Baseball Drops Finale In Chapel Hill, 9-6

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – For the second time in three games, North Carolina scored six runs in the seventh inning Saturday, this time overcoming a 3-2 deficit en route to a 9-6 victory over NC State in the final game of a three-game ACC series at Boshamer Stadium.

The victory gave the Tar Heels the series win, two games to one, and lifted them to 22-12 overall and 6-9 in the conference. NC State dropped to 21-12 and 6-9. Michael Morin (5-0), the third of five UNC pitchers got the win with two innings of relief. He allowed three runs, but all were unearned, walked two and did not record a strikeout. Garrett Davis got the final out for his first save. Anthony Tzamtzis was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on three hits in one inning.

The first two games of the series were not exactly pretty, with both lasting four hours or close to it. The early innings of this one, by contrast, were played at breakneck speed, thanks to starters Alex Sogard for NC State and Chris Munnally for North Carolina. Sogard and Munnally blew through the first four innings with the greatest of ease, allowing no runs on just two hits apiece, with a combined four runners reaching scoring position.

Munnally ran aground first, allowing a run in the fifth inning and departing before the inning was over. Chris Schaeffer led off and singled to left, then took second on a wild pitch. Terran Senay flied out to deep right field, allowing Schaeffer to tag up and advance to third. Matt Bergquist rolled a single through the hole between third and shortstop to score Schaeffer with the first run of the game. Munnally responded by walking Kyle Wilson, and Dallas Poulk grounded to second base to advance the runners to second and third. That was all for Munnally. Collin Bates came in and retired Drew Poulk on a groundout to end the inning with NC State leading 1-0.

Sogard, meanwhile, cruised through five innings before running out of steam in the bottom of the sixth. Sogard, still recovering from a shoulder injury, used just 53 pitches to get through the first five innings. In three of the first five innings, he threw 10 pitches or fewer, including an eight-pitch first inning and a seven-pitch second.

The Tar Heels finally broke through for a pair of runs in the sixth. Mike Cavasini led off and lined a single to right. Ben Bunting, after failing to lay down a bunt, blooped a single to shallow right along the right-field line. Jesse Wierzbicki grounded to third base, but the Wolfpack was able to get just one out on the play, erasing Bunting at second base. Levi Michael’s single through the left side of the infield drove in Cavasini to tie the game at 1-1. Brian Goodwin hit a sharp grounder to first base that Harold Riggins speared, but again the Pack was able to get just one out on the play, setting down Michael at second base and leaving runners at first and third with two away.

That was all for Sogard, who allowed six hits, walked one and struck out two in 5 2/3 innings. Tzamtzis came out of the bullpen and after jumping to an 0-2 count on Dillon Hazlett, Tzamtzis was called for a balk, allowing Wierzbicki to score the go-ahead run, which was charged to Sogard. Tzamtzis struck out Hazlett on the next pitch to end the inning.

Senay led off the top of the seventh and walked. Bergquist bunted the runner to second, and Kyle Wilson walked to put runners on first and second with one away. Dallas Poulk doubled into the right-field corner, scoring Senay and sending Wilson to third. Drew Poulk grounded the next pitch up the middle. Shortstop Ryan Graepel made a terrific play on the ball, making a lunging catch and throwing Poulk out at first. Wilson scored the go-ahead run on the play. Morin came in to pitch for the Tar Heels and retired Maynard for the final out of the inning.

The game came unhinged for the Wolfpack in the bottom of the seventh, all with two outs. Tommy Coyle led off and tripled into the gap in left-center. Tzamtzis nearly got out of it without allowing a run. He got Graepel to foul out to first base and struck out Jacob Stallings, but he hit Cavasini with a pitch, and Bunting singled up the middle to drive in Coyle with the tying run. Wierzbicki doubled to left-center to drive in Cavasini and Bunting, giving the Tar Heels a 5-3 lead. John Lambert came in to pitch for Tzamtzis at that point, and threw a wild pitch to move Wierzbicki to third. Levi Michael singled to left to make it 6-3. Lambert picked Michael off first base for what should have been the final out of the inning, but the throw from first base was mishandled for an error and Michael wound up on third base. Goodwin walked and that was all for Lambert. Rob Chamra came on and got Hazlett to ground to third, but Ciencin was unable to handle the ball, and runners were on first and third after the error. Chamra picked off Hazlett off first base on a fake pickoff throw to third, but the Wolfpack made one too many throws in the subsequent rundown. Hazlett was finally tagged out for the final out of the inning, but not before Goodwin scored to make it 8-3.

North Carolina added one more run in the bottom of the eighth. Coyle led off with a walk, went to second on a groundout and scored on Stallings’ double to right-center field.

As it has done much of the season, the Wolfpack rallied in the top of the ninth. Kyle Wilson led off with a walk. With one down, Drew Poulk hit a grounder to third, but Michael’s throw to second base went right through Hazlett for an error, putting runners on first and third. Maynard hit a sharp liner, but right at Michael at third for the second out. Morin hit Ciencin with a pitch to load the bases, and Nate Striz came on in relief to face Riggins, who stroked a double to right-center, scoring Wilson and Poulk and cutting the lead to 9-5. Schaeffer singled up the middle to drive in Ciencin, but Davis came in and got Senay on a hard grounder right to the shortstop to end the game.

NC State will return to action on Tuesday at Doak Field at Dail Park in a 6:30 p.m. game vs. North Carolina Central. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM and on-line at gopack.com.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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