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LSU falls to North Carolina in extras in Chapel Hill Regional final thriller
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LSU saw its season come to a bitter close Monday night in a Game 7 loss to No. 4 national seed North Carolina at the Chapel Hill Regional.
The Tigers (43-23) won a pair of elimination games against Wofford and Carolina on Sunday, and they got off to a 3-2 lead on the Tar Heels on Monday. But the bats went quiet after the third inning. North Carolina produced a run in the top of the ninth to force extras and then another in the top of the 10th to win 4-3.
A year after winning the national championship, LSU’s season ends in the Regionals.
For North Carolina (45-14), the win secures an appearance in the Super Regionals for the fourth time in the last 6 postseasons. The Tar Heels will host West Virginia for a best-of-3 series, beginning on either Friday or Saturday.
It’ll be hard to top what the Chapel Hill Regional provided. Both these sides hit walk-off homers in their regional openers. Monday’s finale provided a fitting conclusion.
North Carolina opened the game with 3 straight singles to load the bases. LSU walked in a run on the next at-bat, and Carolina added a second immediately after it.
LSU got 1 back in the bottom of the first. Jake Brown then smacked a solo shot in the second to tie the game. In the third inning, Jared Jones hit a 2-out home run to give LSU a 3-2 lead.
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Carolina then sat down 14 consecutive LSU batters. The Tar Heels’ pitching was superb. Jason DeCaro went 2 innings in the start, giving up 2 hits and 2 runs before giving way to Matthew Matthijs in the third. After the home run, Matthijs settled in, going 4.1 with 3 strikeouts and 2 hits allowed.
Dalton Pence, who picked up his fourth win of the season, closed the final 3.2 innings. He struck out 4 and allowed just 1 hit — a 1-out single in the bottom of the ninth. But he never looked shaken, coming back and striking out LSU’s Paxton Kling to end the inning and strand the baserunner.
Alex Madera provided the game-winning hit in the top of the 10th, a 2-out RBI single. Madera had fallen behind in the count, worked it back to full, and then cracked a fastball up the middle for the win.
4-3!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/7iihdw1KrW
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) June 4, 2024
And this was just 1 frame after UNC had him bunt with 2 strikes and a man on second. It nearly worked, but rolled foul at the last second, leaving the entire park stunned. Madera came back unfazed in the 10th.
Carolina figures to be the favorite in the Chapel Hill Super Regional. FanDuel NC has futures on the board for each of the Super Regional winners.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
