University of North Carolina Athletics
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Virginia
No. 5 Tar Heels Drop 3-2 Decision To No. 2 Virginia
May 29, 2011 | Baseball
May 29, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. - No. 6 North Carolina fell in the final game of the ACC Tournament late Saturday night as No. 2 Virginia (48-9) claimed a 3-2 win over the Tar Heels. Jacob Stallings tallied a pair of hits in the set back as the Tar Heels will next find out if they will host a regional Sunday afternoon.
Carolina jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Ben Bunting opened the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Bunting would swipe his 16th base of the season to get in scoring position before Seth Baldwin stepped in with one out on the board.
aldwin blasted a ball to dead center field that flew over the centerfielder's head allowing Bunting to score from second with ease but Baldwin attempted to stretch the hit into a triple and was caught at third.
The Cavaliers answered quickly against starter Kent Emanuel in the bottom half of the third as they picked up a lead off single and a steal of second immediately put a runner in scoring position.
Emanuel appeared to be making his way out of trouble getting a strike out and a fly out but lead off man Chris Taylor singled through the left side to score Colin Harrington from second to tie the game at 1-1.
The Tar Heels put runners on the corners with one out but Virginia was able to turn a 3-6-3 double play to close out the fourth after back-to-back singles by Levi Michael and Colin Moran.
Virginia took its first lead of the game in the bottom half of the fifth with another lead off runner who stole second. A single from eight hitter Reed Gragnani put runners on the corners and a fly ball from Taylor again was able to plate the go-ahead run in the fifth.
The Tar Heels answered right back in the sixth when Tommy Coyle opened the inning with a shot into the right center field gap as he raced around the bases for his third triple of the year.
Levi Michael battled with Virginia's Cody Winiarski before rolling over on a ground ball to the right side to score Coyle and tie the game at 2-2.
After five innings of two-run ball from Emanuel, Chris Munnelly made his second appearance of the day. Munnelly retired the side in order in the sixth before getting into a bit of trouble in the seventh as Harrington laced a lead off double into the left center field gap.
R.C. Orlan came on for the Tar Heels and was unable to field a pair of ground balls allowing Harrington to reach third and eventually score the go-ahead and eventual winning run.
Michael Morin came on to keep the deficit at just one run as he ended up tossing two shutout innings allowing just one hit.
The Tar Heels went down in order in the eighth and the first two batters were retired in the ninth before Jacob Stallings singled through the left side.
Ben Bunting battled the ACC saves leader, Branden Kline, to a 2-2 count and fouled off several pitches before Kline was able to get the final out via strikeout.
Virginia moves on to face Florida State in the ACC Championship game set for 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Carolina will learn if it is 2011 NCAA Regional host on Sunday as the committee announces the 16 regional sites.
