No. 13 Tigers Edge No. 4 Tar Heels, 4-3

Saturday, May 23

Durham, N.C.

4:00 PM

North Carolina

Clemson

Fall Practice Underway For Diamond Heels

May 23, 2009 | Baseball

By: UNC Athletic Communications

May 23, 2009

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DURHAM, North Carolina - Wilson Boyd's 11th-inning walk-off single lifted No. 13 Clemson to a 4-3 win over No. 4 North Carolina Saturday in the 2009 ACC Baseball Championship at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With the loss to the Tigers (40-19), the Tar Heels (42-16) were eliminated from the tournament, and the winner of the Duke-Virginia nightcap will determine Florida State's opponent in Sunday's title game.

Mike Freeman was 4-for-6, hit a solo home run and scored the game-winner in the 11th inning to lead Clemson. Freeman reached on an infield single in the 11th, and UNC reliever Patrick Johnson's throw to first was errant, allowing Freeman to take third. The Tar Heels issued back-to-back intentional walks, and Johnson struck out Kyle Parker, but Boyd, who was 2-for-6 with two RBI, hit a 3-2 pitch off the wall in left to drive in the game-winner.

Johnson, who struck out three and allowed one run over 1 2/3 innings, took the loss to fall to 2-2, while Clemson's Graham Stoneburner (6-3) earned the win with a scoreless 11th.

Ben Bunting sent the game to extra innings with an RBI single in the ninth and was 3-for-5 for his 11th game with three-plus hits on the season. Ryan Graepel was 3-for-4 for his fifth career three-hit game, and Mark Fleury was 2-for-4 to lead Carolina.

All-America Dustin Ackley hit his 20th home run in the fifth to become the first Tar Heel to reach the 20-homer mark since Chris Maples belted 23 in 2002. Ackley scored his 219th career run on the play to equal Jarrett Shearin's Carolina career record.

Both starters pitched well with neither figuring into the decision. Carolina right-hander Matt Harvey scattered a career-high-tying nine hits over six innings and held Clemson to three runs, just two of which were earned. Harvey, who has worked at least six innings in back-to-back starts for the first time this season, struck out five and walked only one. In two starts against the Tigers this year, the Mystic, Conn., sophomore allowed just three earned runs in 13 innings.

Clemson lefty Casey Harman struck out a career-best 10 batters over 7 1/3 innings and limited the Tar Heels to two runs on seven hits and a walk. Brian Moran pitched three scoreless frames in relief for Carolina.

Clemson got on the board in the second when Matt Sanders singled to center, and Brad Miller roped an RBI double into the right center field gap for a 1-0 lead. After a walk to the Tigers' No. 9 hitter, Harvey settled down, forcing a fly out to center and a grounder to second to strand runners at the corners.

Kyle Seager delivered a two-out single up the middle to knot the score in the top of the third. Mike Cavasinni went down swinging but reached on a wild pitch, and Bunting sacrificed him into scoring position. Seager then sent his fourth hit of the ACC tourney up the middle to tie the game at one.

The Tigers took advantage of a Tar Heel error in the home half of the third to regain the lead, but Harvey again limited the damage. Ben Paulsen singled, Seager misplayed a grounder off the bat of Parker and Boyd singled through the right side to put Clemson in front again at 2-1. Seager atoned for his error when he cut down a runner at the plate on a fielder's choice, and Harvey forced a fly ball to strand two for the third straight frame.

After Carolina squandered back-to-back one-out singles in the fourth, Clemson pushed the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning on Freeman's two-out solo home run to right, his third of the season.

Ackley answered in the fifth with his third homer of the tournament, an opposite field shot over the Blue Monster in left on a 1-0 offering from Harman, trimming the lead to a single run yet again.

The Tar Heels got the leadoff man on in the seventh, but Harman struck out Ackley, and Bunting was thrown out trying to steal second for a rally-killing double play. Carolina also threatened in the eighth, putting two on with just one out, but Cruz got Fleury to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Bunting forced the season's second extra-inning meeting between Clemson and Carolina with a game-tying RBI single off the glove of Freeman in the ninth. Tarron Robinson started the rally with a pinch-hit walk off Tigers' reliever Tomas Cruz, and Cavasinni sacrificed pinch runner Ryan Norton to second before Bunting delivered his second hit of the afternoon to knot the score at three. Ackley then walked to move Bunting into scoring position, but UNC, which matched a season high with 13 runners left on base, could not push across the go-ahead run.

After tying things up in the ninth, the Tar Heels had the potential go-ahead run thrown out at the plate in the 10th when Fleury tried to score from second on a single through the left side by Cavasinni.

Saturday's crowd of 6,956 was the largest to announced attendance at a college baseball game in the state of North Carolina.

The Tar Heels will learn their postseason fate Monday when the 64-team field on the 2009 NCAA Championship is unveiled at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. The 16 regional host sites will be announced Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN's bottom line and at NCAA.com.