The No. 6 North Carolina baseball team (10-1) has extended its winning streak to nine with a 11-5 win over Gardner Webb University (13-1), handing the Runnin’ Bulldogs their first loss of the season.
Second baseman Eli Sutherland hit his team-leading third home run of the season, breaking open a close game in the seventh inning with the three-run shot.
Dubbed the “toy cannon,” Sutherland said he’s never been a huge home run hitter, not in Little League and not at Walters State Community College, where he transferred from.
“I really tried to work in the offseason in the weight room a lot,” Sutherland said. “It was 3-1 in the count, a fastball. Just tried to put a good swing on it. It felt really good. We had guys on first and second. Coach put the runners in motion, so he’s trusting me as a hitter to put a good swing on it if it’s in the zone.”
Freshman pitcher Cole Aker earned his first start of the season, giving up five hits and two runs over the course of four and 1/3 innings. Coach Fox brought in A.J. Bogucki in relief, as well as Spencer Trayner and Hunter Williams to close.
Bogucki pitched two and 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and two earned runs. The junior picked up his second win of the year.
The game featured nine pitchers over the course of the game, as Gardner Webb made four pitching changes of their own.
The Tar Heels got things going in the second inning, taking a 4-0 lead off of 4 hits. A single up the center from shortstop Logan Warmoth followed by a Tyler Lynn single got things going, setting North Carolina up for an offensive rally.
With a 6-0 lead after UNC added a run in both the third and fourth innings, things got interesting when Gardner Webb scored two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, putting them back in the game at 6-4.
One run for the Runnin’ Bulldogs in the top of the seventh put the team within one at 6-5, but the Tar Heels were gearing up to put the game out of reach in the bottom of the seventh with a five-run inning.
Leading up to Sutherland’s three-man blast in the seventh, UNC scored two runs as Warmoth picked up two RBIs off a single to right field.
On Sutherland’s success so far this season, Coach Mike Fox said last year’s showing wasn’t the real Eli, due to a concussion Sutherland sustained before he got to North Carolina.
In the 2014-2015 season, Sutherland batted .208 with six doubles and 11 RBIs in 41 game appearances. This season he is currently leading the Tar Heels with 12 RBIs in 18 at-bats.
However, Fox believes the second baseman’s accomplishments this year shows the true player he is.
“I mean, we’ve seen it. We’ve seen him hit balls out, so it’s not like this is a complete surprise, it’s just happening in a game. We’ve seen it in batting practice, we’ve seen it with that power. He’s pretty patient, and he normally gets a pretty good pitch to hit. He might be one of the strongest, if not the strongest, player on our team.”
Throughout the game, each Tar Heel in the lineup picked up at least one hit, except for junior center fielder Tyler Ramirez, who walked three times. The team combined for a total of 12 hits. Both North Carolina and Gardner Webb committed two errors a piece.
Despite the win, Fox was not impressed with the team’s performance, stating that he thought the team had more energy in practice yesterday than in today’s game.
“Our players are probably going to be surprised because I think this was our worst performance of the year, just in terms of overall,” Fox said. “I think we gave away a lot of at-bats, I think we looked up there at the scoreboard and it was 6-0 and our players weren’t smart enough to realize they’ve given us about five of those runs. I thought we relaxed a little bit, lost our edge.”
The Tar Heels will be back in action at three o’clock Friday afternoon as they begin conference play. The Pittsburgh Panthers will be in Chapel Hill for a three game weekend series at Boshamer Stadium.
“It’s time, we’ve gone through our three weeks prior and so the ACC is a whole different animal,” Fox said. “It doesn’t matter who it is anymore, everybody’s good. We’ll be at war for the next 10 weekends.”
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