UNC baseball blows out George Mason, 13-3

In a game that baseball coach Mike Fox described as “odd,” the numbers on the Boshamer Stadium scoreboard told the story.

The second-to-last column — the hits column — read: George Mason, 11. North Carolina, 10.

Just to the left, the runs column read: George Mason, 3. North Carolina, 13.

So how did the Tar Heels win by 10 runs on Tuesday afternoon despite being outhit by the Patriots? Fox had a simple explanation: walks.

“Walks are like hits,” Fox said. “We don’t look at the hit column. That scoreboard should have a base-on-balls column and a strikeout column.

“I’m gonna be the first one to add that,” he added, chuckling. “We pride ourselves on walking more than we strike out, and that’s really helped us.”

The Tar Heels’ patience at the plate helped put runners in scoring position. A few timely hits, then, were all UNC needed to break the game open.

The first big hit came in the second inning, from freshman Wood Myers. With the bases loaded and two outs, Myers poked a base-clearing double down the left-field line to give the Tar Heels a 4-2 lead. Two of the three runners who crossed the plate had walked to get on base.

“They walked a decent amount of guys, and we just had a bunch of timely hitting with a lot of guys on,” Myers said. “We were fortunate to get hits in those situations.”

Another freshman, Tyler Ramirez, delivered the second big hit in the fifth inning. After Landon Lassiter and Skye Bolt both drew walks, Ramirez stepped into the batter’s box with two outs and two runners on.

He waited patiently for a pitch he could pull, and when he connected, the ball scooted past a diving right fielder and rolled to the wall. By the time the George Mason outfielder had recovered, Ramirez was standing on third base, clapping.

Another base-clearing hit, and another big inning that started with a pair of walks.

“We all just try to get on base,” Ramirez said. “Taking a walk is great in our league. Walks are big, and walks make things happen. When guys get on base, other guys come up with big hits and clear the bases, like Wood and I did today.”

UNC’s ability to prevent those types of hits from George Mason proved to be the difference. When the Patriots put runners on base and threatened to score, the Tar Heel pitchers were able to limit the damage.

Starting pitcher Taylore Cherry twice worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam. After giving up two singles and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases in the second inning, Cherry forced a pair of groundouts to escape with just one run conceded.

After finding trouble in the eighth inning, relief pitcher Reilly Hovis squashed George Mason’s scoring threat with a strikeout. Hovis pitched 3.2 scoreless innings and recorded a career-high six strikeouts.

“I just located, honestly, with two pitches,” Hovis said. “I could throw both pitches in any count, so it was pretty easy from there.”

In fact, it was a pretty easy game in general for the Tar Heels. But then again, a few timely hits and a few timely strikeouts from George Mason could have made it a different story. ?