UNC Baseball: Week 11 Recap

After their series win over Virginia last weekend, the North Carolina Tar Heels are still tied with Georgia Tech for the Coastal Division lead. Carolina is off this weekend for exams, so there is no action this weekend.

Here are the latest rankings for the Tar Heels:

• D1Baseball.com Top 25: 15
• NCBWA: 11
• Baseball America: 14
• USA Today Coaches Poll: 11
• RPI: 14

Below are Carolina’s latest results:

For a breakdown of the series win over Virginia, check out the recaps by Al Hood.

On Tuesday, the Heels hosted Liberty. Danny Serretti got the scoring started in the bottom of the first with a two-RBI double. In the third, Carolina got all they needed for the rest of the game by putting up seven runs. Dylan Harris started the scoring with a sac fly. After a Brandon Martorano walk to load the bases, Ashton McGee went yard for a grand slam. The inning was capped off with Aaron Sabato double that scored two.

In the sixth, Liberty cut into the lead with five runs. However, that was as much as the Flames would get Tuesday night. In the seventh, Sabato had another two-RBI double for the final margin of 11-5.

These are the individual leaders for UNC:

Batting:

• Batting average: .314 - Danny Serretti
• Slugging percentage: .584 - Michael Busch
• Home runs: 12 - Michael Busch (T-7th in ACC)
• RBI: 47 - Michael Busch (T-7th in ACC)
• Hits: 49 - Danny Serretti, Ike Freeman, and Michael Busch
• Runs: 57 - Michael Busch (1st in ACC)
• On-base percentage: .459 - Michael Busch (10th in ACC)

Pitching:

• ERA: 1.91 - Joey Lancellotti (minimum 10 innings pitched)
• Strikeouts: 69 - Tyler Baum (T-6th in ACC)
• Innings pitched: 61.2 - Tyler Baum (8th in ACC)
• Wins: 7 - Tyler Baum (7-2) (T-2nd in ACC)
• Saves: 5 - Austin Love (T-9th in ACC)

Next week, the Tar Heels host Winthrop (25-16) and East Carolina (33-11). These will be tough out of conference opponents for Carolina.

Winthrop leads the Big South in team batting average, led by senior Brandon Fite. The second baseman is second in the league with a .355 batting average. Another senior, Hunter Lipscomb, has 37 RBI on the year.

On Wednesday, East Carolina travels to Chapel Hill for a big intrastate battle. The Pirates are ranked in the top 10-15 in all the national polls and are at the top of the American Athletic Conference. ECU has five players batting over .300 on the season. Junior Bryant Packard, the reigning AAC Player of the Week, is batting .383 on the season.

Two Jakes, Jake Agnos and Jake Kuchmaner, are the two aces for ECU. Each pitcher boasts an ERA just over 2.00. Agnos leads the AAC with 100 strikeouts on the season.