The No. 12 North Carolina baseball team defeated the Kentucky Wildcats, 6-5, in the second game of their weekend series at Boshamer Stadium on Saturday.
What happened?
Jason Morgan toed the rubber for UNC and got off to a bit of a rocky start. A couple of Wildcat hits in the first left UNC in a 1-0 deficit early, and the Tar Heels followed by going down in order in the bottom of the frame — the team only had one 1-2-3 inning on Friday. Morgan settled in during the second inning, starting a scoreless streak that would last until the seventh.
In the bottom half of the second, Kyle Datres looped a single into center, driving in Zach Gahagan to tie things up at 1-1. UNC threatened again in the third, but Kentucky was able to get out of danger, keeping the game tied.
The Tar Heels were able to break the tie in the bottom half of the fourth behind a two-out single by Brian Miller that plated Brandon Martorano — who was on base after notching his first career hit earlier that inning. The Tar Heels were able to find the scoreboard for one run in the fifth and again for three in the sixth.
Kentucky went through four pitchers in the sixth inning, but UNC was forced to call the Wildcats, using four of their own in a seventh that saw Kentucky plate three runs. With the score now at 6-4, UNC turned to Rodney Hutchison for the second straight day. This time around, Hutchison worked his way into trouble. Kentucky plated a run in the eighth to make it a 6-5 ballgame, but redshirt first-year Josh Hiatt was able to come in and get the last four outs for UNC to notch his second save of the season.
Who stood out?
Datres and Zack Gahagan played a few games of carousel this afternoon. In both the bottom of the second and fifth innings, Datres drove in Gahagan. The duo combined to go 3-for-7 at the plate, with Datres driving in three runs.
On the defensive side, Jason Morgan spun a nice little start for the Tar Heels. The junior righty delivered 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, striking out five along the way.
