After advancing to the winners’ bracket of the Gainesville regional, the Dirtbags (33-25) fell to the College of Charleston Cougars, 6-3.
The Cougars (43-17) were the No.4 seed in the Gainesville regional, but upset Florida to advance to the winners bracket. They were no ordinary fourth-seed, as the Colonial Athletic Association champions won 41 games going into the postseason.
They jumped to an early lead off Dirtbags’starter Josh Frye. Frye, who was named to the All-Big West first team, gave up a leadoff walk. Blake Butler moved to second on a single, third on a fly ball, and scored on a groundout to give COC a 1-0 lead.
Johnny Bekakis tied the game with an RBI single in the fourth. The game remained tied at one until the sixth, where both teams put runs on the board.
The Dirtbags had a great opportunity in the top of the sixth, which started with a double by Ino Patron. Richard Prigatano was hit with the next pitch and Michael Hill stepped in to try to bunt the runners over. Hill got the bunt down, but Cougars pitcher Bailey Ober hesitated and Hill beat the throw to first to load the bases with no outs.
After Bekakis popped out, designated hitter Zack Belanger hit a line drive to the left field that was deep enough to score a run. Eric Hutting flew out to end the inning with minimal damage done.
The Cougars responded with a four-run bottom of the sixth to give COC a 5-2 lead. Frye walked Butler again and gave up a single to the left. Butler scored on a sacrifice fly, and Frye hit Nick Pappas with a pitch to give the Cougars runners on the corners with one out. Frye got a weak line drive right back to him and had Pappas leaning off first for a double play, but threw low and let the ball get past Patron to give the Cougars the 3-2 lead.
Instead of an inning-ending double play, Frye gave up the lead and extended the sixth for the Cougars. Designated hitter Ben Boykin hit the very next pitch off the right field scoreboard to extend the Cougars lead to 5-2.
The Dirtbags got one back in the seventh, but Pappas hit a home run off Nick Rosetta in the eighth to give the Cougars the 6-3 victory.
The Dirtbags are still alive in the postseason. They move to an elimination game, where they will face North Carolina again. The game will be on Sunday at 10 a.m. PST.
The winner of that game has a date with College of Charleston at 4 p.m. PST, with the winner moving to Super Regionals.