Freshman Emanuel grabs his fifth victory

Freshman pitcher Kent Emanuel’s last appearance for the North Carolina baseball team was brief and ugly – a microcosm of last weekend’s series.

The Tar Heels were swept in three games in Raleigh and Emanuel recorded only four outs in his start Saturday.

Emanuel was offered a chance at redemption in the top of the fifth inning Tuesday night at Boshamer Stadium in relief of freshman Andrew Smith. Smith went a career high four complete innings in his first start. The freshman gave up the game’s first two runs.

Emanuel wasted no time in exacting his revenge, fooling Coastal Carolina’s leadoff man Scott Woodward for the strikeout. The left-handed pitcher went on to give up just four hits and one run in three innings of work, a considerable improvement from his 1 1/3 innings at N.C. State, where he allowed five hits and two runs compared to just one strikeout.

“I’m a big believer in getting guys back out there,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “That’s about as big of a motivator as you can have. If you’re a competitor, what do you want to do after you fail? You want to get right back out there.”

Emanuel rebounded strongly in Tuesday’s game and peaked at the perfect time for UNC.

After the Tar Heels’ offensive explosion in the home half of the fifth inning, Emanuel took to the bump in the sixth to put the nail in the coffin.

He struck out Chanticleers Rich Witten, Taylor Motter and Tucker Frawley in order to send the Tar Heels back to the dugout.

“It’s always nice to put up a zero after you score,” Emanuel said. “It’s a great way to get momentum.”

Fox was more enthused by Emanuel’s control of the inning.

“That’s huge, three strikeouts boom-boom-boom,” Fox said. “It pretty much sends the message, ‘Hey, we’ve got the momentum in our dugout and you’re not getting it back.’ I thought that was a big inning by Kent.”

Woodward took revenge in the seventh inning as he notched an RBI single up the middle. But the last laugh belonged to Emanuel — he picked Woodward off at first base for the second out of the inning.

“I thought I made a pretty good pitch; he did a good job of getting out over the plate to get that ball,” Emanuel said. “It always feels good to pick them off after they get a hit regardless of who it is.”

In his three innings, Emanuel struck out four batters and didn’t allow a walk. He was awarded his fifth win of the season for his efforts in what was only his fourth appearance in relief. His other four wins came from the starting role.

The win marks Emanuel’s fourth consecutive appearance without giving up a walk.

But for Emanuel, the improvement in performance came naturally.

“Just locating,” he said, “just pitching in general. I don’t feel like there was anything specific that I did today that I didn’t do in Raleigh. I think in general, I threw strikes and made good pitches.”

Emanuel is scheduled to start again in Sunday’s series finale with Miami.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.