Unfazed by seeding, Davidson baseball wins again, heads to Chapel Hill Regional final

Unfazed by seedings, the Davidson Wildcats continued their unprecedented NCAA baseball tournament run with a 2-1 upset Saturday over No. 2 seed Florida Gulf Coast in the Chapel Hill Regional.

Just a day after knocking off the region host and No. 2 national seed North Carolina Tar Heels, Davidson (34-24) pulled its second upset Saturday night to earn a spot in the regional finals. The Atlantic 10 champion Wildcats, playing in their first NCAA tournament ever, are one win away from earning a berth in the super regional round.

Sunday at 6 p.m., the Wildcats will face the winner of a 1 p.m. game between the Tar Heels and FGCU. If needed, the teams will meet again on Monday at 6 p.m.

Lebek, Jones drive in runs

For Davidson, Brian Fortier scored off a Justin Lebek RBI single with no outs in the second inning to put the Wildcats up 1-0. Cam Johnson added a run in the eighth with two outs on an Eric Jones RBI single.

FGCU’s Nick Rivera homered a solo shot to right center to start the ninth, but the Eagles were unable score again.

Pitcher Evan Roberts earned the win for Davidson, giving up just one walk while scattering five hits and striking out two. Westin Whitmire closed out the ninth after Rivera’s homer, retiring all three batters he faced to earn his 13th save.

Jones collected three hits along with his game-winning RBI in four trips to the plate.

Josh Dye (8-5) struck out five for the Eagles and took the loss.

“I thought it was a great pitchers’ duel,” FGCU head coach Dave Tollett said. “[Evan] Roberts was good. [Josh] Dye was good. They got the key hit. We didn’t get the key hit. ... They made some great plays defensively. ... I’m happy with our effort, especially Dye. I thought that was the best game he’s pitched all year against a really good offense.”

Also Saturday:

▪ North Carolina’s Gianluca Daltari allowed five hits and one run in seven innings in an 8-1 win over Michigan.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Unfazed by seeding, Davidson baseball wins again, heads to Chapel Hill Regional final."