STAT OF THE GAME: South Carolina left 14 runners on base, 8 of them in scoring position. The Gamecocks left at least one runner on base in every inning except the ninth.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Andrew Carignan P and Chad Flack 3B, UNC
Carignan's four innings of scoreless relief against a potent SC offense that scored 4 runs on 10 hits in the first four innings was crucial for UNC.
Flack had only one hit in the game, but boy was it a big one. He drilled a Will Atwood change-up for a two run homer in the seventh to break a 4-4 tie and give UNC a lead it would not relinquish. It was Flack's two late inning homers in Tuscaloosa last year that sent UNC to the College World Series in 2006.

POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
South Carolina Coach Ray Tanner and his players were very gracious in defeat.
"I am not ashamed to get beat by a team as good as North Carolina" he said, explaining that he thought the Gamecocks were beaten by a better team.
"They have all the ingredients in place" to make another run in the College World Series, he said of the Tar Heels. USC catcher Trent Kline agreed: "They've got a great chance to win the whole thing."

Tanner refused to comment on the play of shortstop Reese Havens, who had a tough series with five errors.

SC third baseman James Darnell was asked about the seventh inning, when he hit a long fly ball with the bases loaded that was caught on the warning track by Tim Fedroff. "I thought it had a chance," he said.

North Carolina Coach Mike Fox said of the series, "It's a shame both of us couldn't go."
"Our bullpen was terrific today", he said.
Of Andrew Carignan, Fox said, "He's our horse, and we were going to ride him just as far as we could." When asked if he thought about taking Carignan out before the ninth inning, he said he never really considered it and if he had "I would have sent somebody else" to tell Carignan.

Carignan said, "I always want the ball... I pitch off adrenaline."

A beaming Flack said of his big 7th inning home run, "He left a change-up up over the plate." He explained, "I was looking for just a base hit... and luckily got hold of it a little better."

ATTENDANCE: 2,925

FINAL NOTE: Thanks to CSTV for the chance to blog the Chapel Hill Regionals and Super Regionals (and get a very good seat for free when tickets were extremely hard to come by). Sorry the silly NCAA rules prevented in-game updates during the Super Regionals. I know as a fan that it's nice to get those special insights that can only come from being in the ballpark. For those of you going to Omaha, save me a spot in line at Zesto's.