The UCLA Bruins, ranked fourth in the most recent D1Baseball.com Top 25 Poll, triumphed over the #6 Tar Heels 8-5 Friday, in their highly anticipated series opener being held in Orlando, Florida at UCF’s Jay Bergman Field. The win brings the Bruins’ record to 5-0, and the Tar Heels earn their first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1.

Action would go back and forth in the early going, and for the third consecutive game the Tar Heels dug themselves a 1-0 hole in the top of the first, after starter Benton Moss allowed singles to the first three batters he faced. The third, by UCLA first baseman Luke Persico, driving in lead-off man Brett Stephens. However, Moss was able to escape the early jam by striking out the next three hitters.

Again, though, UNC would recover quickly. Sophomore Tyler Ramirez continued to show the improvement in his power swing, kicking off the bottom of the second with a home run to right field on the first pitch he saw from Bruin right-hander James Kaprielian. In this, just the fourth game of the year for the Tar Heels, Ramirez’s second homer matches his long ball count from all of last season.

Tyler Ramirez homered again Friday, matching his total from last year (2). (UNC Athletics)

Tyler Ramirez homered again Friday, matching his total from last year (2). (UNC Athletics)

In the top of the third, following two wild pitches from Moss, Persico, who led the Bruin offense all day, going 3-6 with two RBI, singled in Stevens for a second time, giving UCLA a 2-1 lead . Carolina would answer immediately, on a two-out solo shot by Skye Bolt in the bottom of the frame.

Stuck in yet another hole, with two men on base, and two outs in the top of the fourth, Coach Mike Fox would end Benton Moss’s day a bit early after the senior threw 82 pitches in just 3.2 innings, giving up two earned runs. Moss was not credited with a decision and added seven more strikeouts to his impressive tally for the year, which is now at 16 in just 8.2 innings of work.

Coach Fox would then turn to the lefty Zach Rice, looking for a favorable match-up with a UCLA lineup that features six left-handed hitters. Rice slammed the door in the fourth inning, but allowed the Bruins to rattle off three straight two-out hits in the fifth, capped off by an RBI double from right-fielder Kort Peterson.

On a bizarre play in the bottom of the fifth with Skye Bolt at the plate and second baseman Alex Raburn on first, Bolt went for a check swing but ended up sending the ball down the left field line for what was ruled a double. However, the Bruins fielders mishandled the ball twice, allowing Bolt to reach third and Raburn to score, tying the score at 3-3.

The Bruins would get the last laugh on this day. (UCLA Athletics)

The Bruins would get the last laugh on this day. (UCLA Athletics)

Trouble arrived in the top of the sixth for the Tar Heels when a wild pitch from Spencer Trayner, UNC’s third of the game, handed the lead right back to the Bruins. Freshman Nick Raquet allowed two unearned runs in relief of Trayner (1-1), who picked up the loss. Catcher Adrian Chacon gave up the first on a passed ball, with the second coming on a throwing error by freshman Preston Hudak, who came into the game at second base prior to the inning.

Tar Heel third baseman Logan Warmoth, the freshman playing in his hometown, would score on an Alex Raburn sacrifice fly that shrank the UCLA lead to 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, after hitting a single through the left side that ended the day for the Bruins’ starter, Kaprielian, who earned the win with a workmanlike performance (6 IP, 7 K, 3 ER, 0 BB).

The Bruins chalked up a run in the eighth and ninth innings, proving to have the upper hand on a UNC bullpen that used six relievers Friday, and has earned high praise so far this year.

UCLA closer, senior David Berg, who holds the NCAA single season saves record (24), struggled in the bottom of the ninth, allowing the Heels to get one run back, but ultimately ended up sealing the deal.

The second game will begin tomorrow at 1 P.M.  Trent Thornton will be on the mound for the Heels against UCLA lefty Grant Watson.

Game Notes:

  •  The teams combined for 11 errors on the day (six for UNC, five for UCLA)
  • UCLA left 16 men on base, in a game that took nearly four hours to complete
  • UNC’s Tyler Ramirez also homered in his first at-bat last Friday
  • Eight Tar Heels recorded a hit, but only Skye Bolt (2-4 HR, RBI ) and Wood Myers (2-4) got two
  • Carolina went 0-8 with runners in scoring position

 

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