On Friday night Zac Gallen and Hansen Butler combined to deliver a crucial shutout victory for the UNC baseball team, despite the Tar Heel offense scoring just three runs on four hits.
Sophomore JB Bukauskas attempted to pull off the same feat on Saturday at Boshamer Stadium, but couldn’t get much in terms of run support as Notre Dame’s three-run sixth inning proved to be the difference in the Fighting Irish’s 3-1 victory.
Stuck in a stretch run marred by inconsistency at the plate, the Tar Heels now fall to 32-19 (11-15 ACC) in 2016.
The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, move to 27-23 (11-13 ACC), which actually puts them ahead of UNC in the conference standings due to the tiebreaker being winning percentage in league games.
Lefty Michael Hearne was sensational for Notre Dame, holding the Tar Heels without a hit until the bottom of the sixth inning–when freshman catcher Cody Roberts unleashed his first career home run to left field.
UNC ended up with just three hits–Roberts’ homer and infield singles by Tyler Ramirez and Logan Warmoth–which brings their total for the weekend to seven.
JB Bukauskas provided UNC with another fantastic start on Saturday against Notre Dame. A lack of run support likely cost him his seventh win of the year. (Joe Bray/ UNC Athletics)
“I think we’re just putting way too much pressure on ourselves,” Roberts said after the game. “If we could score those runs we were scoring early in the season [we’d be alright].
“I think now we’re pressing so hard to try and get those wins that we’re waiting until the sixth or seventh inning to get those runs.”
The lack of offensive firepower prevented Bukauskas from earning his seventh win of the season for the Tar Heels, which seemed as if it could have been a sure thing given the way the sophomore dominated the first five innings.
Through the first half of the game, the Ashburn, Virginia native surrendered just two hits–matching Hearne’s dominance every step of the way.
However, a two-run blast by Notre Dame center fielder Matt Vierling in the sixth inning completely flipped the game on its head–taking momentum away from a UNC team that has relied heavily on its pitching in ACC play.
“I can’t really do anything about the ‘no runs,'” Bukauskas said when asked how Vierling’s big swing affected momentum. “We’re just struggling really bad at the plate right now. Their guy [Hearne] was really crafty.
“But [the home run] didn’t affect me too much out on the mound,” he continued. “It was just a bad pitch. I left it out over the plate. It happens. It was just a bad time for it.”
Cole Daily, the Fighting Irish third baseman, singled home the visitors’ third run of the game later in the frame with a hard liner up the middle–all but ensuring it would be Bukauskas’ final inning of the night, considering he had reached the 100 pitch mark.
After Roberts homered for UNC in the bottom half of the sixth, Ramirez and Warmoth opened the seventh with their back-to-back infield hits.
A sacrifice bunt by freshman Brandon Riley then moved the tying run to second base with just one out, before Hearne got Zack Gahagan to strike out swinging and forced Eli Sutherland to fly out.
Ramirez and Warmoth ended up being the last base runners UNC was able to get, as reliever Sean Guenther came on in the eighth inning and retired all six men he faced to shut the door on his first save of the year.
The lack of pop from the Tar Heel bats has the team on the verge of missing the ACC Tournament for the first time under head coach Mike Fox.
Tyler Ramirez (left) and Logan Warmoth (right) were the only Tar Heels besides Cody Roberts to get a hit Saturday against Notre Dame. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)
With only 11 wins in conference, UNC will likely need to win at least two more to reach 13–which was the minimum number won by any of the league’s 10 participants last year.
Not only that, the players, especially the hitters, know what’s at stake.
If they can’t qualify for their own conference tournament, there’s a slim chance that they are still able to qualify for the NCAA Tournament–despite having a number of quality wins this season outside the league.
“That’s on them,” Tar Heel head coach Mike Fox said about his players feeling the pressure. “We’re in this position because we’re in this position. I don’t know how to undo that.
“I can tell the kids to relax, but it’s them in the box,” the coach continued. “They gotta breathe, and they gotta try to have good at-bats.”
Up Next:
Jason Morgan will head to the mound on Monday night for the Tar Heels in front of a national television audience, hoping to give UNC its first ACC series win in over a month.
That game, UNC’s home finale this season, is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Game Notes:
- The Tar Heels only struck out four times in the game, despite not being able to get many hits to fall.
- Bukauskas’ eight strikeouts bring his total to 102 for the season, good enough for the ACC lead in that category.
- UNC had a chance to add a run in the fourth inning, but Brian Miller was thrown out at home as part of a rare “4-6-3-2” double play.
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