WWAY’s Monday night sports – June 3

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CHAPEL HILL, NC (AP) — Cody Stubbs singled with the bases loaded in the 13th inning to help No. 1 overall seed North Carolina avoid a huge upset by edging Florida Atlantic 12-11 on Monday night in a wild regional championship game.

Stubbs’ hit down the left-field line scored Landon Lassiter from third base to cap a game filled with momentum swings, sending the Tar Heels (55-9) spilling onto the field in a mad dash to celebrate.

UNC took a 6-2 lead into the ninth inning, but gave up six runs — including a grand slam by Tyler Rocklein — to trail 8-6. But the Tar Heels tied it to send it to extras, only to fall behind again in the 12th after the second-seeded Owls (42-22) got a three-run homer by Levi Meyer in the top of the inning.

The Tar Heels came back yet again, and then won it to advance to the best-of-three super regionals against South Carolina, starting Friday at Chapel Hill.

North Carolina narrowly avoided joining Oregon — No. 8 overall — as national seeds to fail to get out of the regional round.

The win came barely a week after North Carolina needed 18 innings to beat rival North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. On this night, the Tar Heels used six pitchers — including regional-game starters Kent Emanuel, Benton Moss and Hobbs Johnson — before reliever Reilly Hovis (4-0) earned the win by striking out Rocklein to end the top of the 13th.

The Tar Heels started the year 39-2 and won the ACC tournament title, but barely avoided suffering consecutive losses for the first time all season. Florida Atlantic edged North Carolina 3-2 on Sunday to force Monday night’s decisive game.

Reliever Michael Sylvestri (4-3) took the loss after allowing three hits and the winning run in 1 1/3 innings.

The game was delayed for two hours due to heavy rain and didn’t wrap up until after 1 a.m. Tuesday.

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ROCKVILLE, MD (WWAY) — In the final stage of US Open qualifying former UNCW golfer Ryan Sullivan finished at 7 under par at Woodmont Country Club. Sullivan fired a 61 in his first round. The former Seahawk followed that up with a 73. He made the cut to advance to Merion by two strokes. Former UNCW golfer Josh Brock qualified for US Open in 2009, but didn’t make the cut that year.

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MOREHEAD CITY, NC (WWAY) — The Wilmington Sharks-Morehead City Marlins baseball game was postponed on Monday. The teams will play a doubleheader in Morehead City on June 12 to make up for the postponement. Wilmington’s next home game will be June 6 at Buck Hardee Field at 6pm.

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MIAMI (AP) – LeBron James scored 32 points and the Miami Heat powered their way back to the NBA Finals with a 99-76 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Dwyane Wade ended his struggles with 21 points for the defending NBA champions, who will host the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night to begin their third straight finals appearance.

Miami took control with a 33-point second quarter and had a huge lead for most of the second half after six mostly difficult games against the Pacers.

Roy Hibbert scored 18 points for the Pacers, but All-Star Paul George fouled out with just seven points.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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TEMPE, AZ (CARDINALS) — Daryn Colledge’s tenure as a left guard ended the moment Roger Goodell called Jonathan Cooper’s name at the NFL Draft in April.

The conversation with Cardinals’ coaches was short and to the point. A rookie is coming in to play left guard. Colledge had to move to the right side.

The transition, however, hasn’t been as tidy. But reinventing himself as a right guard isn’t the end of the world nor is it the end of Colledge’s career. It’s actually helped the eight-year veteran keep his job.

“I should probably set myself up and say it’s the hardest thing I could possibly ever do in my life. Nobody should be expected to
do it,” Colledge said with a wily smile. “That’ll probably be the best way to set it up.”

If he sets it up that way, then he can’t help but excel at his new position. All it will take is relearning how to play guard but on flip mode.

A month into learning his new position because the Cardinals released Adam Snyder, the team’s former right guard and one of Colledge’s closest friends, Colledge said the mental aspect of the transition has been easy but it’s been a slow process to pick up the physical pieces.

“There’re certain things you do out of instinct when you’ve been playing one side long enough,” Colledge said. “Sometimes I take the wrong step. Sometimes I’m learning with the wrong hand. Again, it’s slowly coming. There’re things that I’m getting better at every day and there’s things that I need to focus on and try to improve.”

Colledge estimated it’s been three or four years since he last played right guard as a member of the Green Bay Packers. He’d rotate through positions depending on who was injured, so Colledge had to know all three interior spots.

Which, as it happens, is just how Cardinals coach Bruce Arians prefers it.

“Whether you’re going from left guard to center to right guard, you’ve got to be able to play all those positions,” Arians said. “Especially a veteran of his stature should be able to play all three in a game without flinching. The right guard is probably the hardest switch. It’s easy from left guard to center.”

Arians added that Colledge will also play center during training camp, adding to his apprenticeship at all three interior positions.

At this point in his career, Colledge will do anything to stay on a roster. If the coaches said punt, he’d ask how far and how high – after learning how to punt, of course.

“I think the good thing at my age is anytime that you still have work,” Colledge said. “This is a league built on young guys but if they’re asking me as a vet to be the guy that they trust to make that move, I think that’s good for me.

“They felt I had long enough to learn right and, again, I’m flattered the coaches believe I can do it. I got to go out and prove them right.”

Center Lyle Sendlein will have to adjust to having Colledge on his right instead of his left, but he doesn’t think Colledge will struggle with the move.

“He’s selfless and a team player,” Sendlein says. “He’s the kind of guy that will do anything that’s better for the team. It shows in his willingness to move to wherever they ask him to.”

The move could’ve been worse for Colledge. He could’ve been moved to tackle, which would’ve been a tougher transition, Colledge said, because of the different stance. Or he could’ve been moved to the bench.

For the last month, he’s focused on learning the fundamentals of right guard, making sure he’s using the correct hand and using the proper footwork. He’s seeing progress each practice, but he can’t quantify how much he’s accomplished or how far he has to go until he’s conquered right guard.

“It’ll come slow but it’ll come steady,” Colledge said. “Hopefully by time I hit camp, I’ll be in a good flow.”

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GREENVILLE, NC (AP) – East Carolina has given football coach Ruffin McNeill a contract extension through the 2017 season.

The school announced McNeill’s new deal Monday.

The extension will pay him a total of $1.15 million plus incentives. His base salary was raised from $200,000 to $400,000.

The 54-year-old McNeill is 19-19 in three seasons at his alma mater and has guided the Pirates to two bowls.

East Carolina is leaving Conference USA for the American Athletic Conference in 2014, and new athletic director Jeff Compher says the extension shows the school’s confidence in McNeill.

His previous 5-year contract was to expire after the 2014 season. The new deal runs through June 30, 2018.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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WILMINGTON, NC (UNCW) -– UNCW’s 366 student-athletes have matched their athletic successes with strong numbers in the classroom as well for the Spring, 2013, semester.

“We’re very pleased with the academic accomplishments of our student-athletes this semester,” said Jimmy Bass, UNCW’s athletic director. “It’s a tribute to their hard work and the dedication of our academic support personnel. This demonstrates that our student-athletes have their priorities in order and are preparing for life after college.”

The group combined for a grade point average of 3.12 in the second semester of the 2012-13 term. UNCW’s student-athletes own a cumulative GPA of 3.11.

Overall, 231 student-athletes achieved at least a 3.00 GPA and 31 of that group posted perfect 4.00 GPA’s during the spring semester.