UNC bats come alive in 15-3 win over Pittsburgh in ACC home opener

It has not been an easy few days for head coach Mike Fox.

The North Carolina baseball team went 1-1 in midweek games, in contests it was supposed to win. To make matters worse, the hitters only produced one run in 18 innings, and UNC lost just its second game to Gardner-Webb in program history on Wednesday.

The same day as the humbling loss to the Runnin' Bulldogs, Fox announced that his team's opening day starter, sophomore Gianluca Dalatri, would be out indefinitely with an injury and that junior reliever Trevor Gay was no longer with the team.

So when UNC (10-8, 2-2 ACC) started its first ACC home series against Pittsburgh (11-5, 1-3 ACC) on Friday night with multiple defensive blunders in the opening frame, Fox was not surprised.

Second baseman Alex Amos started the inning with a single, then immediately stole second base and advanced to third on an error. Two batters later, with the runner still on third, a shallow fly ball was snagged by right fielder Cody Roberts. Roberts gunned the ball to his catcher Brandon Martorano, who easily applied the tag. There was only one problem — Martorano was not holding the ball. 1-0, Pittsburgh.

"After they had scored in the first inning, we’re kind of like thinking ‘boy, here we go again,’" Fox said.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the script flipped for the cold Tar Heel bats, propelling UNC to a 15-3 win.

Center fielder Brandon Riley gave the team its first hit with a one-out double in the second, the tenth consecutive game he has reached base this season. 

Later, with two outs and runners on every base, first-year designated hitter Ben Casparius came to the plate with just four at-bats to his name. He delivered in his first start right away, sending a laser into center field that scored two runs.

"He’s a good competitor and it’s good to see him in the lineup," senior Zach Gahagan said. "This fall, I mean, he showed it. I actually picked him in our fall World Series team first. Kid can hit it, and he can throw."

Those two runs were one more than UNC had scored in its two previous games, and they gave the team a lead it would not relinquish. Casparius would also pitch a scoreless inning in the eighth, his fourth relief outing of the year.

In the third inning, third baseman Kyle Datres and Gahagan blasted back-to-back home runs, marking the first time a UNC duo had accomplished that feat since March 29, 2014 in a game at Duke. 

The long balls opened the floodgates, and UNC scored nine runs in the third frame, culminating with a scorching bases-clearing double from Gahagan and a two-out RBI double from left fielder Ashton McGee. Thirteen hitters came to the plate in the team’s second-highest scoring inning of the year.

From there, the Tar Heels cruised to a victory in their first ACC home game of the season. And in the process, the bats heated up at precisely the right time — with six more games to be played from now to next Sunday, including a three-game road stand against Florida State.

"We had a great mindset," Fox said. "I thought our guys were really locked in, really business-like today. There wasn’t a lot of joking around."

Four different players had multi-RBI days, led by Gahagan with five, which tied his career-high. First baseman Michael Busch knocked in three runs, extending his team-lead to 24 on the year, two more than he hit as a first-year.

What shouldn’t be lost in the excitement from the Tar Heels offensive explosion is the pitching performance from sophomore Tyler Baum. With Dalatri sidelined, Baum is now the Tar Heels’ ace and played the part on Friday. The 6-foot-1 righty moved to 3-0 on the season and 10-0 in his Tar Heel career. Baum went a career-high seven innings in the win and allowed just two earned runs. 

"It was a big win for us," Baum said. "Just keep it rolling. Another game tomorrow. Come out strong again."

Friday's series debut was an encouraging start, but the Tar Heels will need a couple encore performances to build some momentum in a quest to salvage a season that before today seemed to be slipping away. 

@christrenkle2

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