The Diamond Heels’ bats went silent in Charlotte Tuesday night as UNC fell to South Carolina 5-0. It’s Carolina’s first shutout loss of the season and first at all since March 8 of last year.

Carolina had only six hits in the game and never truly threatened to score. In fact, a Tar Heel baserunner never made it past second base, and UNC didn’t put any runners on in the final two innings. The absent offense spoiled good outings from starter Dalton Pence and reliever Matthew Matthijs, who had combined to hold the Gamecocks to just two hits in six scoreless innings. Matt Poston sat down the first two batters he saw in the seventh, but then allowed a walk and two straight doubles to score the first two Gamecock runs. South Carolina added three more in the eighth to truly put the game out of reach.

The loss drops to Tar Heels to 20-9 on the season. Carolina is just 3-4 in its last seven games, but will look to shake off that slump when it visits Georgia Tech in Atlanta for a three-game series. First pitch of Thursday’s opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter


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