In perhaps the most shocking upset of the NCAA Baseball Tournament so far, the Davidson Wildcats knocked off the No. 2 overall seed UNC Tar Heels by a score of 8-4 on Friday–inside the friendly confines of Boshamer Stadium.

Given the fourth seed in the Chapel Hill Regional–not to mention making the first tournament appearance in school history–the Wildcats (33-24) weren’t expected to make very much noise in the event.

That changed rather quickly, however, when Davidson opened up an 8-0 lead over UNC (47-13) and its First Team All-American starting pitcher JB Bukauskas.

Bukauskas suffered his first loss of the season, while giving up a season-high six earned runs across just 3.2 innings of work.

The Tar Heels didn’t get on the scoreboard until Zack Gahagan’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth frame.

A pair of home runs in the seventh inning–a two-run shot by Logan Warmoth and a solo blast from Brandon Riley–allowed UNC to cut the lead in half, but Davidson made sure the comeback stopped there.

Reliever Allen Barry kept the dangerous Tar Heel lineup in check over the final two innings, sealing the deal on a historic upset.

Up Next:

UNC will now have to win four straight games throughout the rest of the weekend–without suffering another loss–in order to advance to the Super Regional round.

The next step starts on Saturday, when the Tar Heels face Michigan at 1 p.m.

Game Notes:

  • Cam Johnson led Davidson with three RBIs, while Jake Sidwell and Will Robertson each added two hits apiece.
  • Brian Miller and Brandon Riley each had three hits for the Tar Heels–which accounted for six of the team’s 10 hits in the game.

 

FINAL BOX SCORE

 

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