University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida State
Carolina Eliminated By Seminoles At ACC Championship
May 25, 2006 | Baseball
May 25, 2006
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - No. 2 seed North Carolina suffered a walk-off loss to Florida State in Atlantic Coast Conference championship play for the third consecutive year as Shane Robinson singled home the game-winning run in the ninth inning of a 7-6 Seminoles' victory in an elimination game Thursday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The Tar Heels (45-13) will now wait to learn their NCAA fate as the 16 regional host sites are announced Sunday and the 64-team field is selected Monday.
Carolina held a 5-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, but FSU's Dennis Guinn hit a go-ahead grand slam to give the Seminoles a 6-5 lead. The Tar Heels came back to tie the game at six in the top of the seventh on a Seth Williams single, but FSU closer Luke Tucker came in to shutdown Carolina for the final two innings before Robinson lifted Florida State (40-18) to win in the ninth.
Tucker (2-1) struck out five of the six batters he faced to earn the win, while Carolina closer Andrew Carignan (1-3) took the loss after allowing the winning run. Against Carignan in the ninth, the Seminoles loaded the bases on a hit batter, a walk and a fielder's choice before Robinson singled over the Tar Heels' shallow outfield for the win.
Chad Flack was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a home run and two RBI, and Josh Horton and Mike Cavasinni each had two hits for the Tar Heels, who outhit FSU, 11-9, but struck out a season-high 15 times. Flack drove five runs in the tourney and now has 30 RBI in the last 22 games. Cavasinni, who was 2-for-5 with an RBI has a career-best four-game hitting streak and now has seven hits in the last three games.
Guinn led FSU with two hits and the four RBI on the grand slam.
Flack homered for the second straight game to give the Tar Heels a 1-0 lead in the second. He took a 1-1 pitch from FSU starter Tyler Chambliss to left for his 11th home run of the season, but Tony Thomas Jr. answered in the third with a solo shot to left center off Robert Woodard for just the second home run allowed by Carolina in the last 24 games.
After stranding runners at third in the second and third innings and having a runner thrown out at the plate in the fourth, the Tar Heels finally broke through with two runs in the fifth to retake the lead. Cavasinni singled and stole second before crossing the plate on the go-ahead single to left by Horton. He moved to second on the throw to the plate, and Flack followed with a single up the middle for a 3-1 UNC lead and his fifth RBI of the tournament.
Carolina scratched out two more in the sixth to grab a four-run cushion. Seth Williams drew a leadoff walk and scored on a passed ball, and Cavasinni legged out an infield single to drive in Matt Spencer, who singled, for a 5-1 UNC lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as FSU batted around in the sixth and grabbed a 6-5 lead on Guinn's grand slam off Woodard. Buster Posey singled home the first run, and Ryne Malone was hit by a pitch to load the bases before Guinn sent a 1-0 offering out to left for his third grand slam of the season and 11th homer.
The Tar Heels came right back to tie the game in the seventh on Williams' two-out RBI single. Flack doubled and moved to third on a groundout by Jay Cox before Williams came through with the game-tying base hit off FSU reliever Brian Chambers.
Woodard went 5.1 innings for the Tar Heels and allowed a career-high six runs on seven hits and one walk over 5.1 innings. Chambliss gave up five runs on eight hits in five-plus inning and struck out eight. Jonathan Hovis allowed just one hit over 2.2 innings of relief for UNC.
