University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina vs. South Carolina Postgame Notes
June 10, 2007 | Baseball
June 10, 2007
• The 8-6 loss to South Carolina snapped a seven-game winning streak for the Tar Heels over the ACC and NCAA tournaments. It was also Carolina's first postseason loss at home over the last two seasons after seven straight wins in the 2006 and 2007 regionals and Friday's victory. The best-of-three series is now tied at one, and the winner of tonight's decisive game will advance to the College World Series.
• Carolina's loss was its first non-CWS defeat in the postseason over the last two seasons. Sunday night's game will mark just the second elimination contest for the Tar Heels over the last two seasons, joining game three of last year's Championship Series versus Oregon State.
• Sunday marks the seventh time this season that the Tar Heels have played a portion of two games on the same day. Carolina is 6-0 in the second game of these situations.
• North Carolina's 10 strikeouts in game two were a season high, surpassing nine at Florida State April 21. Reid Fronk struck out four times, the most by a UNC individual this season. After matching a season-best with just one strikeout last night versus South Carolina, the Tar Heels fanned twice in the first inning against Gamecock lefty Arik Hempy, who finished with seven strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.
• The Tar Heels' first 14 runs of the Super Regional have come with two out. Carolina scored all nine runs with two out Friday and added five more in the second game (two in the second, one in the fifth, two in the seventh). Kyle Seager's pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth plated the first run of the weekend with less than two out for the Tar Heels.
• Sophomore Tim Federowicz tallied a key two-run single in the seventh and was 3-for-5 in the second game. He leads UNC with a .500 (4-8) average in the Super Regional and a .429 average (9-21) in the postseason. Federowicz now has 20 postseason RBI in 16 career games.
• Center fielder Seth Williams went 1-for-4 with an RBI to extend his current hitting streak to eight games.
• First baseman Dustin Ackley recorded his first hit of the series with a single in the seventh after an 0-for-6 start. He is batting just 1-for-8 in the series and 3-for-18 in the postseason.
• Reliever Rob Wooten pitched in his fifth straight game and the 40th of the season, which ranks as the second most in school history. Wooten worked two scoreless innings and has now tossed eight shutout innings with 12 strikeouts in the postseason.
• UNC starter Alex White went just 3 1/3 innings for the second shortest start of his career. The shortest was a 2 2/3-inning outing against Duke April 14. White allowed six runs (five earned) on five hits and three walks Saturday and has surrendered 13 runs in 8 1/3 innings in the NCAA Tournament.
• Justin Smoak's solo home run in the third was just the fourth home run allowed by Alex White all season.
• Three South Carolina runs in the first forced the Tar Heels to play from behind for the fourth straight NCAA Tournament game, but UNC came back with two in the top of the second to cut the lead to 3-2. South Carolina also scored four runs in the fourth, and the Tar Heels came back with a run in the fifth. Carolina has allowed three-plus runs in an inning five times in the postseason, but has answered with at least one run in their next at-bat each time.
• The Gamecocks have combined for five first inning runs over the first two games of the Super Regional.
