Over the weekend, North Carolina baseball welcomed Georgia Tech to the Bosh for probably their biggest series of the season so far. At least according to D1Baseball.com, the two teams were ranked #2 and #3 in the country, with the Yellow Jackets holding the slight edge there. Any way you break it down, the series was set to be a matchup between two of the best teams in the country.
The series ended up being a good one for the Tar Heels, as they took two out of three in the marquee battle.
The Yellow Jackets feature a very powerful offense that leads the ACC in stats like runs, batting average, slugging percentage, home runs, and more. However, that offense was held to just two runs in the series opening victory.
Early on, it looked like UNC was the team that featured the overwhelming offense, as they scored a bunch in the opening innings. A Macon Winslow two-run homer helped the Tar Heels open up a 3-0 lead in the first inning, and further homers from Colin Hynek and Erik Paulsen saw Carolina jump out to a 5-0 lead after three.
Meanwhile, Carolina starter Jason Decaro was very solid in the face of Tech’s lineup. He ended up going five innings, allowing just one run, which came in the sixth. After that, Caden Glauber allowed just one more run in his three frames, before Walker McDuffie finished off the game with a save in the ninth.
For the game, Tech had their chances, putting up six hits and five walks, but Carolina pitching just never let them get anything sustained going.
Saturday: UNC 14, Georgia Tech 4 – 8 innings (box score)
The following day, UNC’s offense looked even more like the powerhouse in the series, as they run rule’d the Yellow Jackets.
This time around, the Tar Heels jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings. Owen Hull had a massive game, as he brought home UNC’s first run of the game with an RBI single in the first, and then capped off Carolina’s big lead by hitting a grand slam in the second.
Led by yet another RBI from Hull, UNC continued to pour it on. In the bottom of the eighth, Tyler Howe scored two runs with a double, and Carter French later worked a bases loaded walk. That took the Heels’ advantage to 10 runs, triggering the mercy rule and ending the game early.
UNC pitching was again solid and held firm when Tech did get chances. Ryan Lynch allowed just three runs despite giving up seven hits in his 4.2 innings, and in total, the Yellow Jackets got just four runs despite eight hits and six walks.
The Tar Heels had already won the series, but they couldn’t quite finish off the sweep, as Tech managed to come away with one win.
The game was tied after the first inning, as Hull hit a RBI double after Tech had picked up a run in the top of the first. However, the game’s decisive swing came a couple innings later. In the third, Georgia Tech scored three runs, knocking UNC starter Folger Boaz out in the process. This time around, UNC could only score one run in reply, and that ended up being enough to leave them too far back.
This time around, it was Carolina’s turn to fail to take their chances. UNC had eight hits and five walks on the day, but could only muster two runs. Tech’s Mason Patel ended up having arguably the best performance of the day, as he threw their final four innings scoreless, not allowing Carolina to get back into the game.