A towering home run from Jackson Van De Brake and strong performances on the mound helped the Diamond Heels erase an early 2-0 hole and beat Virginia Tech 7-4 in Blacksburg Sunday. The win clinches the weekend series for UNC.

The Hokies struck first in the bottom of the third with a pair of two-out hits against UNC starter Jason DeCaro, giving the hosts the early advantage. Carolina cut that advantage in half in the fourth thanks to a single and an error in right field, which allowed Alex Madera to score all the way from first base.

Van De Brake led off the fifth inning, and he clobbered a 1-0 pitch 426 feet over the left-field fence to tie the game at 2-2. It was just the third home run of the season for the veteran second baseman.

In the sixth, Luke Stevenson made good on an eight-pitch at-bat with a hard-hit RBI single, scoring Carter French and giving UNC its first lead since the series opener Friday. Carolina broke the game open in the seventh, with Virginia native Lee Sowers singling to score Madera and Van De Brake bringing in two with another single. With Van De Brake at first and Kane Kepley at third, the speedy Kepley then tried a straight steal of home. Though the throw beat Kepley to the plate, umpires ruled catcher’s interference on the play after Virginia Tech’s Henry Cooke stepped in front of the plate to field the throw.

The Hokies got two runs back on a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth against Ryan Lynch, but the UNC freshman iced the game with a spotless ninth inning. Lynch recorded the final 11 outs of the game in relief of DeCaro, who earned his fifth win with 5.1 innings pitched, two runs allowed and six strikeouts.

The Diamond Heels are now 31-9 overall and 13-8 in ACC play, having won five weekend series in a row and 14 of their last 17 games. UNC will briefly return home Tuesday night when it hosts Presbyterian at Boshamer Stadium before visiting Pittsburgh for a three-game series the following weekend.

 

Featured image via UNC Baseball on Twitter

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