The defending national champion LSU Tigers are one loss away from elimination after falling to North Carolina 6-2 Saturday in the NCAA Tournament’s Chapel Hill Regional in Chapel Hill, N.C.
LSU (41-22) will play Wofford at 11 a.m. Sunday in an elimination game. The Tigers defeated Wofford 4-3 Friday in the regional opener.
North Carolina, the No. 1 regional seed and No. 4 overall, improved to 44-13. The Tar Heels are 2-0 in the regional.
After four scoreless innings, North Carolina’s Vance Honeycutt hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. LSU scored two in the top of the seventh to make it a one-run game.
But the Tar Heels answered with one run in the bottom of the inning on a Honeycutt solo shot then added two more in the eighth.
LSU starter Luke Holman struck out 11 and walked one in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed seven hits and four earned runs.
Ben Peterson got the win in two innings of relief. He allowed three hits and two runs. North Carolina starter Shea Sprague allowed four hits and no runs in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two.
LSU finished with seven hits. Alex Milazzo went 2-for-3. Michael Braswell III and Tommy White both went 2-for-5. Jared Jones and Ethan Frey had one RBI each.
Honeycutt hit two home runs and had four RBI.