Third baseman Chris Keck drove in four runs to lead the #4 UCLA Bruins to a 12-4 victory in the rubber match of their three game set with the #6 Diamond Heels Sunday afternoon in Orlando, leading an offense that pounded out 16 hits. The win in this early season test improves the Bruins to 6-1 and drops UNC to a record of 4-2.

Top-flight pitching was expected to be the strength of both teams heading into the season. Runs were supposed to come at a premium. But you wouldn’t know it from seeing the results of this series. The first two games were sloppy, taking close to four hours to complete, featuring 17 combined errors, and plenty of runs, 28 to be exact.

Today would be no different, with three more errors, 16 more runs, and a game that crept the four hour mark.

Scoring began in the top of the third with the Bruins stringing together four consecutive hits off Tar Heel freshman starter JB Bukauskas. A line drive by left-fielder Ty Moore, batting .548 on the season, struck Bukauskas on the heel and got through the middle, scoring shortstop Kevin Kramer and giving UCLA the first lead of the game.

JB Bukauskas went 4.2 innings, striking out five, and allowing five earned runs. (UNC Athletics)

JB Bukauskas went 4.2 innings, striking out five, and allowing five earned runs. (UNC Athletics)

Pitching coach Scott Forbes came out to the mound to check on his starter, but Bukauskas was okay to stay in. Still with no outs in the inning, he came back to face Keck, who promptly smashed a double down the left field line, driving in two runs and extending the lead to three. Luckily for Carolina, the freshman regained his composure and retired the next three batters up, including two swinging strikeouts, to escape the jam.

He would increase that streak to seven, going three up, three down, in the fourth, and getting Bruin first baseman Luke Persico to pop out to begin the fifth, before running into trouble again. Ty Moore doubled down the right field line, catcher Darrell Miller Jr. reached first after being hit by a pitch, and right-fielder Kort Peterson hit a two-bagger that brought Moore home, ending the day for Bukauskas (1-1).

Sophomore Zac Gallen replaced UNC’s young flame-thrower and completed the inning, however, he inherited two base-runners that would each score on designated hitter Sean Bouchard’s single, increasing the Tar Heels’ deficit to 6-0.

UCLA junior Cody Poteet was fantastic, throwing five innings on his way to the win. (Baseball America

UCLA junior Cody Poteet was fantastic, throwing five innings on his way to the win. (Baseball America)

Carolina put a runner in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but failed to break through on Bruins’ junior right-hander Cody Poteet (2-0) until their turn in the bottom of the fifth. Korey Dunbar scored after a two-out throwing error by UCLA second baseman Trent Chatterton kept the inning alive, and allowed Skye Bolt to reach first. Poteet then issued three consecutive walks to Tyler Ramirez, Adrian Chacon, and Alex Raburn that pulled UNC within four.

The junior was credited with the win after five strong innings. He struck out three, and both runs he allowed were unearned, shrinking his ERA to 1.64 on the season.

Bruin bats added another run in the top of the sixth; Keck knocking in his third RBI of the day with a single off of Tar Heel freshman lefty Hunter Williams.

But the Tar Heels had a response ready for the UCLA bullpen, getting a run back in the bottom of the frame on an RBI base hit from Skye Bolt, and another in the seventh, delivered by pinch-hitter Brian Miller, the freshman out of Millbrook High School in Raleigh (his second straight game with an RBI off the bench).

They just couldn’t keep up over the long haul with a Bruin squad that clearly has an offense dangerous enough to match their vaunted pitching staff. They plated five more runs over the eighth and ninth, proving to be too much for UNC.

UCLA’s bullpen also tightened things up, closing it out with back-to-back scoreless innings, keeping the Tar Heels from mounting a comeback.

Winning the series certainly qualifies the Bruins as contenders to reach the College World Series in Omaha, while Carolina earns some valuable experience that can be drawn upon going forward, as they try to do the same thing.

The Tar Heels’ next game is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24th, against St. Johns at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill. Starters have not yet been announced.

Game Notes:

  • UNC 1B/C Adrian Chacon, who went 1-4 with a walk on Sunday, has reached base in every game this season
  • Ty Moore’s RBI in the third was the first earned run allowed in college by JB Bukauskas (5 IP, 0 ER last week)
  • Tyler Ramirez, Carolina’s home run leader, went 1-1 and walked four times today
  • The Tar Heels went a combined 2-25 with runners in scoring position in their two losses, 9-22 in the win

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