June 11, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, NC-- No. 21-ranked Stanford's (35-22) season came to an end, as No. 7-ranked North Carolina (50-14) advanced to its ninth College World Series, holding off the Cardinal, 7-5, on Saturday afternoon in the Super Regional following an extended weather delay.
Stanford nearly evened the best of three series, following a three hour and 32 minute rain delay, coming back from a 6-1 deficit to close to within 6-5 prior to the delay.
Following the delay, Chris Reed walked Tommy Coyle to put runners on the corners in the ninth with two outs, before giving up an RBI single to Jacob Stallings to make it 7-5. He struck out Ben Bunting to send it to the ninth against UNC's closer, Michael Morin, who also had a long delay.
Morin pitched a perfect ninth for his tenth save.
Morin got out of his own jam in the eighth, after giving up a three-run double to Austin Wilson to make it 6-5. Morin, after putting two runners on with one out, induced an inning ending double play to send it into the ninth.
UNC broke open the game with three runs off of Jordan Pries (6-6) in the third to lead 3-1, as an RBI single by Bent Bunting was followed by a two-run double by Brian Holberton to erase the Cardinal's early lead and chase Pries from the game. Three more runs in the seventh made it 6-1.
Freshman lefthander Kent Emanuel (8-1) went the first six-plus innings, giving up one run on five hits to earn the victory for the No. 3 national seed. Greg Holt pitched a scoreless seventh and then got in trouble in the eighth, yielding to Morin.
Pries went the first 3.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits. The two walks was just the second time in his last nine starts he had walked two or more batters.
Reliever Brian Busick kept it at 3-1 until the seventh, before three runs came across on a fielder's choice and a two-run single by Stallings to make it 6-1. Stephen Piscotty's third error of the weekend forced Stanford to pick up four outs, but not before Stallings came through with the base hit.
Tyler Gaffney extended his hit streak to 22 games with an RBI double in the first to make it 1-0. It is the fifth longest hit streak at Stanford since 1988 and will continue into 2012.
NOTES: Nearly the entire Texas-Arizona State game was played during the delay... Gaffney will return to “The Triangle” this September with the Stanford Football team when it plays at Duke on September 10… Pries' outing was his shortest weekend start of the season and was only the second time he had not gone at least five all year... game time temperature was 89 degrees... Stanford was playing in its eighth Super Regional and 30th NCAA Regional... Stephen Piscotty led the team in hitting (.364), freshman Brian Ragira (46) led in RBIs and senior Zach Jones led the team in runs (43). Chris Reed led the team in ERA (2.56) and saves (9), while Dean McArdle had seven wins (7-4)... The Cardinal had four seniors on the team, starting catcher Zach Jones, weekend starter Danny Sandbrink, starting DH Ben Clowe and reserve outfielder Dave Giuliani and six players drafted, four juniors and two seniors... Stanford had Sunday, if necessary, at 1 p.m PT on ESPN.a