The No. 23 UNC baseball team completed a three-game sweep over the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders on Sunday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium, when closer Austin Love kept the tying run from getting home in the top of the ninth inning to save a 5-4 victory for the Tar Heels.
Middle Tennessee State had rallied from a 5-2 deficit by scoring runs in the fifth and sixth innings, and was threatening to tie the game in the ninth with a runner on second base and only one out.
Love then struck out Greg Bennett before getting Cole Escher to fly out to end the game and improve UNC’s record to 3-0 to begin the 2020 campaign.
The Tar Heels did all of their scoring in the first four innings, including a three-run frame in the bottom of the second highlighted by a two-run double from preseason All-American Aaron Sabato.
Senior center fielder Dylan Harris also led off the fourth inning with a solo home run, which was his second in as many days after tying Saturday’s game with a similar blast in the bottom of the eighth inning.
For the game, Middle Tennessee State nearly doubled the Tar Heels in hits–finishing with 11 compared to just six for UNC.
“Anytime you can sweep anybody now in college baseball is hard to do, no matter what,” UNC head coach Mike Fox said afterwards. “I’ll give Middle Tennessee credit, the last two days, they pitched well and didn’t walk anybody. They made plays and if you do that, you’re pretty much in every game.
“Obviously, I’m our team’s harshest critic, but I really thought they outplayed us for the most part from about the third inning on (today),” the coach added. “But you’ve got to give our kids credit, our pitchers, especially our relievers getting us some strikeouts and some big outs when they needed to.”
Up Next:
The Tar Heels host Elon on Tuesday night at 3 p.m.
FINAL BOX SCORE
Photo via UNC Athletics
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