Benton Moss continued the Tar Heel starting pitching dominance, throwing eight shutout innings while getting quite a bit of help from his offense, as the No. 23 UNC baseball team cruised to a 6-0 win over the Boston College Eagles on Sunday–completing its first ACC weekend sweep of the season.

Carolina has now won six in a row for their longest winning streak of the season, as they improve to 29-15 overall and 13-10 in the ACC. Boston College drops to 22-21 after the sweep, with a 9-14 record inside the conference.

Like Zac Gallen and JB Bukauskas in the two previous games in the series, Moss (6-0) had no troubles getting outs against the Boston College lineup.

“The last three days we’ve really, really pitched well. And that’s probably an understatement,” says UNC head coach Mike Fox.

“I’m trying to think of a weekend where we’ve pitched a whole weekend and not given up an earned run, and I can’t imagine that we’ve had one here. Sensational by all three of those guys. Benton followed up today with another great performance.”

The senior out of Enfield, North Carolina walked the first batter he faced, and then started off the next man with two straight pitches outside the strike zone–prompting pitching coach Scott Forbes to go out to the mound for a little chat.

From then on, Moss didn’t allow a single hit to the Eagles until the top of the third, when shortstop Johnny Adams was able to slap a single back up the middle, and didn’t surrender another until Logan Hoggarth singled in the top of the eighth.

It was a great day for baseball out at Boshamer Stadium. (UNC Athletics)

It was a great day for baseball out at Boshamer Stadium. (UNC Athletics)

In his eight innings of work, Moss allowed just two hits, while never allowing an Eagle hitter to reach second base during his time on the mound.

The man behind the plate for Moss’s pitches, Korey Dunbar, says he was impressed with the way Moss recovered early on.

“I thought Benton did a really good job–walking the first guy–and then coming back from that doing what he did today was pretty incredible,” says Dunbar.

He didn’t have to wait long for run support either, as the Tar Heel offense stayed red-hot after scoring in each of its last five plate appearances the day before.

Right-fielder Tyler Ramirez walked to begin the Tar Heel half of the second inning, setting up their power-hitting catcher, Dunbar, who then drilled a pitch from Boston College left-hander Jesse Adams (2-3) way over the wall in left center-field for a two-run homer to put the home team out in front.

In the very next inning, Carolina added three more tallies, all with two outs, on a hard hit grounder by Dunbar (ruled an error) that scored Brian Miller, which was followed two batters later by a two-run single with the bases loaded by freshman shortstop Logan Warmoth.

Korey Dunbar's home run in the second kicked off the scoring. (UNC Athletics)

Korey Dunbar’s home run in the second kicked off the scoring. (UNC Athletics)

Dunbar’s home run in the second briefly put him all alone in the team lead, with six, but Tyler Ramirez didn’t let that last for long.

Ramirez caught all of a 1-1 pitch from Adams in the bottom of the fifth, sending it out of the park for his sixth home run of the year–ironically putting UNC ahead by six in the process–a lead that made Coach Fox a whole lot more comfortable.

“Obviously that home run was big by Korey, just kinda getting that first punch, but going from four to six is huge,” Fox says, “If you’re in that dugout and you’re down four you really feel like you’re still somewhat in the game, especially early. Then all of a sudden, if you get down six, it’s a little tougher hill to climb.”

From then on, the bats sat in cruise control with their big lead already built, while Moss did his thing on the mound, reaching 105 pitches after finishing off his eighth scoreless inning.

Junior closer Trent Thornton came on from the bullpen to pitch a scoreless ninth, despite allowing an opposing runner to reach second base for the first time all day.

For the entire series, the trio of Gallen, Bukauskas, and Moss pitched 24 out of a possible 27 innings, with none of them allowing a run, or more than three hits. It’s weekends like this that make Moss, a senior, glad that he chose to turn down the opportunity to play pro ball for another shot at college glory.

“It’s awesome to watch Gallen and JB [Bukauskas] pitch. And I think our bullpen…just look how deep it is,” says Moss, “We’ve got just arms on arms on arms. I’m thankful that I came back for my senior year to be a part of a team like this.”

“It’s been awesome to watch, and I think we’re clicking at the right time,” he adds.

Up Next:

The Diamond Heels will remain at home for their next game–a Tuesday mid-week showdown with UNC-Greensboro scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

Game Notes:

  • Benton Moss now has 303 strikeouts for his career, good enough for fourth on UNC’s all-time list.
  • Freshman third baseman Zack Gahagan got the fans excited in the top of the third, when he reached out into the crowd to catch a foul ball to end the inning.
  • UNC is now 21-2 all-time against Boston College (including 14-0 at Boshamer Stadium) in a series that began just nine years ago with the Eagles’ move to the ACC.
  • Boston College picked up just 10 hits all weekend (only 8 came against Gallen, Bukauskas, and Moss).

FINAL BOX SCORE