Hosting a top-25 baseball series at Boshamer Stadium this weekend against No. 10 Virginia, there was plenty of pressure on the 13th-ranked Tar Heels to open ACC play with a bang.

After JB Bukauskas helped pitch UNC to a 9-4 victory over the Cavaliers on Friday, the Tar Heels (12-4, 2-1 ACC) came up just short of a series sweep as they fought to a split in Saturday’s doubleheader.

Virginia (13-3, 1-2 ACC) won the first game of the day–and second in the series–by a tight margin of 2-1.

In the day’s second game, however, the UNC bats took care of business early and often–scoring a commanding 12-2 win to clinch the series.

A tie-breaking RBI single from Cavaliers’ first baseman Nate Eikhoff in the top of the ninth inning proved to be the only difference separating the teams early on.

Senior Tyler Lynn kickstarted UNC’s blowout win in Saturday’s second game against Virginia with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning. (Jeffrey A. Camarati/ UNC Athletics)

Prior to that, UNC freshman Luca Dalatri and Virginia’s Adam Haseley engaged in a pitcher’s duel that saw a pair of solo home runs provide the only scoring to that point.

Haseley actually stepped into the batter’s box and homered off his counterpart in the first inning, while the home half of the sixth saw Tar Heel shortstop Logan Warmoth return the favor.

Both Dalatri and Haseley pitched at least eight innings in the game, with the former being removed once Virginia took the lead in the ninth.

No offense was present until Game Two, when junior centerfielder Brian Miller led a dynamic Tar Heel effort by going 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and three RBIs–which still only accounted for 25 percent of the team’s whopping 12-run total.

UNC senior leftfielder Tyler Lynn hit a solo shot to open scoring in the second inning, but the floodgates truly opened in the third.

The Tar Heels gave starting pitcher Jason Morgan all the support he would need–and then some–as they poured on eight runs against a combination of three different Virginia pitchers in the frame.

Miller kicked things off with a two-run double, while sophomore Brandon Riley capped off the inning with a bases-clearing double of his own–driving in three more UNC runs.

Virginia didn’t get on the scoreboard until it was already trailing 10-0 in the top of the fifth.

The Tar Heel bullpen then cruised through the final innings of the series-clinching win, putting the finishing touches on an impressive series that showed UNC assert itself against one of the top teams in the country.

Up Next:

UNC will finish up its season-opening, 17-game homestand on Tuesday with a mid-week game against Maryland before traveling to Atlanta next weekend to face Georgia Tech.

Game Notes:

  • The eight-run third inning was the most the Tar Heels have scored in a single inning so far this season, and represents more than they’ve scored in all but four of their previous 15 games.
  • UNC hasn’t lost its first ACC series of the season since dropping two of three against Wake Forest in 2011.
  • It was also UNC’s first series win over Virginia–the 2015 National Champions–since 2012.

 

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