Arizona had a short-lived 1-0 lead before North Carolina scored five in the bottom of the first inning on its way to an 18-X win over the Wildcats in game one of the Chapel Hill Super Regional on Friday. North Carolina needs one more win in the best-of-three series to earn a trip to Omaha for the College World Series.
Adonys Guzman got Arizona on the board with an RBI single in the top of the first inning to score Aaron Walton. After a pair of RBI singles, Hunter Stokley hit a no-doubt home run to right field to give North Carolina a 5-1 lead. Arizona threatened in the top of the second with a chance to get back in the game.
The bottom third of the Arizona order had consecutive singles with one out. Brendan Summerhill grounded into a double play to end the inning. Luke Stevenson hit a three-run HR in the bottom of the second to extend the North Carolina lead to 8-1.
Arizona had opportunities against North Carolina starter Jake Knapp. Knapp entered the Super Regional 13-0 with a 1.98 earned run average and a .186 opponent batting average. Knapp pitched seven innings, allowing two runs, a season-high nine hits with no walks and three strikeouts versus 31 batters for Arizona.
Owen Kramkowki pitched 1.1 innings for Arizona, allowing eight runs, six hits and two walks with one strikeout. Matthew Martinez and Collin McKinney each allowed two runs, Eric Orloff gave up five and Bryce McKnight one for Arizona. North Carolina was 11-21 with runners in scoring position and 9-15 with runners on base.
Arizona had three hits in 14 at-bats with runners on base and two hits in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Wildcats had hits off Knapp but were unable to produce with runners on base. Game two of the Chapel Super Regional is on Saturday at 9 AM Mountain Standard Time.
Raul Garayzar (2-0, 2.54) will start on Saturday for Arizona versus Jason DeCaro (9-3, 3.50) for North Carolina. If Arizona wins on Saturday, freshman Smith Bailey (3-3, 3.97) will start on Sunday with a starter for North Carolina, as well as the time and TV information to be determined.