The No. 5 North Carolina baseball team (11-1) had a strong showing on the mound Sunday afternoon to complete its third home series sweep this season. With a noteworthy pitching performance, the Tar Heels held UMass Lowell (0-10) to just five hits in a 14-2 win.
“Pitching is always the emphasis for me,” head coach Mike Fox said. “If we pitch well, we always have a chance to win.”
UNC had an impressive 39 strikeouts from its pitching staff over the weekend. Sunday’s game produced 17 of these, a season high for the Tar Heels. The Tar Heels’ pitching staff has reached 15 or more strikeouts only two other times this season, one of them being on Saturday and the other against Xavier in the first series of the season.
Sunday was the second time this season a Tar Heel has thrown 10 or more strikeouts in game. Junior Austin Bergner tallied 11 strikeouts, something he hasn't done since last season against N.C. State. Bergner pitched five innings during Sunday’s game and only walked one batter.
“It was a really good start from him,” Fox said. “Those are good numbers for Austin obviously. We pitched really well and got off to a big lead and it was a good way for us to finish the weekend.”
Off the mound, UNC dominated the River Hawks from the plate. UNC toppled UMass Lowell in game three of the series, creating back-to-back games with a season high of 14 runs.
“Whenever you can put up 14 runs it feels good and it makes it easier to carry over into the next game,” first-year Danny Serretti said. “Everyone is confident and we just have to keep it going.”
UNC has had its ups and downs offensively, and so Fox said it was nice to see other batters beyond the typical two or three contribute. Serretti stepped up at the plate and had two doubles and a season high of three RBIs in Sunday’s game.
“It’s great to go out there and know that even if I’m not on my A-game, we’re still gonna have a chance to win because I have a good offense behind me,” Bergner said.
