University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Rutgers
Tar Heels Move Into Sunday's Championship Game, 9-3
May 27, 2000 | Baseball
May 27, 2000
Ryan Earey's two-out, three-run homer to right field in the seventh inning sparked the North Carolina Tar Heels to a 9-3 comeback win over Rutgers Saturday afternoon at Yogi Berra Park in Upper Montclair, N.J. to move Carolina into Sunday's 1:00 p.m. championship game. UNC will play Penn St., a 6-5 winner over Rutgers in Saturday night's game.
The Scarlet Knights had broken a 1-1 tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-1 lead, but the Heels responded with eighth runs in the final three innings to cruise to the win.
Derrick DePriest (4-4) picked up the win by pitching 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. Rutger's starter Buddy Gallagher (4-3) suffered the loss after giving up seven earned runs on eleven hits in 7.2 innings on the mound.
Adam Greenberg started UNC's seventh inning rally with a one-out single, then Clay Hooper was hit by a pitch. Following a Dan Moylan out, Earey hammered his 13th home run of the season deep over the right field wall. Tyrell Godwin singled after Earey's shot, with Jay Madeira replacing Godwin as a pinch runner. Madeira stole second, then came across on a Matt McCay single for a 5-3 Carolina lead.
The Heels got two more runs in the eigth on two-out run-scoring singles by Hooper and Moylan, then put the game away on Chad Prosser's two-run single with two outs in the ninth.
All nine of Carolina's runs scored with two outs.
UNC took an early 1-0 run in the first, when Godwin's infield single scored Hooper from third base.
The Scarlet Knights tied the game at 1-1 in the fifth off two Tar Heel errors. Matt Wolski's sacrifice fly to right field drove in Ken Ulrich, who had reached base on an error by Hooper.
Rutgers took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth. Joe B. Cirone scored on Mike O'Brien's infield single, then Mike Popowski scored on Leon Shade's slow roller to shortstop. The Scarlet Knights appeared ready to blow the game open with the bases loaded and just one out with star hitter Darren Fenster at the plate. But Fenster ripped a hard line shot to Adam Greenberg in center for the second out. O'Brien tagged up at third and tried to score on the play, but Earey relayed Greenberg's throw to Moylan to nip O'Brien for the inning's third out, setting the stage for Carolina's comeback.
Hooper, McCay and Maples each had three hits to lead the Heels, who had 17 hits on the afternoon. Carolina now has 36 hits in their first two games of the regional.
Lefty Eric Henderson (6-6, 4.21 ERA) is expected to start Sunday's 1:00 p.m. game. If Carolina wins it, they win the regional. If they lose, the championship game of the double-elimination tournament will follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
Joe Bray
TarHeelBlue.com
