CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – This game was as heartbreaking to experience as it is to read about. You can use any expression that you could think of: Fairfield had North Carolina on the ropes, they brought the Tar Heels to the edge, any line will apply. But no one can deny the Fairfield University baseball team put a major scare to the sixth-ranked team in the country. In the end, the underdog story didn't have a fulfilling ending.  Eli Sutherland drew a bases loaded walk with none out in the 13th inning to give No. 6 North Carolina a 4-3 victory, and crashed what could be the gutsiest performance of any Fairfield baseball team ever. The Stags were two outs away from the biggest win in program history, but UNC tied the game up with a groundout in the ninth and negotiated several Fairfield threats in the longest NCAA Division I baseball game this season.

“We pitched and clawed back,” Head Coach Bill Currier said. “That's a good confidence booster for us. It's early in the year and we held our own with them. We have to calm our nerves a bit and do what we can do.”

“We knew they were going to be a good team,” North Carolina Head Coach Mike Fox said. “I've known Bill Currier for a longtime and he's a baseball man, we knew they were going to be a good offensive team and boy did they swing it. Really one through nine in the order, they hit some balls hard. It's hard to imagine as hard as they hit some balls, they only ended up with three runs. They played us tough and certainly the rest of the weekend is going to be a dogfight for us.”

Kyle Dube's and Ryan O'Connor's pitching performances kept the Stags (3-1) hanging around against A Carolina team that entered the game on a five-game winning streak. The duo combined to allow just two runs in seven innings, just the second time this season the Tar Heels (7-1) were held to two runs in the first seven innings of a contest.

Trailing by just a pair entering the eighth, the Stags started chipping away against the ACC team. Tim Zeng led off the eighth by doubling down the right field line and would later score on a two-out single by Kevin Radziewicz. After Brendan Tracy moved the runner up with a single of his own, Jake Salpietro put some shock into the 685 fans in Chapel Hill by tying the game with a single up the middle. The hearts would beat a bit harder for the host Tar Heels when a passed ball plated Tracy, giving the Stags a 3-2 lead.

Freshman John Signore was thrown into the most pressurized situation of his career, and responded with a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth inning, and the Stags were three outs from the biggest upset in their 41-year history.

But North Carolina responded with a one-out rally of their own. After working out a nine-pitch at-bat, Brian Miller narrowly missed a game-tying home run but managed his first triple of the season, putting the tying run 90 feet away. Miller needed every inch of that distance as Signore forced a ground ball, and Miller used a nice slide past the catcher to barely push across the tying run.

Although the Stags didn't win it right there, at the very least they could say they forced extra innings against the sixth-ranked team in the country. But Fairfield didn't fade down the stretch.

“We held tough for three more innings after a tough call in the game,” Coach Currier said. “I think we'll play a little looser tomorrow and not make as many crazy errors. We'll be a little more confident tomorrow after playing tight in the 13th inning.”

In fact, Fairfield had a little more magic in them. The Stags loaded the bases in the top of the 11th, but hard thrower A.J. Bogucki was able to strike out the first two hitters he faced to get out of the jam.

Mike Bonaiuto allowed the Stags more bonus baseball, surrendering just one hit in his two innings of work.

Fairfield had their final chance in the top half of the 13th, after pinch runner Tyler Gambardella stole second and reached third on a passed ball, putting the go-ahead run 90 feet away. Bogucki, however, forced a fly ball to end the threat.

In the game, the Stags scattered nine hits against a team that entered the game 18th in the country in hits allowed per nine innings. Zeng, Tracy, and Salpietro each had two hits apiece.

Fairfield and #6 UNC will play in the second game of their three-game series tomorrow with first pitch at 2pm.