Fullerton Misses Its Chance in Opener

Cal State Fullerton had more chances in its College World Series opener than someone fishing at a trout farm.

The Titans stranded the potential winning run on second base in the bottom of the ninth and 10th innings Friday night at Rosenblatt Stadium, then loaded the bases during a wacky 11th inning in which they had five baserunners but couldn’t score.

In the end, it was North Carolina that netted the big catch, scoring twice in the 13th inning of a 7-5 victory that lasted 4 hours 53 minutes and marked the second-longest game in series history.

Oklahoma State and Arizona State played a 13-inning game that lasted five hours in 1981.

Josh Horton and Tim Federowicz hit run-scoring singles as part of a five-hit barrage in the 13th inning to give North Carolina (51-13) its first series victory since 1978. The Tar Heels play Atlantic Coast Conference nemesis Clemson on Sunday in a winner’s bracket game.

Only once before, in 1979, has Fullerton dropped its series opener and rebounded to win the national title. The Titans (48-14) face a win-or-go-home game against Georgia Tech on Sunday and will have to rely on their No. 3 starting pitcher, Dustin Miller, after No. 2 starter Lauren Gagnier was forced to pitch 2 1/3 innings Friday.

“Whenever you put that much effort into something and come up short, we got knocked on our rear ends with the results,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said.

The Titans left the bases loaded in the 11th inning when David Cooper’s pop fly into the swirling wind was caught at the last second by a lunging Seth Williams in right field for the final out.

Two batters reached base in the inning following dropped third strikes, and catcher Cory Vanderhook stole his first base of the season. But pitcher Matt Danford caught Vanderhook venturing too far off third base and threw him out at home for the second out.

Tar Heels closer Andrew Carignan, who had failed to protect a two-run lead in the ninth inning of a super-regional game against Alabama, pitched a shaky but scoreless 13th inning for his 14th save. The Titans had two on with two out before Danny Dorn flied to left field.

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” said Fullerton second baseman Justin Turner, who had four hits but no runs batted in. “We had runners on in scoring position and we just couldn’t get a timely hit.”

A game billed as a pitchers’ duel turned into a home-run derby in the early innings before North Carolina ace Andrew Miller and Titans counterpart Wes Roemer settled into a groove.

Each pitcher gave up five runs and a pair of homers before the game was five innings old.

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Andy D’Alessio hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to highlight the biggest late-game series comeback in 20 years as top-seeded Clemson beat Georgia Tech, 8-4.

The Tigers capitalized on Georgia Tech’s bullpen meltdown to score all their runs in the eighth in the tournament’s opening game. D’Alessio’s homer against Ryan Turner allowed the Tigers to rally from a 4-0 deficit after Lee Hyde had held them to two hits over seven innings.

No team had come back from four or more runs down in the eighth inning to win in the series since Arizona rallied from a six-run deficit to beat Maine, 8-7, in 1986.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.