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May 22, 2002
St. Petersburg, Fla. – The #6 seeded University of Virginia baseball team dropped a heartbreaking loss to the #3 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels in the first contest for each team in the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at Al Lang Field in Florida Power Park. North Carolina jumped out to an early 8-0 after three innings of play before Virginia scored 10 unanswered runs to turn its eight-run deficit into a two-run lead at 10-8 after six and a half innings of play. However, UNC scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally for a thrilling 11-10 win.
North Carolina wasted no time putting its first run on the scoreboard and took and early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Adam Greenberg led off for UNC with a solo home run over the right field wall. The Tar Heels pulled ahead by the score of 2-0 three batters later when Russ Adams doubled and advanced to third base before Chris Maples drove him in to score a run with a RBI-single to left field. UNC extended its lead to 4-0 when Jeremy Cleveland connected on a two-run home run to left-center field. North Carolina added two more runs to push its lead to 6-0 when Ron Braun hit a RBI-double to score Chris Iannetta (double) before Chad Prosser posted a RBI-single to drive in Braun.
The Tar Heels mustered another run in the bottom of the second inning when Cleveland walked and scored two batters later when Greg Mangum drove him in with a RBI-single to give UNC a 7-0 lead. UNC took its biggest lead of the contest at 8-0 in the bottom of the third inning when Sean Farrell drove in Greenberg with a RBI-single up the middle. But the Tar Heels would find scoring runs a little more difficult as the Cavaliers turned up the heat in the innings to follow.
Virginia finally got on the scoreboard and made it an 8-4 ballgame in the top of the fifth inning by scoring four runs. Mark Reynolds got things started when hit his tenth double of the season down the left field line before moving to third base on a wild pitch, and then scored the Cavaliers’ first run of the game on another wild pitch to make it an 8-1 contest. After Rob Newton walked and scored a run on a RBI-single to right field by Kyle Werman to make the score 8-2, David Stone cut the Tar Heels’ lead in half at 8-4 when he recorded his fourth home run of the season with a two-run shot to right field that just got out of the ballpark when the ball bounced off the top of the right field wall.
The Cavaliers stormed back and scored five more runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 9-8 lead, its first of the game, highlighted by a three-run triple to right field by Matt Street to drive in Chris Sweet (single), Scott Headd (hit by pitch) and Stone (walk). M. Street eventually scored a run himself when his brother, Dan Street, drove him in with UVa’s ninth unanswered run of the ballgame with a RBI-double to left field, making it a 9-8 contest. Virginia’s Werman also added a RBI ground out in the inning to score Newton to start the scoring run for UVa.
Virginia pushed its lead to 10-8 in the top of the seventh inning when Sweet drove in the Cavaliers’ tenth unanswered run with a RBI-double off the center field wall that scored Reynolds, who reached base after posting his second double of the game (11th of the year). But that would be Virginia’s last run of the game before UNC made one last charge.
North Carolina finally broke UVa’s scoring run by scoring three runs of its own in the bottom of the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-run single up the middle by Maples to drive in Greenberg and Adams, to give the Tar Heels an 11-10 lead. Adams’ run eventually became the game-winner and Maples’ hit allowed UNC to hold Virginia off for the win.
UVa starting pitcher Jeff Kamrath lasted 6.1 innings and surrendered nine runs on 13 hits to go along with three strikeouts. The Cavaliers’ Andrew Dobies (0-2) took the loss after walking two batters that came around to score runs in 0.0 (two batters faced) of work on the mound. UNC staring pitcher Scott Autrey went 5.2 innings before being pulled and allowed eight runs on seven hits to go along with four strikeouts. The Tar Heels’ Carter Harrell (8-3) pitched 2.2 scoreless innings and surrendered four hits with three strikeouts.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 25-31 overall, 0-1 in the ACC Tournament. The win improves North Carolina’s record to 40-17 overall, 1-0 in tournament play.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Thursday, May 23rd at 1:30 p.m. when UVa faces the N.C. State Wolfpack in an elimination game. The contest will be played at Al Lang Field in Florida Power Park.
— UVa —