North Carolina Ends Mississippi State's Season With 8-6, 11-Inning Win In Regional Final
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Sean Farrell's RBI single in the top of the 11th completed a come-from-behind effort for second-seeded North Carolina as the Tar Heels rallied from four down in the eighth to defeat top-seeded Mississippi State, 8-6, in extra frames and advance to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional against South Carolina.
Farrell, a senior outfielder from Charlotte, N.C., turned in a career day at the plate, hitting 4-for-6 with a pair of homers, four RBI and a pair of runs scored. Sophomore Greg Mangum turned in a 3-for-5 showing and junior Sammy Hewitt added a 3-for-6 tally as well to help fuel the Tar Heels' (42-21) 18-hit effort against a skeleton crew of Bulldog pitchers. Mississippi State (42-20-1) freshman catcher Craig Tatum turned in a trio of RBI on a 3-for-4 effort with a hit by pitch and a run scored to pace the Bulldog offense.
Scott Senatore (2-1) earned the victory for North Carolina, pitching strong in the ninth and 10th innings and allowing just one hit and striking out two, to earn the victory for UNC. Mississippi State used five different pitchers, including Robby Goodson (0-3), who saddled the loss after allowing two earned runs in the 11th inning. Junior reliever Kevin Brower picked up his first save for the Tar Heels after working a scoreless 1'th frame.
Farrell smacked a leadoff homer in the top of the second to give the Tar Heels a quick 1-0 lead, but the Bulldogs answered in the bottom of the inning, getting Tatum on via a hit batsman before Jeff Butts' hard single was misplayed by UNC rightfielder Jeremy Cleveland, allowing both runners to round the bases and give MSU a 2-1 lead.
The game remain unchanged until the top of the fifth when Mike Daniel was issued a leadoff walk, moved to third on a single and eventually scored on a wild pitch to knot the game back up. However, MSU answered with three more runs in the bottom of the inning, then took a 6-2 advantage in the seventh on Tatum's RBI single.
North Carolina pushed another run across the plate in the eighth on Wes Moyer's RBI single to rightfield to cut its deficit to 6-3, then got a pair of doubles to lead off the ninth before tying the score on Farrell's two-run blast down the leftfield line.
"North Carolina is a very nice ball club and they did what had to be done with the home runs and extra-base hits," said Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk. "That was something we weren't able to get done this weekend. That makes it tough. The key to a four-team tournament, often times, is that second game so you can get your kids some rest and it doesn't beat down on your pitching.
"The kids tried as hard as they could but didn't get it done. I am really proud of this team."
2003 Starkville Regional All-Tournament Team
P - Matt Danford, UNC
P - Jamie Gant, MSU
C - Craig Tatum, MSU
1B - Chris Iannetta, UNC
2B - Greg Mangum, UNC
3B - Steve Gendron, MSU
SS - Matthew Maniscalco, MSU
OF - Sean Farrell, UNC
OF - Brad Corley, MSU
OF - Jayce Tingler, Missouri
DH - Robby Goodson, MSU
Most Outstanding Player: Sean Farrell, UNC