UNC Baseball: Weekend Series In Review - Boston College

UNC Football may have held their Spring Game on Saturday, but it was the Tar Heel Baseball team that was putting up big offensive numbers over the weekend. The Tar Heels swept the Boston College Eagles in a three-game series on the road in Boston with a record 48 runs scored in the three games. UNC improved their record to 26-6 overall and 12-3 in the ACC.

Let’s take a look back at each of the games:

Friday

Postponed to Sunday

Saturday

North Carolina - 17, Boston College - 7

We have almost come to expect perfection whenever J.B. Bukauskas takes the mound for the Tar Heels. However, he would not have his best outing on Saturday, as he allowed seven runs in just four innings of work. Despite it being his shortest outing of the season, the offense and relievers would have his back in helping the team get the victory.

Rodney Hutchinson Jr. and Bo Weiss would come in over the next five innings and allow no further runs on the scoreboard for the Eagles. The winning pitcher, Hutchinson Jr., would equal Bukauskas with five strikeouts in the game.

After falling behind 7-6, the UNC bats exploded to score the next 11 runs, including a seven-run 6th inning. Brian Miller gave the Tar Heels the 9-7 lead in the 6th with his 4th home run of the season. Zack Gahagan capped off the 6th inning with a grand slam that put the Tar Heels up 14-7. Gahagan, Miller, along with Kyle Datres and Logan Warmoth, each had a home run in the game to lead the offensive outburst.

Sunday

Game One: North Carolina - 16, Boston College - 4

The Tar Heels offense picked up right where it left off the day before by scoring 11 runs in the first five innings to take a commanding 11-0 lead over the Eagles.

UNC would finish with 16 runs on 20 hits in the first game of the Sunday double-header. The entire starting line-up would contribute to the offensive output, as each batter (in the starting line-up) would have at least one hit in the game. The top four batters in the line-up (Brian Miller, Logan Warmoth, Kyle Datres, and Ashton McGee) for the Heels were a combined 11-21, and scored seven runs in the victory. Datres also would add four RBIs, with three of those coming from his second home run of the series.

Luca Dalatri took the mound for the Tar Heels on Sunday morning and pitched a solid six innings. He gave up only one run on five hits, while striking out five batters in his outing. The victory improved Dalatri’s record to 3-2 on the season.

Game Two: North Carolina - 15, Boston College - 3 (Eight Innings)

With all of the offensive fire power that took place in the first two games of the series, one might think that the Heels might have a let down in the final game of the series; however, that was not the case, as UNC would once again put up double-figure runs on the scoreboard in the 15-3 victory over Boston College.

Austin Bergner, making his first start of the season, would get plenty of run support from his teammates in the victory. With their continued hot-hitting, UNC would put up 13 runs in the first 4 innings.

Bergner pitched five innings in the win, giving up only one run on two hits. The strong pitching performances from Bergner and the other UNC pitchers over the weekend kept their team ERA at 2.60, which is second in the ACC.

Bergner’s battery mate, Cody Roberts, had a big game at the plate for UNC. He went 3-3 and had two RBIs. Freshman first baseman, Michael Busch, also drove in two runs in the game.

Much like earlier in the day, the top of the line-up was stellar in leading the Heels to the sweep. The first four hitters went a combined 8-16, drove in nine runs, and scored seven. Warmoth, who is leading the team with a .348 batting average, also hit his team-leading 7th home run of the season.

Conference Standings