UNC's Hot Hitting to be Tested at Notre Dame

With bats starting to round into form after two blowout wins during the week, the No. 24 UNC baseball team will face a stiff test this weekend when it travels to South Bend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who sit at 12-12 in the ACC, but hold an impressive 30-18 mark against all competition.

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, are scorching right now, having won 14 of their last 17 games to improve their record to 31-16, and 13-10 inside the conference.

Something will have to give when these two teams meet on the diamond. The Fighting Irish boast a staunch team pitching ERA of 2.99, while Carolina has scored 25 runs in its last two outings.

Notre Dame’s pitching staff has been one of the best in the nation this season, from top to bottom.(ndsmcobserver.com)

Tar Heel center-fielder Skye Bolt, who is tied for the team lead with six home runs, says his team can’t take anything for granted against this hard-nosed Notre Dame team.

“[Notre Dame’s] a rowdy bunch–a rowdy, scrappy, hard-nosed team. [They’re] new to the conference [and] out to prove themselves that they can play ball, and they’ve done that thus far,” Bolt says.

“They’ve got a real good record, they’ve been playing really good baseball, and they can pitch really well, so we’re gonna have to go out there with the same approach that we’ve had–take our walks, but still being aggressive, what we like to call a ‘yes’ hitter [looking to swing] until the ball is out of the zone.”

UNC head coach Mike Fox has long been critical of his team’s offense this season, and is hesitant to say his team has fixed their woes in that area, at least until he sees what they can produce this weekend against the tough Fighting Irish pitching staff.

“We’re gonna find out this weekend,” Fox says about how much progression his bats have made, “Notre Dame’s pitching numbers are scary good, we’re playing on turf, and they’ve turned almost 60 double plays [this season]. I’ve heard all kinds of stories [about playing] up there.”

Three low-scoring games are expected for this series, which could make Coach Fox’s decision to limit senior starter Benton Moss’s pitch count on Tuesday very important, especially if the rainy forecast holds up–potentially forcing the teams to play a double-header on Saturday.

“We weren’t gonna throw [Moss] past five innings no matter what [on Tuesday], Fox says, “[Even] if the score had been close. If we’d been behind he might have thrown less, but [five innings] was enough.”

Benton Moss will be ready to go this weekend, no matter the weather. (UNC Athletics)

“He’s got four days rest and he’s [scheduled] to throw again, and with rain [forecasted] up there, we don’t know what we’re gonna do. We gotta always be careful because we could end up playing a single [game] on Friday and two [games] on Saturday if they’re calling for rain Sunday. So we probably didn’t want to throw [Moss] more than 50 pitches, actually.”

In that Tuesday start against UNC-Asheville, Moss picked up his seventh victory of the season while throwing 64 pitches across five innings, surrendering just one run in the process.

Sophomore Zac Gallen (3-3, 2.84 ERA) will take the mound on Friday for the Tar Heels to begin the series, and he’ll likely face-off with Notre Dame’s Ryan Smoyer, who is 6-0 on the season with a 2.56 ERA. First pitch for the opener is set for 7 p.m.

UNC’s Hot Hitting to be Tested at Notre Dame

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