North Carolina Baseball hosted Long Beach State in game one of a weekend series on Friday at 3 p.m. The Tar Heels jumped in front early, but defensive miscues hampered UNC in the 5-2 loss.
What happened?
Brian Miller led off the game with a triple for UNC and came in to score on a balk just a few pitches later. In the second, a Brandon Riley triple, followed by a Kyle Datres sacrifice fly, pushed the score to 2-0 in favor of the Tar Heels.
This run support helped UNC starter J.B. Bukauskas coast until the middle innings. The ace had his slider working today and was able to keep Long Beach State relatively quiet. The Dirtbags were able to push across a run in both the sixth and eighth innings to tie the game up at two. This lead would stand until the top of the ninth. In this half inning, UNC made a couple of errors and did not execute defensively, leading to three Dirtbag runs and another loss.
Who stood out?
Logan Warmoth had an infield single in the bottom of the sixth to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, and his on base streak to 25 games. Warmoth's hot start to the season has played a large part in UNC's hot start.
On the defensive side, Bukauskas was electric again for North Carolina. The junior went seven innings while striking out nine and walking just one.
When was it decided?
The wheels fell off for the Tar Heels in the top of the ninth. A hit batter, a walk and a slew of errors led to Long Beach State pushing across three runs, and taking their first lead of the game.
