Key injuries hurt UNC baseball

The 2015 season for the North Carolina baseball team has been one of ups and downs — 32 games into the season.

After a convincing opening home series sweep against Seton Hall to start the year, the UNC baseball team showed that it had the pitching strength — both in the starting rotation and the bullpen — to compete with the top teams in the ACC.

“Our bullpen’s really good,” said Coach Mike Fox said after the final game of that series.

Since then, things have taken a turn. While junior reliever Reilly Hovis — who was second on the team last season with 81 strikeouts — has dealt with a forearm issue, the rest of the bullpen has struggled to live up to lofty preseason expectations.

Senior Trevor Kelley and freshman Nick Raquet have been the lone bright spots, while veteran reliever Chris McCue has struggled to return to form after a season-ending injury last season, and junior Trent Thornton has had struggles since being moved back into the pen, as well.

In addition to the bullpen injuries and struggles, the Tar Heels have had to deal with injuries to senior righthander Benton Moss and sophomore shortstop Wood Myers.

Moss missed several weeks with a right forearm strain, which led to some shuffling of the weekend starters, while Myers broke his left fibula in a 13-2 loss to Coastal Carolina on March 10.

While Moss is back on the mound and has pitched well since his return (3-0 with 15 strikeouts and just four walks), Myers is expected to be out at least three to five more weeks as he recovers from surgery.

With Moss back and seemingly healthy, UNC has at least two capable starters to go to with highly-touted freshman J.B. Bukauskas transitioning to the college game seamlessly.

“He’s just got explosive stuff; he’s got so much potential,” Moss said of Bukauskas’ first collegiate start. “It’s awesome just to watch him.”

On Monday, Bukauskas was 3-1 with a team-high eight starts and a 2.66 ERA.

After Myers’ injury, freshman infielder Logan Warmoth has made the shift from third base to shortstop, and has thrived in the “new” role.

“I feel good at short. I’ve played there my whole life,” Warmoth said after a 12-11 midweek loss to Davidson. “At the beginning of the year, third was a change for me. So now it’s just going back to home, really, at shortstop.”

Fox said that his team’s infield defense — which was one of his biggest concerns coming into the season — has solidified since Warmoth’s move to shortstop, and while losing Myers bat at the top of the lineup certainly hurts, other players have stepped up offensively.

Most notably, junior catcher Korey Dunbar and walk-on freshman Brian Miller. Miller leads the team with a .379 batting average while Dunbar is behind him with a .318 mark.

And after Fox talked about how junior center fielder Skye Bolt — arguably the team’s most talented player — needed to play better, he’s started to improve in the box as well.

sports@dailytarheel.com