Tar Heels take rubber match versus Maine

As the North Carolina bats went this weekend against the Maine Black Bears, so went the No. 11 Tar Heels.

In two out of the three games, the Tar Heels (6-1) scored eight or more runs, and in those two, they won.

The first win was an 11-1 thrashing on Friday, and the second was an 8-4 win on Sunday. The loss was a 5-3 game on Saturday in which UNC struggled to create any offense against Maine ace Jeffrey Gibbs.

“The kid on Saturday was good,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “He was their best guy, and their reliever they brought in. We faced their best two guys (on Saturday). We got some pitches to hit and didn’t get it done. The game’s predicated by the guy that’s on the mound.”

Gibbs and Steve Perakslis combined to limit the Tar Heels to three runs on just five hits. The win is Maine’s lone win of the season (1-5).

“They came out with a pretty good arm on Saturday,” UNC third baseman Levi Michael said.

“He had pretty good life to his ball, and he was hitting his spots, so I think as hitters we probably didn’t do our part in that game.”

UNC’s bats heated up at just the right time, as North Carolina used a three-run seventh to propel them to the series win on Sunday.

“(Sunday) was a hard-fought win,” Fox said. “Getting behind by two runs, I was proud to see our guys come back being down by two runs and winning the series.”

The key hit in the rally came from Dillon Hazlett, who has driven in a run in five consecutive games — a feat that departed first baseman Dustin Ackley only achieved twice in his storied senior season. From there, the Tar Heels notched two more runs to put away the Black Bears.

Tommy Coyle, who entered the series with two hits on the season, contributed two more, including an RBI single in the first inning on Sunday, to double his RBI tally.

“We don’t look at their batting average,” Fox said. “Tommy Coyle’s really swung the bat well for us. He struck out one time in 24 at-bats, and Brian (Goodwin) hasn’t struck out much. So they’re moving the ball.”

Mike Cavasinni scraped together a single hit in all three games, extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games, including a bunt single on Sunday.

On the rubber, the Tar Heels were amazingly consistent. Each starting pitcher threw at least five innings and notched five strikeouts and two or fewer walks.

The most impressive was Matt Harvey’s nine strikeouts against 20 hitters faced.

Ben Bunting extended his multi-hit streak to five games with two hits in each game during the series.

“It just all seemed to work,” Bunting said. “Balls seemed to be finding holes. It wasn’t necessarily squirting through holes, but I was just getting lucky, and finding the right gaps.”



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.