The No. 29 North Carolina baseball team has had its fair share of errors and botched situational plays this season, but Friday night it was Wake Forest who gave the Tar Heels some help in a 9-0 win that brought UNC (20-14, 8-8 ACC) back to .500 in ACC play.
In the fourth inning, after Tom Zengel singled and Landon Lassiter walked, left fielder Parks Jordan dropped down a well-placed bunt that trickled down the third-base line. With Jordan threatening to leg out a single, Wake Forest (22-14, 10-6 ACC) third baseman Will Craig rushed his throw, sailing it past first base and into foul territory. Zengel scored on the error, and Lassiter advanced to third, scoring on Korey Dunbar's groundout to give UNC a 2-0 lead.
"It was a great bunt by Parks to begin with. It made (Craig) rush a little bit," coach Mike Fox said. "Throwing the ball away — you can't do that in this league because that opens the door and good teams are going to take advantage of that, so it did feel good to be on the other side of that."
That was all starter Trent Thornton (7-1, 1.50 ERA) would need to put away the Demon Deacons, who managed just two hits and three walks off the right-hander in eight innings, striking out 10 times.
Freshman right fielder Tyler Ramirez added to UNC's lead with a grand slam in the fifth — his first career home run — to give the Tar Heels a 7-0 lead. Ramirez went 2-for-2 Friday night and walked twice.
Wake Forest continued to implode in the late innings, allowing Michael Russell and Parks Jordan to score on passed balls in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. Demon Deacon pitchers also walked eight batters in the game.
UNC will return to Boshamer Stadium Saturday at 6 p.m. with right-hander Benton Moss (2-1, 3.54 ERA) taking on lefty John McLeod (5-1, 1.84 ERA).
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