Diamond Hawks fall in the 9th to Carolina in Regional opener

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (UNCW Sports) – North Carolina rallied with a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to erase a 6-5 deficit as the Tar Heels slipped past UNCW, 7-6, in the opening game of the Chapel Hill Regional on Friday at Boshamer Stadium.

The winning run came across on a failed suicide squeeze attempt as Danny Serretti scored on an errant throw for the winning run.

The Tar Heels improved to 43-17 while the Seahawks dipped to 32-29.

Chris Thorburn and Noah Bridges had three hits apiece for the Seahawks, who rallied in the top of the ninth with two runs to take a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the inning. Bridges, who also homered, drove in two runs and Matt Suggs added two doubles and a pair of runs batted in.

Ike Freeman had a pair of RBI singles while Dallas Tessar gave UNCW a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer, his first of the season. UNC’s Aaron Sabato homered to lead off the bottom of the ninth to tie the game.

UNC reliever Austin Love (7-4) earned the win while Henry Ryan (4-5) was tagged with the loss.

Up next: The Seahawks play the loser of Tennessee and Liberty in an elimination game on Saturday. Time for that game will be announced later Friday night.

How it happened: Ryan surrender the Seahawks’ lead with a homer to Sabato. He walked the next hitter and ran a 3-0 count on Serretti before the game was halted due to weather. Justin Walke took over for Ryan following the delay and walked Freeman. UNC popped up a bunt for the first out, but a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. The Seahawks intentionally walked Brandon Martorano to lead the bases for Dylan Harris. The Tar Heels attempted to squeeze home the winning run, but the pitch was wide, and the Seahawks had Serretti in a run down, but he escaped as an errant throw to home sailed high.

Notes: The game went into delay at 5:48 p.m. and resumed at 8:49 p.m. for a delay time of 3:01 … Thorburn, Jones and Brooks Baldwin have all reached safely in 10 straight games … Baldwin has a five-game hitting streak.