Chapel Hill, NC — North Carolina had the crowd, the lead, the starter and the early command Friday afternoon at Bryson Field at Boshamer Stadium. What the Tar Heels did not have, when the game tilted hardest, was the final answer. Southern California erased a four-run deficit with a five-run sixth inning, seized control on Dean Carpentier’s go-ahead grand slam and beat No. 5 national seed North Carolina 9-5 in Game 1 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
The loss leaves the Tar Heels one defeat from elimination in the NCAA Tournament and one win from forcing a decisive Game 3. USC, which entered the weekend as an unseeded but surging opponent, moved within one victory of reaching the Men’s College World Series in Omaha.
For five innings, Carolina appeared to have written the first chapter of the weekend in familiar postseason ink. Ryan Lynch worked confidently, North Carolina forced USC ace Mason Edwards out after three demanding innings, and the Tar Heels built a 5-1 lead. But postseason baseball rarely honors early comfort. USC scored eight unanswered runs, turned a tense afternoon into a stunned one and handed the Tar Heels the kind of loss that lingers longer than the box score.
Early Patience Gives Carolina Control…