UNC baseball falls to Iowa again, bows out of NCAA Tournament’s Terre Haute Regional
If Sunday’s elimination game between UNC and Iowa felt familiar to you, imagine how it felt to the Tar Heels.
Early deficit. Struggles with runners on base. Late-inning comeback attempt. Loss.
The difference Sunday? A dash of extra-inning heartbreak, and the reality that for UNC, this time, there is no second chance.
Tar Heels slugger Mac Horvath tied the game in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings, but in the top of the 13th, pinch-runner Coy Sarsfield scampered all the way home from first on a triple by Michael Seegers to lift Iowa to a thrilling 6-5 win over UNC in the NCAA Tournament’s Terre Haute Regional.
Hawkeyes reliever Will Christophersen locked things down in the bottom of the 13th to preserve the win.
Iowa advanced to the regional final to face host Indiana State on Sunday. UNC’s season is finished, having lost the last of its 60 games this season. The Tar Heels finished 36-24, and 1-2 in the NCAA Tournament.
The Heels were again plagued by an inability to hit with runners in scoring position, and it started early: UNC loaded the bases with one out in the first, only to walk away with nothing. The Tar Heels finished 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position Sunday, and went just 6-for-33 over three tournament games.
UNC did get on the board in the second, when Colby Wilkerson walked and, two batters later, Casey Cook turned on one and sent a home run over the right-field wall to put the Heels on top.
But Iowa chipped away. The Hawkeyes got one back in the third on a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly to cut their deficit in half.
Then, in the fifth, the big blow. Cade Moss and Michael Seegers started the inning with singles. Sam Petersen struck out, but then UNC coach Scott Forbes made a pitching change, replacing starter Cameron Padgett with Kyle Percival.
Four pitches later, Brennen Dorighi hit a three-run home run over the scoreboard in right-center to put Iowa on top, 4-2.
The Hawkeyes tacked on an insurance run in the seventh when Petersen scampered home after tagging up on a long out into foul territory. Petersen was aboard in the first place after being hit by a pitch. He took second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a single and then scored on the foul out to make it 5-2 Iowa.
The Heels finally chased Langenberg to start the eighth, when Tomas Frick and Hunter Stokely laced back-to-back singles to start the frame, and like their previous game against Iowa, made things interesting. After retiring the next two Tar Heels hitters, Jack Whitlock gave up a double to Dylan King, who’d entered as a pinch-hitter for Alberto Osuna earlier in the game. King’s two-bagger cut the UNC deficit to one, setting the stage for Horvath to temporarily give the Heels hope.
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 3:58 PM.
