Gardner-Webb shocks the No. 4 Tar Heels baseball team

It’s been a long couple of days for North Carolina’s baseball team.

The Tar Heels (14-3) swept an emotional series at Clemson last weekend and took another tough road game at UNC-Greensboro on Tuesday.

On Wednesday afternoon when the Runnin’ Bulldogs from Gardner-Webb (10-7) came to Boshamer Stadium, the Tar Heels were standing on tired legs.

“I try as best I can to take responsibility for that. That’s dumb scheduling on my part,” coach Mike Fox said. “Playing a night game on the road and then coming back for a day game — but that’s not giving Gardner-Webb anywhere near the credit they deserve.”

With a solid performance from starter Andrew Barnett and a timely seventh-inning rally, Gardner-Webb staved off the Tar Heels’ efforts to come back and went on to win 7-4.

“They outplayed us in every phase of the game,” Fox said. “They played Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.”

In the second inning with two men on base, Gardner-Webb designated hitter Brad Collins sent a Luis Paula pitch over the left field wall. The blast gave the Runnin’ Bulldogs a 3-1 advantage. Scott Johnson added on another run to give Gardner-Webb a three-run advantage.

The right-handed Barnett pitched just four innings, which is not enough to earn the win, but his team certainly wouldn’t have picked up the victory without his efforts.

He faced 22 batters and gave up just six hits to the No.4 Tar Heels. Though the Tar Heels managed to get runners on base against him, when Barnett’s day was done, he had allowed just two runs.

“We got a lot of guys on base, we just couldn’t get them in,” catcher Jacob Stallings said. “We just didn’t get very many hits with runners in scoring position. You’re not going to win when you don’t do that.”

UNC freshman Mike Zolk drove in Stallings after he doubled in the fifth and Gardner-Webb walked in a run in the sixth to make the score 4-3.

But the Tar Heels wouldn’t get any closer than that, only putting up one run at a time.

“We’re like, ‘OK, guys the rules allow you to score more than one run,’” Fox said. “You look up there, one, one, one — let’s get a crooked number up there. We talked about trying to be good with runners in scoring position. Right now we’re not. We’re pressing a little bit.”

In the top of the seventh, UNC brought Cody Penny in for Hobbs Johnson, who had pitched 2.2 scoreless innings. The first batter Penny faced was Scott Coleman.

Coleman singled up the middle to bring home the first basemen Dusty Quattlebaum. Adam McFarland followed that up with a single of his own to give Collins a chance for some more offensive production. He came through with a double, giving him five RBI on the day.

Collins was the last batter Penny would face.

The Tar Heels are going back on the road this weekend to face Maryland, so they’ll need to make the most of the rest they can get in the next few days as fatigue was clearly a factor against Gardner-Webb.

“I was certainly worn out before the game today, but that’s certainly no excuse,” Stallings said. “You just have to get yourself ready to play, and I don’t know if we did well as a team today.”

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