Jun 21, 2008 - 1:58 AM
0 shoutsOMAHA, Nebraska (Ticker) -- It took over 28 hours to determine, but North Carolina has joined Georgia, Fresno State and Stanford in the College World Series Final Four.
Tim Federowicz blasted a grand slam to snap a tie in the ninth inning and propel the Tar Heels to a thrilling 7-3 elimination-game victory over Louisiana State.
North Carolina advances to play Fresno State on Saturday at 7 p.m EDT.
The game resumed Friday with the Tar Heels holding a 2-0 lead after a three-hour rain delay Thursday night caused the game to be suspended in the first inning.
LSU reliever Louis Coleman (0-1) allowed a one-out double to Ryan Graepel in the ninth before intentionally walking Dustin Ackley. Coleman then threw a wild pitch, advancing both runners into scoring position before another intentional walk to Tim Fedroff set up Federowicz's game-winning shot.
"It was a great feeling getting up there with the bases loaded in the College World Series," Federowicz said. "He hung a slider and I was able to catch one. I struggled a little bit, but I was hitting the ball hard. I was confident with the bases loaded. It's a lot of fun."
In 29 career NCAA Tournament games, Federowicz has driven in 26 runs. Ackley was 4-for-4 to pace the Tar Heels' offense.
LSU gained some momentum when Matt Clark blasted a two-run homer after Micah Gibbs smacked a one-out single off reliever Brian Moran, erasing North Carolina's 3-1 lead in the sixth. Clark's 28 home runs lead the nation.
The Tigers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Tar Heels reliever Alex White (2-0) got D.J. LaMahieu to pop up to second base and Leon Landry to ground out to third to end the threat.
It was a lot of fun coming in with a big situation," White said. "The walk to Gibbs was not what we wanted. The Clark walk wasn't so bad. I knew I had to throw strikes. I couldn't walk anyone else."
North Carolina received three scoreless innings in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings from Rob Wooten and White.
"North Carolina kept us off balance with the different pitchers they can bring out of their bullpen," Clark said. "They've thrown well all year and that's not going to change at the College World Series."
On Thursday, the Tar Heels scored two runs in the first off Tigers starter Blake Martin. Ackley hit a leadoff single and scored on Fedroff's one-out RBI double. After Martin hit Federowicz and Kyle Seager, he walked Chad Flack to force in another run. With the bases still loaded, a three-hour delay eventually forced the game to move to Friday.
When the game resumed Friday, Micah Gibbs and Clark worked back-to-back walks with no outs in the second against North Carolina's Matt Harvey, who had not started in 21 days. D.J. LaMahieu followed with a one-run single to help LSU cut its deficit in half.
But the Tar Heels increased their lead to 3-1 in the fifth when Graepel led off with a walk and came around to score after Federowicz hit into a fielder's choice.
"My most overwhelming emotion is that I'm hurting very badly because the team gave everything and left it all on the field," Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said. "We ran out of miracles. Our kids competed as hard as they could and obviously we want the season to go on forever but tonight it came to an abrupt halt.
"North Carolina deserves to move on. They are a very well-coached team with outstanding pitching and were a little bit better than we were tonight."
