–16 | Thurs.-Sat. | 7, 6, 1 (Thursday on ACCN) | at No. 17 N.C. State |
| 19–24 | Tues.-Sun. | ACC tournament (ACCN, ESPN2 for final) | Charlotte |
| 29–31 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Regionals | Campus sites |
| June | |||
| 5–7 | Fri.-Sun. | NCAA Super Regionals | Campus sites |
| 12–22 | Fri.-Mon | College World Series | Omaha, Neb. |
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
tarheeltribune.com 