Tar Heels run out of rallies

Rice roughs up North Carolina and drops the Tar Heels into the loser's bracket at the College World Series

OMAHA, NEB. -- At some point, North Carolina coach Mike Fox predicted, his team's postseason comeback habit was bound to bite the Tar Heels where it hurt.

Sunday, it finally bit them when it hurt. And now, the Tar Heels have only one chance to chomp back.

UNC's 14-4 crumble against Rice at Rosenblatt Stadium tossed the Heels into the loser's bracket of the College World Series, meaning they must beat Louisville at 2 p.m. on Tuesday -- and then top the Owls twice more later this week -- in order to advance to the three-game championship series.

And after allowing a season-high 14 runs -- the most since Maryland scored 15 in March 2006 -- the Tar Heels have plenty of work to do.

"They just gave us an old-fashioned fanny-whipping right there; that's all you can say,'' Carolina coach Mike Fox said. "... We just didn't do any any phase of the game very well tonight, and as good as they are, you just can't do that, or you're not going to be in the game."

Third-seeded Carolina (54-14) continued its cause-and-effect trend of bad starting pitching and trailing early. But this time, even its bullpen -- which had fueled rallies in five of its previous six games -- couldn't dig the Tar Heels out of their second-inning hole.

With the wind gusting around 20 mph, it was freshman right-hander Alex White -- who began the game with a 12.96 ERA in 8 1/3 NCAA innings -- who held the shovel.

White allowed five hits in 1 1/3 innings before he was replaced by Matt Danford. By the middle of the second, the Owls had scored six runs on six hits, including a balk credited to Danford.

"Myself, there's not much to say; it was pretty bad tonight,'' said White, whose record fell to 6-6. "The frustrating thing is, I felt like I had good stuff."

Even more frustrating: Over the past seven games, UNC's starting pitchers, a strength during the regular season, now have given up 32 earned runs in 25 2/3 innings.

And yes, Fox is concerned.

"Whether it's starting or relieving, it's the name of the game,'' Fox said. "Hopefully you get a good start, and obviously it's a concern to us, but these are kids who are not robots, and they're trying as hard as they can.

"And what can you say? We've got to run guys out there and make good pitches, and if they don't, we have to make good plays behind them."

UNC got RBIs from Garrett Gore in the second, Chad Flack in the third, and Josh Horton in the fifth (who also scored on a wild pitch), but by the then, the outcome never appeared in doubt.

Left fielder Reid Fronk said Rice starter Joe Savery, a first-round draft pick who also plays first base, did a good job of keeping UNC's batters off-balance. The left-hander allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings for the Owls, and he struck out four. He improved to 11-1 this season.

"He mixed it up on us, and we put couple good swings on him, but we couldn't put anything together, really," said Fronk, who went 2-for-3.

Meanwhile, every Rice starter had at least one RBI, and Aaron Luna polished off the Tar Heels with a two-run homer in the ninth. With the score so lopsided, the mound resembled a pitching camp for Carolina, as the Tar Heels broke the College World Series record for pitchers used with eight. The previous high was seven.

Second-seeded Rice (56-12), which began the College World Series averaging 4.4 runs per game during the NCAA baseball tournament, now has scored 29 in its past two games.

"I hope we have an opportunity to play them again," Fox said. "And hopefully, we'll play them a little better than that."

PUTKONEN WILL START: Although senior Robert Woodard pitched only 1 2/3 innings Friday and will be available for Tuesday's game against Louisville, Fox said he plans to stick with his usual rotation and start sophomore Luke Putkonen, who has a 9.0 ERA over two starts in this NCAA baseball tournament.

"[Pitching] coach [Scott] Forbes and I have to talk about it, but when you have three starting pitchers all year long that won 54 games for you and they got you here, I'd have to really think hard to tell a young man, 'I'm not going to let you go out there on the biggest stage to win,' '' Fox said.

Woodard will be ready to play early if necessary, Fox said.