After the ECU Pirates blew out VCU early Sunday afternoon, they’d earned the right for a rematch of Saturday’s winners’ game. Fortunately, the Diamond Heels were up for the challenge. Folger Boaz, Walker McDuffie, and Jackson Rose combined to cool down the Pirates’ bats, and the UNC offense had its best day of the regional as the Heels punched their ticket to Super Regionals without taking a loss.
Boaz got the start and worked an efficient first inning, looking much better than he had in his previous
two starts against Georgia Tech and N.C. State. The Heels, in the bottom of the first, got a couple of infield singles and an error from shortstop Nick Parham that plated a couple of runs, paying ECU back for some of the Pirates’ BABIP luck yesterday. Boaz was just as good through the second, while the Heels chased starter Ryan Towers after loading the bases with nobody out. Ace Ethan Norby came in and hit Owen Hull with his first pitch, scoring another run for the Heels. Norby didn’t need a lot of pitches to record 3 outs, but he did give up a 2-run hit to Erik Paulsen to extend the UNC lead to 5.
Boaz has had trouble all season once the lineup turns over, and those issues surfaced immediately with leadoff hitter Grady Lenahan hitting a solo home run with 2 outs in the 3rd — it could have been worse but for a nice double play turned by the UNC defense on the previous at-bat. But that was all the damage ECU could mount in the 3rd, and the UNC offense recorded another crooked number in the bottom of the inning to push the lead to 8-1 and erase any momentum that homer could have built. ECU wasn’t going away, though, and had something brewing in the 4th with 2 men on and one out. That was enough for Scott Forbes to put Walker McDuffie in to put out the fire, and put it out he did by inducing a double-play ball to Jake Schaffner to keep the score at 8-1.
Joseph Webb got into the game thanks to UNC’s success against Norby, and he quieted the UNC bats mightily, putting up zeroes in innings 4, 5, and 6 while his team got a couple of runs back against McDuffie, pitching on his third straight day (albeit throwing 20 or fewer pitches on each day), in the fifth. Forbes turned to Jackson Rose to start the 6th inning, and he dazzled — allowing just one baserunner through the last four innings of the game while striking out 4. Jake Schaffner broke the seal in the 7th inning with an opposite-field double to score a run and loosen any tension that might have been mounting with all of UNC’s empty innings, but Rose was the real story of the back innings.
After the Heels stranded a runner in scoring position in the 8th, Rose had 6 runs to get 3 outs. He needed just 4 pitches, inducing a soft fly to center, a pop to first, and a soft grounder to third to give his team not just the win, but a ticket to Super Regional play.
UNC has reached Supers for the third straight year, a record not many programs can match. They’ll host the winner of the College Station Regional, hosted by #12 overall seed Texas A&M. The Aggies will play their regional final against USC Sunday night, and if they win, they’ll be champions of their region. We’ll have updates on UNC’s opponent and a breakdown of whoever it ends up being over the course of this week.
