LSU got sent home Monday night, but not the way the Tigers envisioned.

Alex Box Stadium will be closed for business when they get back to Baton Rouge — and just when a super regional round at home was so close to being pulled out of the hat from the Tigers’ late-season surge.

“We were right there,” LSU head coach Jay Johnson said on several occasions afterwards.

Instead, the Tigers gave up single runs in the ninth and tenth innings as North Carolina rallied for a 4-3 victory over LSU in the winner-take-all round of the NCAA tournament’s Chapel Hill regional.

North Carolina, the No. 4 national seed, advanced and will host the super regional series against West Virginia.

It would have been LSU’s super regional to host since West Virginia survived as the No. 4 seed in that Tucson regional hosted by Arizona.

What might have been?

Johnson said it again: “The whole game at the end there we were this close.”

But after a dominating relief performance by Will Helmers, LSU Friday night starter Gage Jump came on to close the game and gave up a run in the ninth and the Tar Heels scored an unearned run in the 10^th to claim the win.

“We were right there,” Johnson said, again. “If we get a check-swing strike three (call) it was two outs, we don’t get to extra innings — and I don’t know if it was or wasn’t.

“But it was that close (in the ninth). And when you’re on the road against a great opponent, it’s a small margin for error.”

The real error came in the 10^th when freshman rightfielder Jake Brown misplayed a two-out fly ball near the wall to put Johnny Castagnozzi on second.

After an intentional walk, Alex Maderra drove him in for the winning run.

“I don’t know what happened on the fly ball,” Johnson said of the play, where it appeared Brown may have lost it in the lights or haze. “If that’s caught, we’re in the dugout. It’s a different deal.”

Brown had a much better start to the game, as he and Jared Jones hit solo home runs that — along with Josh Pearson’s RBI ground out — staked the Tigers to a 3-2 lead with single runs in the first three innings.

That was after North Carolina loaded the bases on three straight singles off of starter Samuel Dutton and scored twice before the Tigers got the first out of the game.

Javen Coleman came on to walk in a run but induced a double play to limit the damage to two runs.

But after Coleman walked one and hit another with one out in the second, Helmers, a fairly unheralded senior, took over with the kind of unexpected performance you need in a regional.

“What that young man did tonight … he wasn’t even on the roster in Omaha (last year),” Johnson said. “Never one time in the three years that I have known him has he asked what was in it for him. It was all about LSU baseball and our program. He’s probably the best example of what we want to be about.”

He was just what LSU needed Monday, holding the Tar Heels scoreless on just two hits over his 5.2 innings before turning it over to Nate Ackenhausen for the eighth.

“Nobody wants to walk away with tears in their eyes and a broken heart,” Hellmers said. “It means a lot to me to just give us a chance in those four or five innings I threw. That’s all I was trying to do, just give us a chance.”

Ackenhausen got through the eighth unscathed, but the Tigers didn’t have any better luck with the Tar Heels’ bullpen. LSU managed only one hit over the final seven innings.

UNC closer Dalton Spence threw the final 3.2 innings.

“ He made it really hard,” Johnson said,  That’s why we were trying to obviously to win (in nine innings), but he wasn’t giving anything.”

have a broken heart just simply because I wanted to go to practice on Wednesday. I love these guys. This is special right here what this young man [Will Helmer] did tonight.

He’s got an elite arm,the right fastball, and hecan really throw it where he wants to-up, down, on both sides of the plate. Then, the secondary stuff was good enough tonight to get us off of that. He made it really hard. That’s why we were trying to,I mean, obviously we’re trying to win the game tonight, but he wasn’t giving anything

The whole game there at the end, we were this close.

I don’t know what happened on the flat ball, the ball was scorched.

Let’s say everything else plays in the stadium, they have to play tighter and field and throw him out if the ball hit, Josh’s ball gets over his head.

In terms of how I’ll remember this, I’m good. I’ve got all the peace in the world about what these guys did.

My whole life is built around Omaha and getting my team t here.

It’s hard. It’s not about putting another banner up or anything like that. I didn’t not what to step out of this deal we had going.

Outside of maybe getting one more hit . to maybe getting more of a spread to more pressure on them. But he was unbelieveable. We left him in because I did not think they were seeing him very well tonight.

I felt great about where we were. I think Gage is totally different than him. I thought Nate was a different look and Gage is a toally different than him.

The whoel game at

I don’t know what happened on the fly ball … if that’s caught we’re in the dugout. It’sa a different deal.

They have to play tigter.

“I love these guys. The achievement, the accomplishment, I mean, that’s obviously what we’re here to do,” Johnson said. “(It) literally means nothing to me. I have a broken heart, and just simply because I wanted to go to practice on Wednesday.”

alk away with tears in their eyes and a broken heart, but it means a lot to me to just give us a chance,” Hellmers said. “And (during) those four or five innings I threw, that’s all I was trying to do.”

It’s just that thing. Zbut I’m good about how we prepared and how we competed.

I’ve been fortunate enough

I’d give anything to practice on Wednesday

I did not want to step out of this deal that

I’m honored to be a part of a game like that.

t means a lot to me to just give us a chance in those four or five innings I threw. That’s all I was tryingto do, just give us a chance because whoever we turned it over to I had the utmostconfidence in. With Gage [Jump], there’s nobody else in the world I’d want to come on the backside of that game

The whole game at the end there —

I don’t know what happened on the fly ball …

LSU nursed a one-run lead for five innings after dodging a first-inning bullet and scoring single runs in the first three innings.