UNC baseball comes up one run short of series sweep in loss to Virginia Tech

It looked like No. 13 North Carolina was about to pull a comeback. 

After Virginia Tech (11-22, 2-13 ACC) racked up two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tyler Ramirez sent the ball soaring over right field for a solo home run to cut the Hokies' lead to 4-3. Behind the momentum shift, UNC (23-9, 8-7 ACC) loaded the bases before Eli Sutherland took to the plate. 

But the "Toy Cannon" did not fire. Facing a full count, Sutherland’s next swing only got a piece of the ball, and Virginia Tech’s catcher caught the foul ball to hand the Tar Heels a 4-3 loss in the final game of the series. 

UNC struck first against the Hokies, as Brian Miller scored off a Virginia Tech error that gave him a window to bolt for home plate. With the unearned run, North Carolina claimed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. 

The Hokies answered in the third inning, tying the game off an RBI single by Phil Sciretta with the bases loaded.

UNC struggled to respond to the run in the next three innings, mainly because of a dominant pitching performance by Virginia Tech’s Packy Naughton. He held the Tar Heels to three hits through the first six innings and tallied six strikeouts on the day. 

The Tar Heels’ defense did them no favors. While reliever A.J. Bogucki showcased a dominant 1 2/3 innings, the rest of UNC’s pitchers struggled to get into a groove, giving up seven walks. 

North Carolina reclaimed the lead in the seventh inning, when Miller scored off a Ramirez RBI single. But Virginia Tech answered right away with a sacrifice bunt to tie the score at 2 in the top of the eighth inning. 

Then, North Carolina picked the wrong time to fold.

The Tar Heels committed an error in the ninth inning that proved to be fatal. UNC attempted to make a double play, but a throwing error allowed Virginia Tech to score two runs instead, claiming a 4-2 lead. 

Ramirez answered with his solo home run. But with UNC in a two-run hole because of the error, it wasn’t enough to turn the tide.

Quotable

“Any time there’s a close game like this, you can go back and replay it a hundred times — should’ve had this guy playing here, this guy playing there — but we just didn’t do enough. And they did a little bit more than we did, kind of an ugly game, so to speak.” — Coach Mike Fox on his team’s performance.

Notable

Sunday marks the second time this season UNC has lost after scoring a run in the first inning. North Carolina is 15-2 after scoring in the first inning. 

Three numbers that matter

5: After starting pitcher Jason Morgan gave up two walks in the top of the fifth inning, Bogucki stepped in to pitch. He then struck out five batters in the 1 2/3 innings he pitched — one shy of his season-high of six, which he set against UNC-Asheville. 

12: North Carolina was 2-for-14 in two-out situations, resulting in 12 Tar Heels left on base. 

2: The Tar Heels committed two errors in the game, allowing Virginia Tech to score two unearned runs.

What’s next?

The Tar Heels will travel to Charlotte to take on South Carolina on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m at BB&T BallPark. 

@BlakeR_95

sports@dailytarheel.com