For the second time in three days, the third-ranked UNC baseball team picked up a walk-off victory. This time, though, it got a little bit of help.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday night at Boshamer Stadium, Richmond right fielder Caleb Ward misplayed a ball hit by Tar Heel sophomore Kyle Datres–which allowed Brian Miller to cross home plate and give UNC a 5-4 win.

The error helped the Tar Heels (37-9) complete yet another late-inning rally, as the Spiders (14-28) crawled out of an early 3-0 deficit and built a 4-3 lead heading into the eighth frame.

On the verge of a major upset, Richmond couldn’t quite hang on against a team which has become quite comfortable recently in crunch-time situations.

After the Spiders took the lead with a seventh-inning RBI from Daniel Brumbaugh, UNC junior second baseman Zack Gahagan tied the game with an RBI single of his own in the eighth against Richmond reliever Brendan McGuigan.

McGuigan was the seventh of the eight pitchers used by the visitors, with none of those players tossing more than two innings.

Dalton Light ultimately took the loss, after walking two batters and failing to record an out during UNC’s game-winning surge.

The error in the outfield is what ultimately provided the game-winning run, but with the bases loaded and no outs–the Tar Heels were poised to win it on their own leading up to that point.

Sophomore reliever Taylor Sugg only recorded one out on the mound for UNC, but was rewarded with his first victory of the season for his efforts.

Up Next:

The Tar Heels will have the weekend off from an ACC series due to exams, but will return to action next Tuesday against Davidson in Chapel Hill.