With eight runs and only three Tar Heels having registered strikeouts, North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox said the statistics line would have suggested a win for his squad Tuesday night.
But when Parks Jordan’s fly ball landed in the glove of UNC-Wilmington’s center fielder Steven Linkous with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the scoreboard read otherwise.
The Seahawks snapped No. 1 UNC’s 14-game winning streak taking a 9-8 victory with them back to the coast.
UNC-W’s offensive dominance in the fourth inning led them to the come-from-behind win.
“We just didn’t get it done on the mound. Walks and errors — they’ll get you. They got us tonight,” Fox said.
“You can go back and say we lost the game in the fourth inning.”
The Tar Heels (39-3) squandered a 6-0 lead and allowed UNC-W to tie the game at 6-6 in a fourth inning that featured three different UNC pitchers.
In the bottom of the fourth, UNC retook the lead and shut out feelings of frustration stemming from the top half of the inning.
Colin Moran followed up a Landon Lassiter triple with a home run, scoring two runs and giving UNC a two-run lead.