The No. 12 North Carolina baseball team (31-12, 13-9 ACC) lost the first game of a three-game series against Virginia (26-18, 10-12 ACC), 12-5, on Friday night, ending the team's four game winning streak.
What happened?
With one out in the first inning, Virginia hit a single to right field and batted in a runner from second base, giving the Cavaliers the early 1-0 lead.
That score remained until the bottom of the third inning. After a pair of singles put runners on the corners, shortstop Danny Serretti hit a double past the center fielder, tying the game at one run apiece. Then, with the bases loaded, Ashton McGee was hit by a pitch, and Aaron Sabato scored from third. The Tar Heels scored two runs on three hits in the inning and earned a 2-1 lead.
A single and double from Virginia in the fifth inning batted in three runs, giving the Cavaliers a 4-2 advantage. UNC responded moments later with a single and sacrifice fly to knot the game up at four runs apiece.
The score did not remain tied for long, however. In the sixth inning, Austin Love came in to pitch for the Tar Heels. With two outs and the bases loaded, Love walked a Virginia batter, and a Cavalier runner was able to score. Virginia increased its lead with a single hit past a diving Freeman, scoring two runs and pushing the lead to 7-4.
In the sixth inning, the Tar Heels had two men on base with one out when the lights at Boshamer Stadium went out. After a 21 minute delay, both Sabato and Serretti struck out to end the inning.
The score remained 7-4 until the eighth inning when the Cavaliers scored five runs, giving them a commanding 12-4 lead. Although the Tar Heels scored one run in the bottom of the eighth, they were unable to overcome the eight run deficit and dropped the first game of the ACC series.
