Super Rally sends UNC past LSU and into NCAA Super Regionals

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A week ago, when LSU’s name was revealed among the teams assigned to the region that would be hosted by North Carolina, an audible gasp was heard among LSU fans. UNC came to watch the NCAA baseball tournament selection show. on the Boshamer Stadium video board.

The sum of those concerns was erased in particularly dramatic fashion Monday night, with the season on the line, as the Tar Heels mounted an extremely close rally to defeat LSU, 4-3, in 10 innings here in the winner-take-all. last match of the regionals.

In the top of the ninth, UNC used Gavin Gallaher’s double and Colby Wilkerson’s one-out single to finally tie the game and tie the game at 3-3. Then, in the top of the 10th, Johnny Castagnozzi’s deep drive to the right-field wall and Gavin Gallaher’s intentional walk set the stage for Alex Madera’s single — all with two outs. Dalton Pence earned the victory by pitching a shutout over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Carolina (45-14), which earned the tournament’s fourth national seed after producing the ACC’s best record this season, avoided season-ending elimination and will join conference cohorts Clemson, Florida State, NC State and Virginia in the super regional round. The Tar Heels will host West Virginia in the super regionals next weekend in Chapel Hill.

And the season is over for LSU (43-23), the defending national champion who has just won its seventh College World Series crown. LSU slugger Jared Jones’ solo home run against UNC reliever Matthew Matthijs late in the third inning looked like it might make the difference for the longest time. That 383-foot blast in the opposite direction pushed the Tigers into a 3-2 lead.

Matthijs threw a career-high 4 1/3 innings out of the UNC bullpen and retired the last 11 batters he faced. But Will Hellmers, LSU’s secondary weapon, went one step further with 5⅔ innings of scoreless relief, calming the Tar Heels who looked poised for a big night after loading the bases in their first and second inning halves.

Carolina opened Monday night with three straight singles from Vance Honeycutt, Casey Cook and Parks Harber, chasing LSU starer Samuel Dutton in the top of the first inning before recording an out. The Tar Heels scored twice to lead 2-0, on Anthony Donofrio’s loaded walk and Alberto Osuna’s double ground play with the bases still loaded.