The UNC Baseball program advances to the Super Regionals!

With their victory over VCU on Monday night, the UNC baseball program clinched their berth in the upcoming Super Regionals. 

Next stop: Super Regionals!

For the first time in school history, the UNC baseball program has advanced to the Super Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament out of the losers bracket. Since the tournament format was put into place back in 1999, all of the Tar Heels’ other Super Regional appearances have come out of the winner’s bracket.

North Carolina will be making their 10th Super Regional appearance overall. After winning two big games on Sunday, the Tar Heels would not be denied in their quest to keep their season alive.

In Monday’s win-or-go-home battle with VCU, it was the pitching that stood out under the bright lights.

On just one day of rest, Brandon Schaeffer was called upon to start on the mound for the Diamond Heels. As he’s done in recent outings, the left-hander has been huge for the Tar Heels, as he pitched into the fourth inning while allowing just three earned runs.

Following Schaeffer was Gage Gillian, who was sensational over his 4.1 innings of work. The senior right-hander, who pitched an inning and a third on Sunday, tied his longest outing of the season in Monday’s contest.

There were no signs of fatigue from Gillian, who allowed just one hit overall. The combination of Schaeffer and Gillian was just what the Tar Heels needed, given that the pitching staff has been taxed over their five games in their last four days.

As the “away” team, it didn’t take long for the Tar Heels’ offense to get going. North Carolina put up four runs in the first inning, capped off by a Mikey Madej three-run homer, to provide a lead that would not be relished.

The Diamond Heels added some insurance runs over the middle part of the ball game, as an Alberto Osuna RBI single in the third followed by a Danny Serretti homer in the fourth gave North Carolina all the runs they would need.

After facing a very taxing schedule over the last few days, the UNC baseball program will have a few days to rest up for next weekend’s Super Regionals. The next round of games is scheduled to begin on Friday, as matchups and scheduling of the games are still to be determined.

Follow us @KeepingItHeel on Twitter and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of UNC baseball news, views, and recruiting updates.