North Carolina's Dallas Tessar, center, celebrates with Dylan Harris after hitting a two-run home run in the second inning of an NCAA regional game against UNC Wilmington on Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C. North Carolina won 7-1, beat Liberty 16-1 on Saturday and beat Tennessee 5-2 on Sunday to win the regional and advance to this week's super regionals.CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Austin Bergner struck out eight batters as North Carolina beat Tennessee 5-2 Sunday night to advance to the 16-team super regionals of the NCAA baseball tournament.
Ashton McGee's two-run single highlighted the four-run first inning that sent the Tar Heels (45-17), who hosted their regional as its top seed, into the 64-team tournament's second weekend for the eighth time since 2006.
Bergner (6-1) allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings with three walks. Joey Lancellotti struck out three batters during the final two innings for his third save this season.
Alerick Soularie scored on a wild pitch in the second and added a run-scoring single in the fourth for the second-seeded Volunteers (40-21), who were in the NCAA bracket for the first time since 2005. Tennessee starter Zach Linginfelter (6-6) gave up four runs and didn't make it out of the first inning.
Dylan Harris and Danny Serretti each drove in runs for the Tar Heels, who went 3-0 at the regional.
Tennessee, which lost its first game at the double-elimination event, 6-1 to third-seeded Liberty on Friday, needed to beat North Carolina twice to advance.
» Tennessee 6, Liberty 5, 10 innings
Jake Rucker singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th inning after Tennessee escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth as the Vols became one of the two final teams in Chapel Hill by extinguishing the Flames (43-21).
Rucker's two-out single to left off Evan Brabrand (4-3) scored Evan Russell from third. Russell had moved from first to third when Ricky Martinez reached on a throwing error by Liberty shortstop Cam Locklear that kept Tennessee's rally alive.
Liberty tied the game in the bottom of the ninth when Logan Mathieu was hit by a pitch from Redmond Walsh (2-2) with the bases loaded and nobody out, but the Flames couldn't get the winning run home. After Will Wagner lined to first, Walsh got Locklear to hit into a double play.