Score: No. 10 North Carolina 19, VCU 8 (NCAA Regional Final)
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C. (Boshamer Stadium)
Records: VCU 42-19, No. North Carolina 41-20
The short story: Redshirt sophomore first baseman Tyler Locklear broke the program records for single-season home runs and RBIs, but an early offensive explosion from the Tar Heels set up a winner-take-all Regional Final for Monday night.
FIRST PITCH
- Locklear's two-run bomb in the first inning was his 20th of the season, a program record. It was also the 37th of his career, tied for the most in VCU history. The homer gave him 78 RBIs for the year, which is also a Rams all-time single-season record. The First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection went 2-for-4 and added a double, a walk, and two runs.
- Redshirt junior right fielder Logan Amiss went 2-for-5 with a double, a run, and three RBIs.
- Redshirt sophomore third baseman Ben Nippolt drew a pair of walks and scored three runs.
- Redshirt junior center fielder AJ Mathis, redshirt sophomore designated hitter Will Carlone, and redshirt sophomore left fielder Cooper Benzin each collected two hits.
- Nippolt led off the game with a full-count walk, followed by Locklear launching an opposite-field home run to right to give VCU an early 2-0 lead.
- The Tar Heels strung together six hits, including two homers, to score seven runs in the bottom of the first to take a 7-2 lead.
- The Rams put up multiple runs for the second straight frame in the second inning. VCU loaded the bases with a leadoff walk from graduate catcher Jacob Selden and back-to-back singles from Benzin and freshman second baseman Marcus O'Malley. Nippolt scored Selden with an RBI fielder's choice, then Benzin crossed home plate on a wild pitch. Amiss delivered a two-out RBI single through the left side to cut the lead to 7-5.
- UNC hit two-run homers in both the second and third, then scored five unearned runs in the fifth to extend its advantage to 16-5.
- VCU put together a three-run seventh inning to put a dent into the Tar Heel lead. Nippolt led off with a walk, then Locklear and Amiss hit back-to-back doubles to score a pair. Carlone checked in with a two-out RBI single to make it 16-8.
- UNC added three runs in the eighth to cap the scoring.
- In addition to his single-season home run and RBI, and career homer records, Locklear also ranks second all-time at VCU for single-season runs (77), tied for second in single-season doubles (25), ninth in single-season hits (89), tied for ninth in career RBIs (152), and tied for ninth in single-season walks (45).
- The loss snapped the Rams' 17-game win streak. VCU has won 25 of its last 29 games.
- VCU hit its seventh home run as a team during the Chapel Hill Regional.
- UNC's 19 runs were the most allowed by VCU this season.
- Freshman right-hander Nick Frazier threw a career-high 2.2 innings of relief.
- Locklear leads VCU with 28 multi-hit games, and 19 multi-hit performances. He extended his reached base streak to 44 straight contests.
- Carlone is on a 10-game hitting streak.
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