CHAPEL HILL --- No. 6 North Carolina picked up a gutsy 4-3 win over Houston Saturday night to stay in the winner's bracket of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional. Gianluca Dalatri and Josh Hiatt both had big days on the mound while Zack Gahagan sparked the offense with his sixth home run of the year. UNC will face the winner of Sunday's first game between Houston and Purdue at 6 p.m. with a chance to move on the Super Regionals.
Gahagan gave the lively Boshamer Stadium crowd something to cheer about early on as he blasted a two-run home run to left field in the second inning to give Carolina the early 2-0 lead. After working the count full, the senior second baseman capped the 10-pitch at-bat with a line drive over the left field wall to put the Tar Heels (40-18) on the board first.
In the top of the third inning, Kyle Datres got things going with a single to start the frame before stealing second ahead of Michael Busch. Busch hit a chopper to first base but turned on the jets to beat the flip and put runners at the corners with no outs. Cody Roberts then added to his RBI total with a perfect sacrifice bunt as Datres crossed the plate for the 3-0 lead.
Neither side would score again until Houston (37-24) plated its first run of the game in the fifth inning on a solo home run by Tyler Bielamowicz to cut the Carolina lead to 3-1.
The Cougars made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh after starting the inning with runners on first and second with no outs. After a wild pitch and a passed ball pulled Houston within one, Josh Ladowski made the play of the game in right field. With one out, Ladowski caught a fly ball and threw a line drive to the plate to cut down Cooper Coldiron and preserve the 3-2 lead.
The Tar Heels would respond with a run of their own in the eighth to double the advantage at 4-2. With two outs and Roberts on second, Ike Freeman smacked an RBI single through the left side to drive home some added insurance for the Heels.
Hiatt picked up the nine-out save after coming on in relief in the seventh inning to close out the game. The redshirt sophomore allowed just one hit and struck out four for his fifth save of the year.
Dalatri (2-2) threw five innings for the Tar Heels in his third start since returning from injury, limiting Houston to one run on four hits while striking out three. In his three games and 14 innings pitched since returning, Dalatri has only allowed one run on eight hits while striking out 14.
Houston's Trey Cumbie (7-4) took the loss despite seven strong innings, allowing just three runs on five hits and striking out nine.
The win gives Carolina 40 wins on the year for the second year in a row and the 15th time in 20 seasons under head coach Mike Fox. The Tar Heels will play for a regional title for the 10th time under Fox Sunday at 6 p.m. against the Houston-Purdue winner.
