Returning to action after a six day break for final exams, Benton Moss put together his second straight terrific start, and the Tar Heel bats came alive early, to lead the No. 24 UNC baseball team to an impressive 11-2 win over the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs at Boshamer Stadium on Tuesday night.
The senior from Enfield, North Carolina improved to 7-0 on the season, delivering five strong innings of one-run ball to move the Tar Heels to 30-16 so far this year, while dropping Asheville to 20-27, as the teams begin the final month of the regular season.
In his last start on April 26th at home against Boston College, Moss tossed eight shutout innings, and surrendered just two hits on his way to the victory.
Joe Dudek had three RBI on Tuesday to lead the Tar Heels’ early offensive outburst. (UNC Athletics)
He retired the first nine Bulldog hitters he faced in this game, and found trouble just once–in the top of the fourth inning, when the first three men up all reached base, capped by a run-scoring single from center-fielder Joe Tietjen.
After a scoreless fifth inning from Moss, Tar Heel head coach Mike Fox decided to make the switch to sophomore reliever AJ Bogucki to begin the sixth, despite the senior having thrown just 64 pitches, likely in an effort to preserve him for a second start this week on Sunday at Notre Dame.
Entering the stretch run, it’s been well-documented that the pitching from Moss and his starting counter-parts has carried UNC this season, but on Tuesday the right-hander got some much-needed support from his hitters as well.
“I thought we had some opportunities when we bunted some, which was kind of our goal tonight, to try to get some runs early,” says head coach Mike Fox, “It was nice to score early, kind of take a deep breath, and then get some other guys on the mound.”
Carolina’s heavily maligned offense capitalized against an Asheville team which entered Tuesday’s match-up with a sky-high team pitching ERA of 6.23, giving Moss an six run lead through just three innings, scoring three runs in both the second and third innings.
The surge began when freshman shortstop Logan Warmoth laid a fantastic bunt down the first base line, allowing catcher Korey Dunbar to come home and score the first run before a play could be made.
Teammates cheer the offense on from the dugout. (UNC Athletics)
Warmoth and designated hitter Adam Pate then executed a double steal, taking second and third base from Asheville left-handed starter Lucas Clarke (4-7)–still with no outs in the inning. UNC followed up with an RBI groundout from Joe Dudek and a sacrifice fly by Alex Raburn, which scored Warmoth and Pate.
More of the same ensued in the third for the Tar Heels, as Dunbar and Pate each scored for a second time on Dudek’s two-run single–giving Dudek three RBI in the first three frames–before Alex Raburn got his second RBI of the day when his base-hit scored Dudek.
“We didn’t really worry about the [Asheville pitching] numbers so much,” says Dudek, “I think we were all itching to play after a week [off]….We know this is an important stretch for us right here. We realize the urgency for all these games.”
“We just played aggressive tonight and it worked out well.”
Action cooled down after Asheville scored their run in the top of the fourth, with neither team able to manufacture anything else until the top of the eighth inning when the Bulldogs broke through against AJ Bogucki for their second run of the night–coming by way of an RBI single from first baseman Hunter Bryant.
Not risking any funny business, Coach Fox turned to his bullpen workhorse, senior Trevor Kelley, to come on and escape the inning without any more damage being done.
And he would do just that, earning the final out of the eighth to keep the Bulldogs from shrinking their deficit any more.
In addition, the Carolina offense tacked on an additional five runs in the bottom of the eighth to make sure the lead was out of reach for freshman reliever Brett Daniels, who worked a scoreless ninth to complete the dominant Tar Heel team effort, and end the misery for Asheville.
All in all, Moss, one of team’s two senior leaders, says he was happy to see his team score as much as they did playing their style of baseball–with all 11 runs coming without the luxury of a single long-ball.
“Coaches have talked a lot to us about how we’re not gonna go up there and every one of our batters hit home runs. We’re a team where we’re gonna manufacture runs,” Moss says, “And it was good to see that we’re moving the ball, we’re putting it into play in the right places, bunting when we need to….and getting dudes to the next base.”
Up Next:
Another mid-week home game at Boshamer Stadium awaits the Diamond Heels tomorrow, as they’ll host the Elon Phoenix on Wednesday night with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
Game Notes:
- All nine hitters in the Tar Heel starting lineup got a chance to bat in the second inning.
- While Coach Fox has criticized his team for failing to hit well with runners in scoring position, the Tar Heels went 7-15 (.467) in that situation on Tuesday.
- Hunter Bryant, Asheville’s power hitting first baseman, came into the game with 11 home runs, and went 2-4 with an RBI in this game.
- Trevor Kelley became just the eighth Tar Heel to make 100 career relief appearances in a Carolina uniform when he entered the game in the top of the eighth. For the season, he now has pitched in 33 of UNC’s 46 games.
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