Tar Heels Advance to Super Regionals, Beat Tennessee 5-2

Sunday, June 2

Chapel Hill, N.C.

6 p.m.

North Carolina

45-17

Tennessee

40-21

North Carolina

Tennessee

Photo by: UNC Athletic Communications

June 2, 2019 | Baseball

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By: T.J. Scholl

Chapel Hill, N.C. – North Carolina won its ninth regional title on Sunday evening by defeating Tennessee 5-2 at Boshamer Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd. Austin Bergner dominated on the mound by throwing seven innings and only giving up two earned runs while striking out eight batters. The Tar Heels used a four-run first inning to pull away and never looked back as they are no 25-2 when scoring in the first inning.

Key Moments

North Carolina scored four runs in the top of the first to take the early 4-0 lead. With the bases loaded, Ashton McGee singled up the middle to score Aaron Sabato and Danny Serretti for the first two runs. Dylan Harris followed with a single to drive home third run and Ashton McGee completed what he started by scoring the fourth on a wild pitch.
Tennessee scored its first run in the bottom of the second on a wild pitch from Austin Bergner to make it 4-1.
Tennessee cut the lead in half in the fourth with RBI single up the middle to score the runner from second to make it 4-2.
Danny Serretti walked with the bases loaded in the top of the 6^th inning to give UNC a 5-2 lead.
In the bottom of the 8^th inning with runners on first and second for Tennessee, Michael Busch made a great diving stop at first to save at least one run as he flipped the ball to Joey Lancellotti for the final out of the inning.

Notables

The 2019 Tar Heels have set the program record for most walks in a season with 388. The previous record was held by the 2013 team with 369 walks.
Mike Fox has been head coach at North Carolina since 1999. The Tar Heels are now 40-7 (.851) at home in the NCAA Tournament under Fox. That is the best win pct at home in the NCAA Tournament in that span (min. 15 games).
This is the first time in Coach Fox's career that he has started a postseason 7-0.
Austin Bergner is the first UNC starter to go 7 innings in consecutive NCAA Tournament starts since Kent Emanuel, who went 8 innings against St. John's in the 2012 regional and 7.2 innings against Towson in the 2013 regional. Bergner went to 7 innings against Mississippi State in Omaha last season.
With a single in the first inning, Aaron Sabato extended his career best reached base streak to 24 games. He also extended his hitting streak to 7 straight games.
Sabato picked up his 22^nd multi-hit game, which leads the team.
Coming in to Sunday's game, UNC was 24-2 when scoring in the first inning and 28-6 overall when scoring first.
With his walk in the second inning, Michael Busch extended his career best reached base streak to 35 consecutive games.
With two walks, Michael Busch moves in to 4^th place for most walks in a single season with 58. He trails Barney Spooner (59) in 1982, Colin Moran (63) in 2013 and Dan Moylan (68) in 1999.
Busch already has the second most walks in school history (140) and only trails Moylan who has 174 from 1998-2000.
Dallas Tessar extended his hitting streak to a career high 7 games with a single in the fourth inning. He has also extended his reached base streak to a career high 7 games.
With two walks against Tennessee, Ike Freeman now has 50 walks on the season. Ike Freeman, Michael Busch and Dylan Harris becomes the first trio of Tar Heels to draw 50 or more walks in a season in program history.
Austin Bergner was dominant on the mound going 7.0 IP, 4 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks and 8 strikeouts. His 8 strikeouts are good for his second best this season, only trailing his 11-strikeout performance against UMass Lowell on March 3.
16 of Joey Lancellotti's last 18 appearances out of the bullpen have gone 2.0 innings or longer. In that time, he is 6-1 with 2 saves.

Pitcher Records
Win: North Carolina, Austin Bergner (6-1)
Lose: Tennessee, Zach Linginfelter (6-6)

Up Next:
North Carolina will play the winner of the Atlanta Regional. If Georgia Tech wins, the Tar Heels will travel to Atlanta. If Auburn wins, the Heels will host the Super Regional.

Social Media
For all the latest on Carolina Baseball, be sure to follow the team at @DiamondHeels on Twitter and @CarolinaBaseball on Instagram.