University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina vs. South Carolina Postgame Notes
June 8, 2007 | Baseball
June 8, 2007
Recap |
Box Score |
Quotes |
Photo Gallery 1 
|
Photo Gallery 2
• Playing from behind for the third straight NCAA Tournament game, No. 3 national seed North Carolina posted its second-largest comeback win of the season with a 9-6 victory over South Carolina. The Tar Heels were down 6-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth, but scored nine unanswered runs to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Chapel Hill Super Regional. UNC's biggest comeback of season was a seven-run rally versus Georgia Tech May 13.
• The win snapped a six-game skid against the Gamecocks, including a five-game losing streak in NCAA Tournament play. The Tar Heels' victory was their first against South Carolina since the 2002 NCAA Columbia Regional.
• The Tar Heels have won all seven postseason games played at Boshamer Stadium over the last two seasons and have won 13 of their last 15 NCAA Tournament games over the last two postseasons. Carolina is just one win away from its sixth trip to the College World Series and the first back-to-back trips in program history.
• With the victory, Carolina improved to 52-12 for the second-most wins in program history. The Tar Heels set a school-record with 54 wins last season. UNC's 106 wins over the last two seasons trails only Rice.
• All nine North Carolina runs in the sixth and seventh innings were scored with two out in Friday's come-from-behind win. Shortstop Josh Horton ignited both rallies with two-out doubles. The Tar Heels had just one hit over the first five innings, but had 10 hits over the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
• Carolina's veteran juniors Josh Horton and Chad Flack sparked Carolina's comeback with a combined five hits, four runs scored and three RBI. Horton was 3-for-5 with three doubles, two runs and an RBI, while Flack was 2-for-5 with two runs and two RBI.
• Shortstop Josh Horton posted three doubles in a game for the second time this season and first since a win over Miami March 11. He is batting .471 (8-17) in the 2007 NCAA Tournament after going 3-for-5 with three doubles, two runs scored and an RBI Friday. Horton now has 19 career postseason RBI in 18 games.
• With two RBI in Friday's win, third baseman Chad Flack has 20 RBI in 18 career postseason games. He has hit safely in five straight and 14 of the last 17 games.
• Junior reliever Rob Wooten made his 39th appearance of the season, which is second on the Tar Heels' single-season list. He has pitched in all four NCAA Tournament games this season and is 3-0 and has not allowed a run over six innings, while striking out 10 of the 24 batters he has faced. Wooten is 6-1 on the season with four wins in his last seven appearances.
• In his final start at Boshamer Stadium, senior right-hander Robert Woodard left in a 6-3 deficit but avoided his first career loss at home. He was charged with just two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings, but allowed two home runs for the first time this year. Woodard walked two and struck out six to move to seventh all-time on the Tar Heels' career list with 259 Ks. He set down 10 straight after allowing James Darnell's two-run homer in the first. Phil Disher broke the streak with a fourth-inning single.
• Robbie Grinestaff's sixth inning grand slam was just the third allowed by Woodard in his UNC career and the first he has surrendered at Boshamer Stadium. He allowed one earlier this season in a loss in a loss to NC State April 28.
• The Tar Heels have allowed four-plus runs three times in an inning in the NCAA Tournament, and have answered with a run in their next at-bat in each instance. Carolina fell behind 6-0 on a sixth inning grand slam but got back in the game with three in the bottom of the inning on RBI base hits by Chad Flack, Seth Williams and Garrett Gore.
• Closer Andrew Carignan struck out two in the ninth to earn his 15th save of the season (in 16 chances) and the 30th of his career. He has saved four games over the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
• Second baseman Garrett Gore hit safely in all four NCAA Tournament games and six of the last seven. He was 1-for-1 with two RBI Friday and has four RBI in the postseason.
• Center fielder Seth Williams, who batted a team-best .444 in the regional, hit safely in his seventh straight game.
