CARY, N.C. - Sophomore Alex White struck out eight and limited second-seed UNC Wilmington to three hits in a comple game effort as top-seeded North Carolina knocked off the Seahawks, 5-1, at the NCAA Cary Regional on Saturday at the USA Baseball Complex.

With the win, the Tar Heels (48-12) advance to the regional championship game on Sunday at 5 p.m., where they will play the winner of the Elon-UNCW (43-16-1) game, which will be played at 1 p.m.

White (9-3), who was the 2008 ACC Pitcher-of-the-Year, picked up the win for the Tar Heels with a career-long. White fanned five of the first six hitters he faced on his way to an 8-strikeout game.

Overshadowed by White outing was UNCW senior Jeff Hatcher (6-2) who went the distance for the second time this season and striking out a career-high nine.

In a pitching dominated contest, UNC’s Tim Fedroff, who went 2-for-4, was the only player with more that one hit. Both teams combined to leave just three runners on base.

The Tar Heels wasted little time getting on the board, taking advantage of two hits and an error to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Sophomore Dustin Ackley led off with a single and moved to second on a throwing error by Hatcher on an attempted pickoff. Sophomore Kyle Shelton followed with a single to left, moving Ackley to third. Fedroff grounded into a double play and Ackley scored.

Kyle Seager pushed UNC’s lead to 3-0 with a 2-run, 2-out homer to right off Hatcher in the fourth. Tim Federowicz then followed with a solo homer to left to make it 4-0.

In the fourth, senior Jason Appel tied the UNCW career-record for hits with 256 after doubling down the left field line.

A sacrifice fly by senior Jes Snyder narrowed UNCW’s deficit to 4-1 in the fifth. Senior Nate Hall doubled off the right center field wall to lead off the inning and a ground ball moved him over to third.

Hatcher was unable to keep UNC off the board in the sixth, allowing a lead off double to Fedroff and two batters later, Seager scored him from third with a sac fly to make the final 5-1.

Post Game Quotes

North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox
Opening Statement:
³You know it is a well-pitched game when you can take the box score and fold
it in half. The game started for us just like we wanted and ended just about
the same way. Obviously Alex started the game with three strikeouts, he set
the tone and sent a great message to our team that he was ready. My hats off
to Jeff Hatcher, I thought it was a great pitchers¹ duel. He pitched
exceptionally well and fortunately we got some big swings of the bat. It
went into our favor and that¹s why Alex is the ACC Pitcher of the Year. We
have no problems giving him the ball in big games and it was a great win for
us.²

On White¹s performance:
³You saw Alex tonight and he is a big-time competitor. He is about as tough
as they come. He has grown-up, which you see players do in any sport in
college. I think they learn the pace of the game and you see it in every
sport at this level. You know they¹re not going to come in as freshman and
have success from beginning to end. Last year is over with and Alex is
focusing on this year trying to do as well as he can. I mean you learn from
failure and I think that¹s what he did last year.²

Second baseman Kyle Seager
On White¹s performance:
³Well it definitely makes us more relaxed as a team. The way Alex was
throwing today, we felt like if we got a couple runs we¹d be ok and we
wouldn¹t have to press as much.²

On Jeff Hatcher¹s performance:
³He did a very good job, he threw in and out. He threw a lot of change ups
and had a good little slider. He was tough and he really didn¹t make to many
mistakes. He did a great job of keeping us off balance.²

Starting pitcher Alex White
On being hit on the hand early in the game:
³It was just a one hopper that hit me in the forearm. It stung a little bit,
but I kept pitching and it worked out.²

On pitching his first complete game of his career:
³Obviously the key was to work deep into the game and that¹s what I wanted
to do to start the game. My last couple of starts, against Virginia and at
Miami, I kind have gotten off to a slow start and put our team in a hole. I
wanted to work deep into the game and give us a chance to win.²

UNC Wilmington Quotes  5/31
Head Coach Mark Scalf
³It was a heck of a baseball game.  Two pitchers went after one another all
night long.  I thought Jeff pitched outstanding for us, but he had a couple
of mistakes and Alex White was just that much better.  It was a great
college game.  I mean, how many times do you see a college baseball game
finish in two hours.²

On getting ready for the rest of the Regional
³Coaches can only say so much.  At this time in the year, it¹s up to the
players.  They¹ve got to prepare themselves the best way they can. We¹ve got
a lot of work to do tomorrow.  We are going to have to come out and compete
early in the first game in order to get the opportunity to play a second
game.  I think they¹ll do a great job of preparing our guys and encouraging
them and making sure they¹re ready to go.²

Pitcher Jeff Hatcher
On the importance of pitching a complete game
³In hindsight, now that the game is over and we did lose, we are going to
need our pitchers to make a run at this thing.  So, it¹s pretty important.²
On a career-high 9 strikeouts
³The slider was working good today.  With a line-up like that, you make
mistakes and they¹ll make you pay for it.  So, I was trying to keep the ball
down and try to keep it away from them as much as possible and stay away
from their strengths.  It just worked out like that.²

Third baseman Nate Hall
On his analysis of the Tar Heels
³They¹re a good team; they¹ve got a great line-up.  They play good baseball,
but I feel we¹re just right there with them.  We¹re not intimidated by them
or anything like that.²

Click here for Box Score : ncaa4

-Courtesy UNCW Sports Information