UNC Baseball: Week 10 Recap

The North Carolina Tar Heels are neck-and-neck with Georgia Tech for the Coastal Division lead heading into a weekend series in Chapel Hill versus Virginia. With the Cavaliers dropping five of seven ACC series this year, the Heels need to pounce on a UVA team that is sitting below .500 in league play.

Here are the latest rankings for the Tar Heels:

• D1Baseball.com Top 25: 16
• NCBWA: 12
• Baseball America: 17
• USA Today Coaches Poll: 15
• RPI: 18

Below are Carolina’s latest results:

For a recap on the big series sweep over Boston College, check out my colleague Al Hood’s article from Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the Tar Heels hosted Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers were ranked in the preseason and remained in the polls until losing 10 of the previous 13 heading into the weekday match up with UNC.

Carolina started the scoring in the second off of an Ashton McGee RBI that scored Ike Freeman. It remained 1-0 until the fifth inning when McGee and Brandon Martorano hit back-to-back solo shots to make it 3-0. In the same inning, Dylan Enwiller moved around the base paths via a wild pitch, stealing third, and eventually scoring on the throwing error by the catcher.

Andrew Grogan threw seven shutout innings until giving up the lone run earned by Coastal Carolina. Austin Love came in with two outs in the eighth and finished it out on the way to a 6-1 Carolina victory.

These are the individual leaders for UNC:

Batting:

• Batting average: .316 - Dylan Enwiller
• Slugging percentage: .608 - Dylan Enwiller (T-8th in ACC)
• Home runs: 12 - Michael Busch (T-4th in ACC)
• RBI: 45 - Michael Busch (6th in ACC)
• Hits: 45 - Ike Freeman and Michael Busch
• Runs: 50 - Michael Busch (T-1st in ACC)
• On-base percentage: .455 - Ike Freeman (T-10th in ACC)

Pitching:

• ERA: 2.10 - Joey Lancellotti (minimum 10 innings pitched)
• Strikeouts: 65 - Tyler Baum (T-5th in ACC)
• Innings pitched: 56.2 - Tyler Baum (7th in ACC)
• Wins: 7 - Tyler Baum (7-2) (T-1st in ACC)
• Saves: 3 - Austin Love

The bad news for the Tar Heels is that starting pitcher Gianluca Dalatri will be shut down for the rest of the season with a hip injury and will undergo surgery next month. The junior righty finishes the season with a 1-1 record in six starts, compiling a 2.25 ERA with 35 Ks and just eight walks.

For Virginia, a couple of youngsters in sophomore Tanner Morris and freshman Zack Gelof are leading the offense. Morris leads the team with a .333 batting average and is tied for the team lead with five home runs. Gelof is right behind with a .311 average. Each player ranks in the top ten in the ACC in hits.

On the mound, expect Noah Murdock, Griff McGarry, and Mike Vasil to make starts for the Cavaliers. Mudock has been a workhorse for UVA, pitching 57.1 innings this season to rank fifth in the conference.

Come out to the Bosh this weekend and enjoy the festivities: