CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Pitching has been the question mark all season for the University of Maine baseball team.

There’s no question it wasn’t quite good enough Friday night against sixth-ranked North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The top-seeded Tar Hills chased Black Bears starter Mike Powers in the sixth inning, then beat up on the bullpen on their way to a 15-7 victory at Boshamer Stadium.

North Carolina (46-13) advances to today’s 5 p.m. winners’ bracket game against No. 2 Winthrop (45-16), a 14-2 victor over third-seeded North Carolina-Wilmington in Friday’s first game. The No. 4 Bears (35-21-1) face the Seahawks (41-22) in a 1 p.m. elimination game.

“Down the stretch, once we went through Powers, we just didn’t get good pitching,” said UMaine coach Steve Trimper. “We didn’t step up the last couple innings and obviously it’s tough to win ballgames if you’re giving up a big inning like that [seven-run sixth].”

Powers, a freshman from Portland, made sure UMaine stayed close for five-plus innings, but he was pulled after loading the bases with one out in the sixth.

“I felt great going out there,” said Powers, who allowed seven hits and six earned runs. “I was definitely geared up to go today and I felt like I pitched pretty well.”

After that, the bottom fell out.

Freshman Kevin McAvoy of Brewer was the offensive star for the Bears, who outhit the hosts 13-11. He slammed a three-run home run in the third and hit a solo shot in the sixth. Joe Hough and Matt McGraw each singled twice, Mark Ostrander hit a solo homer, and Curt Smith hit an RBI double for UMaine.

Every starter posted at least one hit.

“You can’t look at the [UNC] pitching staff as overwhelming,” McAvoy said. “You’ve just got to go out there and face them as everyday pitchers. We went out, hit the ball the way we could.”

Jay Cox powered UNC with a three-run homer, a two-run double, and a single with four runs scored. Kyle Shelton singled twice with two RBIs, while Mike Cavasinni, Chad Flack, and Tim Federowicz also had two singles each.

After two rain delays that pushed the start time back nearly two hours, North Carolina found itself in a dogfight with the Bears. The Heels led 8-6 going into the seventh, when they erupted for seven runs against three different UMaine pitchers.

Sophomore lefty Nolan Boike hit the first two batters of the inning, then senior Scott Robinson gave up an RBI single by Flack and Cox’s two-run double to left.

Robinson walked Williams and, one out later, Shelton pulled a hit-and-run single to left to score another run, making it 12-6. Robinson walked Bryan Steed and surrendered an RBI single to Cavasinni before giving way to senior Troy Martin, who got the last two outs.

“This team has been resilient all year,” said UNC reliever Jonathan Hovis. “Each time a team scores, we usually come right back and score in the next inning.”

Trailing 1-0, UMaine snatched the lead in the third against starter Robert Woodard. McGraw singled, Joel Barrett walked, and Smith lined a run-scoring, two-out double to left-center.

McAvoy followed, lacing a 1-1 pitch over the 355-foot sign in right-center for a three-run homer that gave UMaine a 4-1 lead.

“They were aggressive and showed from the start that they were here to play just like we were,” Hovis said of the Bears.

UNC made sure the advantage was short-lived. Josh Horton started a two-out rally with a walk. Flack fisted a single to right, bringing up Cox, who jacked a 2-1 offspeed pitch from Powers over the right field fence to make it a 4-4 ballgame.

“You’ve got to put some zeroes up after you score runs,” Trimper said. “You’ve got to keep momentum on your side. That’s how it starts and ends, on the mound.”

The Bears chased Woodard in the fifth after he hit Barrett with a pitch and Quintal singled. However, Matt Danford came on and induced Smith’s inning-ending, double-play grounder.

Powers settled down after the Cox homer, limiting the Heels to a bunt single over the next two innings. UMaine rewarded him in the sixth when back-to-back home runs by McAvoy and Ostrander made it 6-4 Bears.

UNC quickly regained the upper hand. With one out in the sixth, Cox singled off the glove of Danny Menendez, Federowicz lined a single to center, and Williams was hit by a pitch, loading the bases.

“He’s a freshman. He did a tremendous job,” Trimper said of Powers, who was lifted in favor of Boike. “I thought that Mike kept his composure well until the sixth inning there when he got a little tired.”

Pinch hitters Shelton and Benji Johnson greeted Boike with an RBI single and a run-scoring groundout to tie it. Cavasinni hit a hard grounder that was backhanded by a sliding second baseman Menendez, but his throw to first sailed high and off Barrett’s glove, allowing two runs to score and giving the hosts an 8-6 edge.

“When you give a team like that extra chances, you can’t really overcome that in a game like this,” McAvoy said.

In the first game, Ben Ehrlich went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs, and Alan Robbins hit a two-run homer in Winthrop’s seven-run seventh.

Heath Rollins (12-4) allowed two runs on four hits and struck out eight in eight innings. Bradley Holt (3-3) was the loser.

Winthrop improved to 45-16, and Wilmington dropped to 41-21.

TAR HEELS 15, BLACK BEARS 7

Maine (35-21-1) North Carolina (46-13)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Hough, cf 5 1 2 0 Cavasinni, lf-cf 4 1

McGraw, dh 5 1 2 0 Fronk, 3b 3 1 1

Barrett, 1b 2 1 1 0 Horton, ss 3 2 0

Brown, ph 1 0 1 0 Flack, 1b 5 2 1

Quintal, lf 5 0 1 0 Cox, dh 4 4 3 5

Smith, ss 4 1 1 1 Federowicz, c 4 2 0

Hackett, 3b 1 0 0 0 Williams, cf-rf 2 1 1

McAvoy, 3b-2b 4 2 2 4 Spencer, rf 1 0

Ostrander, rf 2 1 1 1 Shelton, lf 2 2

Parker, c 4 0 1 0 Gore, 2b 2 0 0

Menendez, 2b-ss 4 0 1 0 Johnson, ph 1 1

Steed, 2b 0 1 0 0

Totals 37 7 13 6 Totals 31 15 11 12

Maine 004 002 001 – 7

North Carolina 013 004 70x – 15

E-Parker, Menendez; Gore; LOB-Maine 7, North Carolina 3; 2B-Smith; Cox; HR-McAvoy 2 (9), Ostrander (3); Cox (10); DP-Maine 1, North Carolina 2; SF-Fronk, Williams; SB-Cavasinni

Maine IP H R ER BB SO

Powers (L, 5-4) 5 1/3 6 7 6 4 4

Boike 2/3 1 3 2 0 0

Robinson 1/3 4 5 4 2 0

Martin 1 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

North Carolina IP H R ER BB SO

Woodard 4 1/3 7 4 4 2 4

Danford (W, 6-1) 1 2/3 3 2 2 0 1

Hovis 1 0 0 0 0 1

Trice 2 3 1 1 0 0

HBP-Barrett (by Woodard), Ostrander (by Trice); Williams by (Powers), Fronk (by Boike), Horton (by Boike); T-2:41; ATT-1,815