June 14, 2009

Tar Heels Fall To Arizona State, 5-2

OMAHA, Neb. - North Carolina starter Alex White and Arizona State hurler Josh Spence hooked up in a classic pitcher's duel Sunday afternoon, with neither figuring in the decision of what would be a 5-2, 10-inning win for the Sun Devils. ASU improved to 50-12 with the victory, while Carolina dropped to 47-17 with the loss, its first of the postseason.

Spence allowed just one run in seven innings of work, throwing 122 pitches (77 for strikes) and allowing eight hits and three walks. He also hit a batter, struck out eight and picked off a runner at first. The junior southpaw kept the Tar Heels off the board until the sixth, when Levi Michael drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mark Fleury, and raced home with the game-tying run on a single by Garrett Gore.

White, who threw 87 of his 131 pitches for strikes, escaped trouble in the first and fifth frames. Jason Kipnis had a one-out double in the first but was stranded at second. Riccio Torrez led off the fifth with a single, advanced to second one out later on a throwing error, and moved to third on a wild pitch. After White struck out Drew Maggi, he intentionally walked Kipnis, who proceeded to steal second to put two runners in scoring position for Carlos Ramirez. But White retired him on a fly ball to center field to get out of trouble.

ASU broke through against the Tar Heel bullpen in the top of the 10th. Colin Bates relieved White and retired MacPhee on a pop up to start the inning before allowing a single to Maggi. After Brian Moran relieved Bates, Kipnis hit a fly ball to right that Gore dropped, setting the stage for Ramirez. He delivered with a sharp single to left-center that brought Maggi in with the go-ahead run. Calhoun capped the rally with a three-run opposite field homer to make it 5-1.

Lefty reliever Mitchell Lambson picked up the win for ASU, going three innings and striking out five while working around shaky defense in the bottom of the 10th inning. Seager led off with a fly ball to center that was misplayed into a double. After moving to third on a ground out, Seager scored on a ground ball hit by Michael that went under the glove of MacPhee for an error. But Lambson took matters into his own hands from there, striking out Fleury and Gore to end the game and send the Sun Devils into Tuesday night's game against the winner of the Southern Miss-Texas game. First pitch will be shortly after 7 p.m.

UNC will face the loser of the Southern Miss-Texas game Tuesday at 2 p.m.