Monday Baseball Report(5/13)

Last week's results: def. JMU 9-5, 6-1(6), lost series to GT 4-5, 3-1, 8-9
Record Last Week: 3-2
Record This Season: 45-6, 20-5 ACC
Upcoming Schedule: 5/15 vs App. St, 5/17-5/19 vs UVa, 5/20 vs FSU

It was a mixed week for UNC baseball with some good news on the injury front but a typical weekend in Atlanta(for UNC anyway) that resulted in the Heels dropping a series for the first time and subsequent to that, the #1 ranking.

The midweek two game set with James Madison went well enough with a 9-5 win on Tuesday followed by a 6-1 rain shortened victory on Wednesday.

Then UNC went to Atlanta to face a Georgia Tech team they had not won a series against in four years. The combination of some strange futility versus the Yellow Jackets and being in the Bermuda Triangle of UNC Athletics meant the weekend was not going to end well. And it didn't with the Heels dropping two of three, both wins coming on walk-off hits by Georgia Tech.

On Friday, Kent Emanuel gave up five earned runs, including the game winning solo home run to drop only his second decision of the season. Colin Moran hit his 13th home run of the season in the loss.

UNC would go on to even the series up on Saturday with 8 innings of two hit, shut out pitching from Benton Moss. Trent Thornton gave up a solo home run in the 9th but ultimately closed the game out.

Unfortunately the same result did not come for Thornton on Sunday. UNC opened up a 7-1 lead and was up 8-5 in the 9th when Thornton gave up three runs sending the game to extra innings. Mason McCullough walked two Yellow Jackets to start the 11th inning and Reilly Hovis gave up the game winning hit to send UNC back to Chapel Hill with the first series loss of the season.

In some respects, water is finding its level a bit with the Tar Heel baseball season. UNC had been absurd through most of the season and even now only has six losses in 51 games. As a result of the series loss, UNC dropped from 1st to 3rd in the Baseball America Top 25 falling behind Vanderbilt and LSU. Despite the slight downturn, North Carolina has a series with Virginia and a late addition to the schedule with FSU next Monday to get back on track. UNC also got great news with freshman Skye Bolt being cleared to return to action.

With a fully healthy lineup, the Diamond Heels can position itself for a strong postseason run.