Western Carolina had a chance in the bottom of the ninth when Blake Murphy doubled with one out off of Carignan. Steven Strausbaugh popped up to short and team offensive leader Kenny Smith was caught looking to end the game.

Catamounts Coach Todd Raleigh was actually thrown out at the end of the game by home plate umpire Mark Ditsworth for making a comment about the called third strike. "I didn't say anything that bad," said Raleigh. He went on to explain that he was a bit upset that UNC had no one called out on strikes in the game, while WCU had three. He said that Smith told him the ball was so far off the plate that he "couldn't hit it with a boat oar."

Raleigh was asked about his decision to bring in lefthanded reliever Chris Masters in the ninth and pitch to Josh Horton with first base open. He explained that Masters had pitched well, Horton had not been swinging the bat well, and he was leery of leaving Masters no margin for error if he intentionally walked Horton to load the bases. Horton acknowledged that he didn't get a good swing and that it wasn't much better than the swing he had in the seventh inning when he struck out with the bases loaded.

UNC Coach Mike Fox said he had complete confidence that Horton would come through in the clutch. He predicted that Horton will be a great pro player because he "doesn't let the game beat him down." Fox went on, "There's no substitute for experience at this level" when asked about how being in the College World Series helped in close games such as today's game. When asked about potentially hosting South Carolina in the Super Regionals, Fox laughed, "At least it'll be here and not in Columbia." South Carolina has knocked North Carolina out of the post-season several times in recent years (Regionals in 2002 and 2004, Super Regionals in 2003) and all those times have been in Columbia, SC. The Tar Heels will find out for sure tonight at 11 pm whether Boshamer Stadium will host the Super Regional. Although a national seed has never failed to host a Super Regional after winning a home regional, there is no guarantee that the national seed will do so.

Wooten, who threw 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief over three games and struck out eight, made the all-tournament team. He was sporting a cracked front tooth and is scheduled to have dental work tomorrow morning. Wooten injured the tooth on the back of Reid Fronk's head in the post-game dogpile at home plate when UNC beat East Carolina in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday

Chapel Hill Regional All-Tournament Team:

P- Drew Saberhagen- Western Carolina
P- Rob Wooten- North Carolina
1B- Stephen Batts- East Carolina
2B- Kenny Smith- Western Carolina
SS- Josh Horton- North Carolina (MVP)
3B- Nick Liles- Western Carolina
OF- Reid Fronk- North Carolina
OF- Steven Strausbaugh- Western Carolina
OF- Jamie Ray- East Carolina
C- Corey Kemp- East Carolina
DH- John Ingram- Western Carolina