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.
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.
