Duke, UNC advance to NCAA baseball super regionals

ECU eliminates NC State, Quinnipiac to stay alive, must beat Campbell twice Monday to advance

Duke players celebrate by dousing coach Chris Pollard after defeating Texas A&M on Sunday (William Wotring/The Dominion-Post via AP)

  North Carolina and Duke swept through their respective regionals on Sunday to earn spots in the NCAA baseball tournament’s super regional round with a third state team guaranteed of joining them among the nation’s top 16 on Monday.

  East Carolina stayed alive by winning a pair of elimination games Sunday, including an emotional victory against NC State. The Pirates will now take on Campbell, with ECU having to win twice, with a spo in the regionals on the line.

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  Here are all the details:

UNC 5, Tennessee 2

  CHAPEL HILL (AP) — Austin Bergner struck out eight, and North Carolina beat Tennessee 5-2 to advance to the super regionals of the NCAA Tournament.

  Ashton McGee’s two-run single highlighted the four-run first inning that sent the top-seeded Tar Heels (45-17) into the tournament’s second weekend for the eighth time since 2006. UNC will host Auburn in a best-of-3 super regional.

  Bergner (6-1) allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings with three walks. Joey Lancellotti struck out three during the final two innings for his third save.

  Alerick Soularie scored on a wild pitch in the second and added a run-scoring single in the fourth for the second-seeded Volunteers (40-21). Starter Zach Linginfelter (6-6) gave up four runs and didn’t make it out of the first inning.

  Dylan Harris and Danny Serretti each drove in runs for the Tar Heels.

Duke 4, Texas A&M 1

  MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Kyle Gallagher homered and drove in four runs and Duke won a NCAA Tournament regional for the second straight year. The third-seeded Blue Devils (34-25) advanced to the super regional to meet the winner of the Nashville regional.

  Texas A&M starter Chandler Jozwiak (4-5) struck out 12 but allowed Gallagher’s three-run homer in the first inning and his RBI double in the fourth. Jozwiak walked one and allowed eight hits in 6⅔ innings.

  Gallagher also doubled in the eighth and finished 3 for 4. Three Duke pitchers scattered nine hits.

  Second-seeded Texas A&M (39-23-1) needed to beat Duke twice to advance but couldn’t mount another rally after coming from nine runs down to eliminate top-seeded West Virginia 11-10 earlier Sunday on Bryce Blaum’s ninth-inning grand slam.

  The Blue Devils won the first regional in school history last year in Athens, Ga.

ECU 9, NC State 2

ECU 13, Quinnipiac 3

  GREENVILLE (AP) — Jake Agnos allowed just four hits and pitched into the ninth inning and Jake Washer homered and drove in three runs Sunday as East Carolina beat NC State 9-2 to eliminate the Wolfpack.

  Agnos (11-2) struck out nine and left after allowing a home run to Evan Edwards leading off the ninth. Cam Colmore finished, completing the four-hitter.

  Washer drove in a run in a six-run third for the Pirates (43-15). He added a two-run homer in the seventh. Alec Burleson also drove in a pair of runs for ECU, which was boosted by a raucous home crowd at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

  The top-seeded Pirates then returned to the field a few hours later for another elimination game, staying alive again as Jake Washer hit two of his team’s four home runs.

  Bryant Packard and Bryson Worrell also hit two-run homers to help ECU (45-16) advance to the championship round. Coach Cliff Godwin’s team must beat third-seeded Campbell twice on Monday to advance to a best-of-3 super regional series.

  Washer hit a solo homer in the second inning off starter Arthur Correira (3-4) and added a two-run drive an inning later to put the Pirates in control. Packard’s homer came in the third while Worrell’s gave East Carolina a 6-2 lead in the sixth.

  Andre Marrero had a run-scoring walk in the fourth and Kevin Huscher scored on a wild pitch in the second for fourth-seeded Quinnipiac (30-29), which upset ECU in the teams’ opener Saturday for its first NCAA Tournament victory.

Campbell 9, Quinnipiac 8

  GREENVILLE (AP) — Zach Minnick’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth brought home the winning run, and third-seeded Campbell advanced to the Greenville Regional final.

  Matthew Barefoot homered to help the Camels (37-19) remain perfect in the tournament and move one victory from a spot in the best-of-three super regionals.

  Quinnipiac took an 8-7 lead in the top of the ninth when Derek Kasperzyk scored from third on a wild pitch. The Camels put the winning run on base with one out in the ninth after reliever Andrew Workman (3-4) plunked consecutive hitters. Pinch-hitter Matthew Christian doubled home Collin Wolf to tie it at 8.

  Minnick then brought home Koby Collins with his deep flyout to center that ended it.